Aspen Ideas Festival

Plum's coverage of the Aspen Ideas Festival brings together many of the world's most powerful minds in politics, science, business and the arts. For a few days each summer the world's foremost intellectuals gather in the beautiful Aspen Mountain Valley to "foster enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue."

Our profile of the 2006 event includes interviews with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Filmmaker Sydney Pollack, journalist Wolf Blitzer, television producer Norman Lear, as well as many more major professors, writers and philanthropists. Together, their discussions help paint a picture of the incredible confluence of debates, opinions and breakthroughs that make the Aspen Ideas Festival a uniquely enlightening and valuable experience.

The year our documentary film crew followed three Aspen fellows, NFTE’s Steve Mariotti, Harlem Stage Director Patricia Cruz, and The Rockefeller Foundation’s Nick Turner before, during, and after their journey through the festival. Our coverage of Aspen Ideas Fest 2007 also features pieces with Fmr. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Journalist Jim Lehrer, Reverend Calvin Butts, Former Governor of Wisconsin Tommy Thompson, Professor Arthur Mutambara and many other prominent thinkers as they speak, teach, and inspire.