INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS & IDEAS to Celebrate 25 Years with Online Programming

The International Festival of Arts & Ideas will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a variety of online artistic experiences, virtual food experiences, cell phone-guided walking tours, and various NEA Big Read activities.

The virtual Ideas programming centered on the theme "Democracy: We the People" will feature interactive events and conversations with vital thinkers, including 2012 Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco, award-winning scholar Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean, NEA Big Read Author Stephanie Burt, and renowned writer Anand Giridharadas. All programming will be free.

The Festival's Co-Director Tom Griggs said that the Festival is committed to its mission that arts and ideas bring people together and have a positive economic impact on New Haven. "We have retained all staff members hired before March 1st and we are working on ways to support our local New Haven artists with virtual opportunities. We are also partnering with our local business community, especially the restaurant and bar industries who have always served the Festival so well. Nonetheless, we are deeply disappointed for the artists who are no longer able to perform for Festival audiences this year, as well as all of the hardworking members of our production team and other seasonal staff." In addition, The Festival has joined the Together New Haven network to participate in local efforts to support and promote local businesses and plan for economic recovery.

In a video statement released by the International Festival on Tuesday, April 14, Co-Directors Griggs and Liz Fisher said, "This year's Festival is going to be very different from any we've done before. This isn't the 25th Anniversary we imagined, but it's a Festival we can all take part in-and love. While it won't be possible for us to continue with the live programming that we had planned, we're excited by the new virtual and physically distanced program that we are re-imagining, to virtually embrace our audience, artists, and community, and to deliver, in a new way, all the things you know and love about the Festival."

Virtual and physically distanced programming will begin online in the coming weeks on a rolling basis. Details will be announced weekly and will be shared on the Festival's website, www.artidea.org.

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