The International Festival of Arts & Ideas is a year-round organization that presents an annual celebration of performing arts, lectures, and conversations in New Haven, Connecticut. The Festival convenes leading artists, thought leaders, and innovators from around the world for dynamic public programs to engage, entertain, and inspire a diversity of communities. In 2024, more than 85% of Festival programming was free to the public, including events that feature some of the most influential musical, dance, and theater artists and speakers of our time.
We seek to attract and engage a broad and diverse audience, celebrating and building community and advancing economic development.
We envision a flourishing city and state in which a festival of arts and ideas plays a vital role in enriching lives and leading people to understand how their futures are intertwined.
We respectfully acknowledge that we live, work and play on the unceded lands of the Quinnipiac. While we honor the culture and history of these nations, we also acknowledge that Native people are contemporary artists, writers, scholars, neighbors, and relatives with whom we must be in relationship to live our values fully. Visit native-land.ca to learn more.
New Haven is a diverse, creative, and welcoming city with a rich history and prestigious institutions like Yale. It's a walkable city offering shops, restaurants, museums, and easy access to public transportation. Set in Connecticut’s beautiful hills, New Haven has a long tradition of welcoming immigrants, with one out of every eight residents born abroad. Our diverse population speaks over 100 languages and contributes to the city's vibrant culture. Diversity is the foundation of our cultural, social, and economic vitality, and it's something we proudly celebrate. Learn more about the city at newhavenct.gov
When Anne Calabresi, Jean Handley and Roslyn Meyer founded the Festival in 1996, their aim was to gather world-class artists and thinkers from around the globe, showcasing the city and the state as a major arts destination. Our Mission, as set by our founders, is to create an internationally renowned festival in New Haven of the highest quality with world-class artists, thinkers, and leaders, attracting and engaging a broad and diverse audience celebrating and building community and advancing economic development.
There is a powerful synergy that happens when authors, scientists, and leading innovators are presented alongside outstanding artists. Our founders believed, as we do today, that when great ART and big IDEAS come together, we heighten our ability to understand and imagine. Our Festival was modeled after the great European arts festivals including Edinburgh Festival, which was founded in the ashes of World War II. The underlying goal of our festival and those worldwide is to bring people together to increase international understanding, social cohesion, and celebrate diversity. View our history of artists & speakers over the past 30 years.
