David Byrne helped kick off the Aspen Ideas Festival's 2020 online edition in a conversation with Ford Foundation President Darren Walker on Sunday. The two discussed the role of the artist in difficult social times such as this. "Music can unite people," Byrne says. "It can make people feel that they belong, that they’re not alone." You can watch their conversation below. Also on the festival's opening day were conversations with Anthony Fauci and Stacey Abrams. You can watch those and the rest of the festival events, as it continues through July 2, at aspenideas.org.

The Spike Lee–directed filmed version of the Broadway show David Byrne’s American Utopia, a production the New York Times called "dazzling, jubilant and rapturous," will debut on HBO later this year; you can listen to the original cast album on Nonesuch here. Reasons to Be Cheerful, the online magazine founded by David Byrne under his Arbutus Foundation, is providing its own tonic for tumultuous times through stories that reveal smart, proven, replicable solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.