The International Festival of Arts & Ideas is a 15-day festival that takes place in New Haven, Connecticut. The festival presents performing arts, lectures, and conversations that celebrate influential artists and thinkers from around the world. The Festival's free headliner concerts on the

New Haven Green The New Haven Green is a privately owned park and recreation area located in the downtown district of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. It comprises the central square of the nine-square settlement plan of the original Puritan colonists in Ne ...

attract thousands of spectators. Past performers include

Aaron Neville Aaron Joseph Neville (born January 24, 1941) is a retired American R&B and soul singer. He has had four platinum albums and four Top 10 hits in the United States, including three that reached number one on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. ...

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

, Red Baraat, Rosanne Cash,

Calexico Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. It is about east of San Diego ...

and the

Carolina Chocolate Drops The Carolina Chocolate Drops were an old-time string band from Durham, North Carolina. Their 2010 album, ''Genuine Negro Jig,'' won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, and was number 9 in ''fRoots' ...

Performing arts

The Festival presents theater, dance, and music offerings from around the world, including important local, national, and international premieres. Its theatre and dance offerings have recently included the American premiere of David Greig's play The Events, from Actors Touring Company London; Mark Morris Dance Group;

and the Silk Road Ensemble; Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company; Contemporary Legend Theatre (Taiwan); Dianne Reeves; along with modern circus artists such as Circa (Australia) and Les 7 Doigts de la main (Montreal). Early in its history, the Festival presented the Royal Shakespeare Company from the United Kingdom, concert productions from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, and a pre-Broadway presentation of Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen. In 2013, the Festival continued its tradition of presenting sought-after events, like, the US premiere of a new production of ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amo ...

'', a collaboration between

Bristol Old Vic Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a fin ...

(England) in association with

Handspring Puppet Company The Handspring Puppet Company is a puppetry performance and design company established in 1981 by Adrian Kohler, Basil Jones, Jon Weinberg and Jill Joubert. It is based in Cape Town, South Africa. History Jones and Kohler met at the Michae ...

( South Africa), directed by Tom Morris. This is the team behind the Tony Award-winning Broadway and West End smash, '' War Horse''. That same season, the festival also launched the 40th Anniversary Tour of the celebrated Kronos Quartet.

The Ideas program

A fundamental objective of the Festival is to "provoke the mind". They do this through the Ideas programs—a series of keynote speakers, panels, conversations with artists, post-performance discussions and community dialogues, designed to expand upon the themes of the performances and increase the audience's understanding of the artistic forms and their appreciation of the artists. The panelists regularly include artists and local experts as well as leaders and thinkers from around the world. Recent Ideas programs have featured a conversation between Kennedy Center honoree Bill T. Jones and inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander, as well as a corporate panel on global innovation with participation from Connecticut-based companies. In 2013, some featured speakers were Joshua Foer (author, '' Moonwalking with Einstein''),

Richard Levin Richard Charles Levin (born April 7, 1947) is an American economist and academic administrator. From 1993 to 2013, he was the 22nd President of Yale University. From March 2014 to June 2017, he was Chief Executive Officer of Coursera. Early lif ...

(former President of Yale University) and

Marion Nestle Marion Nestle (born 1936) is an American molecular biologist, nutritionist, and public health advocate. She is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health Emerita at New York University. Her research examines s ...

(author, ''Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health''). The Ideas Program talks are available via the Festival's website as a free resource for the public.

The Visionary Leadership Award

The festival has recently expanded into year-round activity with the creation of the Visionary Leadership Award. Thus far, the Award has been presented to

Zainab Salbi Zainab Salbi (Arabic: زينب سلبي; born 1969) is an Iraqi American women's rights activist and writer. She is the co-founder of Women for Women International and host of ''Through Her Eyes'' with Yahoo! News and '' #MeToo, Now What?'', PBS ...

, founder and CEO of Women for Women International, Jill Abramson, the first female executive editor of the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, and civil rights leader, influential journalist and foreign correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault, in recognition of their trailblazing work and leadership that is impacting the world. The award was also presented to Sheila Nevins in 2014, Angélique Kidjo in 2015, Sheryl WuDunn in 2016, and Majora Carter in 2017. Poet and MacArthur Genius

Claudia Rankine Claudia Rankine (; born September 4, 1963) is an American poet, essayist, playwright and the editor of several anthologies. She is the author of five volumes of poetry, two plays and various essays. Her book of poetry, '' Citizen: An American L ...

, author of the acclaimed Citizen: An American Lyric, will be recognized in 2018. The Visionary Leadership Award is presented in honor of Jean Handley, a Festival founder and long-time leader in the business, philanthropic, and arts communities in Connecticut.

Impact

More than 85% of festival programs are completely free to the public, including events that feature jazz, classical, dance, and theater artists from around the world. In 2013, the festival generated an economic impact of $34 million for the

State of Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

and the

greater New Haven Greater New Haven is the metropolitan area whose extent includes those towns in the U.S. state of Connecticut that share an economic, social, political, and historical focus on the city of New Haven. It occupies the south-central portion of the sta ...

community. Dr. Mark Paul Gius, Professor of Economics at

Quinnipiac University Quinnipiac University () is a private university in Hamden, Connecticut. The university grants undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees through its College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Engineering, School of ...

’s School of Business has collected and analyzed the festival's economic impact since the festival's inception in 1996. The Festival also has a fellowship program that gives high school students in New Haven the chance to fully immerse themselves in the festival.

Festival Leadership

As of November 2018, the festival has been led by a team of Co-Directors: Liz Fisher, Thomas Griggs, and Chad Herzog.

History

The International Festival of Arts and Ideas was established in 1996 by Anne Calabresi, Jean Handley, and Roslyn Meyer. The founders envisioned an annual celebration in New Haven - a small city rich with diversity and steeped in strong cultural and educational traditions - distinguished from established arts festivals by its fusion of ideas with events. Their aim was to gather world-class artists and pre-eminent thinkers from around the globe, showcasing the city and the state as a major arts destination.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:International Festival of Arts and Ideas Festivals in Connecticut Culture of New Haven, Connecticut Tourist attractions in New Haven, Connecticut