Here are some details about the events it will hold this week:
We will begin with an alumni opening reception on Friday, October 11th, 2013 at the Liaison Hotel. This will be a great opportunity for old friends to reconnect and for the extended group of the IPS family to come together. This will be followed by the Opening Plenary session featuring Barbara Ehrenreich and is free and open to the public.
The Ideas Into Action Festival on Saturday, October 12th and Sunday, October 13th, 2013 will feature fast-paced, inclusive conversation with notable activists, interactive workshops, forums, artistic expressions, and more. Activities will be ongoing both inside and outside forum rooms. The Ideas Into Action Festival will be a “pay-what-you-can” event so that no one will be turned away. We suggest a donation of $75 for the Festival to begin to off-set the cost of these two-days of dynamic conversation on the past, present, and future of social movements.
The Festival will conclude with an innovative "Idea Slam" at 12:00 noon on Sunday, October 13, 2013 which will provide a chance for new and experienced activists to present their ideas to change the world in brief, entertaining bursts — and win cash prizes!
That evening, we will gather for a Ticketed Dinner at Busboys and Poets. IPS will honor long-time progressive champions Harriet Barlow, and Cora and Peter Weiss as we celebrate, reminisce, party, and further develop our progressive community.
The celebration will culminate with an interactive Gala at the historic Union Station on Sunday evening, to include notable progressives from major social movements of the past 50 years and rising young activists and public scholars of today.
IPS bills itself as Washington, DC's first progressive, multi-issue think tank. It was founded in the Kennedy-era (1963) by White House staffer Marcus Raskin and State Department lawyer Richard Barnet.
The think tank's motto is "Ideas in Action for Peace, Justice, and the Environment."
According to its 2012 annual report, IPS had total assets of around $2.2 million at the end of 2012.
