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A discussion about how Hollywood is adapting to an increasingly cluttered and fragmented marketplace by embracing creative business solutions. Chris Meledandri, the founder and CEO of animation powerhouse Illumination Entertainment, and Jeff Shell, chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, will look at both the macro and micro ways that the film business is being f...
Journalists Michele Norris, Jose Antonio Vargas, and Amar Bakshi have all worked to create global megaphones for sharing experiences and stories that too often go unnoticed. Norris’s Race Card Project, Vargas’s #EmergingUS, and Bakshi’s Portals provide egalitarian podiums where the most difficult conversations around race, immigration, religion, and identity can happen. No...
Our social nature is a major driver of our creativity: We constantly strive to engage and surprise each other, our inventiveness giving us reasons to tune in. Drawing on The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World, the book he co-authored with neuroscientist David Eagleman, composer Anthony Brandt takes us inside Beethoven’s string quartets to examine what...
How is creativity cultivated in childhood?
Effective design can improve the experiences, devices, services and spaces of healthcare, says Bon Ku of the Health Design Lab. The physician and Aspen Ideas: Health speaker shares how his fellow clinicians can benefit from embracing the mindset of a designer.
In a world undeniably shaped by near-constant conflict, connectedness, and globalization, what role will culture and creativity play in making the future? How does the sharing of stories, poems, and songs change how we see our allies and, perhaps more importantly, our enemies? Foreign Policy’s David Rothkopf is joined by composer Mohammed Fairouz and opera singer and Ameri...
Africa is having a creative moment. Architects, fashion designers, illustrators, furniture designers, jewelers, and others are collecting a continent’s worth of influences and showcasing them on a global stage. Organizations are stepping forward to champion the notion that creativity and design have the power to fuel an economic revolution. One such organization, Design In...
Research supports the idea that creatives of all types are over-represented in the population dealing with mood disorders and other psychiatric challenges. Certainly some of the world’s greatest musical masterpieces were composed by musicians who struggled with mental illness. Was it a source of inspiration for their creativity, or did they turn to art to help them heal? R...
With boundless creativity and irrepressible energy, 306 Hollywood memorializes and honors the life of the filmmakers’ grandmother, Annette Ontell. Housewife, fashion designer, and beloved family member, Ontell lived seven decades in the same house — 306 Hollywood Avenue in Hillside, NJ. Ultimately a profound reflection on how we examine and deal with the past, the film can...
Innovation is the driver of economic growth in the global economy, and cities and metropolitan areas are the wellspring of innovation. But the benefits of innovation and the resources that support innovation do not always reach all corners of the metropolis, and this exacerbates economic and social divisions that hinder our economy and weaken our communities. We can bridge...
We're often taught that our surroundings are incidental to our well-being, but an emerging body of research shows that the physical world can be a powerful tool for cultivating happier, healthier lives. Studies show that workers in colorful offices are more alert, friendly, and confident than those in drab ones, that windows can speed healing, and children progress faster...
Meet Shimon, the marimba-playing robot that can improvise with fluency and skill exceeding that of most professional musicians. This atypical frontman’s band isn’t your average performance group either: Shimon’s band of humans hails not from a conservatory, but from the Center for Music Technology at Georgia Tech. And did we mention the drummer lays the rhythm with a bioni...
Born out of gospel, R&B, and jazz in late 1950s America, soul has permeated music culture so thoroughly that its influence can be heard everywhere from modern country music to rock and hip-hop. So what is it about soul, and how did it become a soundtrack to some of our nation’s most defining moments? The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik and Grammy Award-winning artists share —...
Aspen Ideas: Health is where the arts meet health. Ahead of the 10th annual event this summer, we're looking back at some of the innovative artists, musicians, actors, filmmakers, playwrights, and dancers who have shared their creative expressions of the mind, body, and spirit on our stages. Explore how the arts help expand our understanding of health and well-being.
Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture and African and African American Studies, Harvard University; Founder, The Vision & Justice Project