Rarely are festivals for serious thinking, but most of them don't have a dedicated 'Ideas' program. 

Running alongside the Vivid Sydney's 'Light' and 'Music' tiers, Vivid Ideas has put some big names on the podium this past week: Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing and Chad Dickerson from Etsy for starters - and the program doesn't stop there.

Tonight Shane Smith from VICE is beamed in by satellite to talk about creating the VICE Guide To Travel series. Also tonight: real-life journalists, producers and creative business folk ask "Does Making Quality Content Pay?" in a forum that features the ABC Radio's multi-platform head Linda Bracken. (We're going to preempt that one with a "Yes".) Thursday will see Threadless founder Jake Nickell tell us why we shouldn't stop making stuff (and how to make making stuff successful). On Friday night it's U.S. designer Frank Chimero of WIRED, Microsoft and Facebook design fame talking about the patterns of good design. Come Saturday there's a panel on the sticky subject of building networks in the arts - or how to foster strong relationships in the arts world without acting like a wanker.

It all winds down on Sunday - an ideal time to see URBANSCREEN's lighting of the sails. The projection puts twisting bodies and giant ripples on the Opera House sails, which is an illuminating idea in itself.