75th Anniversary Community Celebration

A Place Where the Human Spirit Could Flourish. Join us for an inspiring day exploring the transformative power of place, people, and possibility.

While attendance at the event is free and open to everyone, registration is required, and capacity is established on a first-come, first-served basis.

Highlights include:

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Place, People, and Possibility: Reflections on Humanism and the Aspen Idea
Explore how the ideals of humanism and the Aspen Idea took root in Aspen following WWII, the people who brought them to life, and how these values can guide us in addressing today’s social and human challenges. Featuring Todd Breyfogle, Senior Advisor for Humanistic Studies and Practices and former Executive Director of Seminars at the Aspen Institute, and Paul Andersen, journalist, naturalist, and author of Albert Schweitzer and the Birth of the Aspen Idea: Honoring Aspen’s Evolving Embrace of Humanism (2025).

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM | Community Lunch
Enjoy music by Aspen Music Festival & School students and a picnic lunch in honor of the Institute’s 75th Anniversary.
Koch Building Lobby / Mayer Courtyard

1:00 PM – 1:45 PM | Sculpting the Environment: The Three-Dimensional Art of Herbert Bayer
Join co-curators Koko Bayer and Adam Thomas for a conversation about this landmark exhibition, which spans over six decades of Bayer’s work. This is the most comprehensive showcase of Bayer’s contributions as a sculptor, landscape designer, and land artist.
Paepcke Auditorium

2:00 PM – 2:45 PM | Curator Tour
Get an insider’s perspective on Sculpting the Environment during a guided tour with co-curators Koko Bayer and Adam Thomas.
Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies
Attendance limited to 30

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Keystones of Aspen’s Cultural Heritage:  A Walking Tour of the Aspen Meadows Campus
Take a guided walking tour through the Aspen Institute’s Aspen Meadows campus with historian and author Paul Andersen. Hear stories about the visionaries and ideas that sparked the cultural renaissance of modern Aspen and the Institute.
Begins and ends at the Bayer Center
Attendance limited to 25

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Explore Art, Landscape, and Legacy: A Walking Tour of the Aspen Meadows Campus
Join landscape architect Ann Mullins for a guided walk through the Aspen Meadows campus, shaped by Bauhaus master Herbert Bayer. Discover how Bayer’s land art and design vision brought the principles of form, function, and environment into harmony across the Institute’s grounds.
Begins at the Bayer Center; ends at the Paepcke Building
Attendance limited to 25

2:00 PM – 3:15 PM | Flash Seminar: Humanistic Ideals and Human Flourishing
Experience the Institute’s hallmark text-based, moderated dialogue in this short seminar exploring what it means for the human spirit to flourish. Short readings will be provided on the spot to spark conversation on how we live meaningful, just lives in community with others.
Moderated by Todd Breyfogle. Attendance is limited to 23.
Paepcke Building Library

12:00 PM – 5:00 PM | Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies Open House
Sculpting the Environment: The Three-Dimensional Art of Herbert Bayer
Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Aspen Institute, Sculpting the Environment: The Three-Dimensional Art of Herbert Bayer spans over six decades of Bayer’s career and is the most comprehensive overview of the artist as a sculptor and landscape designer. Focusing on his site-specific outdoor sculptures and land art, this exhibition brings together nearly one hundred works, including drawings, paintings, photographs, models, and maquettes—many on display for the first time. Join us to view and tour the exhibition and meet its co-curators Koko Bayer and Adam Thomas.