Festival Stories

This Saturday, the Festival will be introducing Wally Cardona and his new project Really Real, and exploring ideas for developing dances for this summer’s Festival. Following Wally Cardona’s workshop, any dancers/choreographers with ideas about creating dances can meet with Elizabeth Johnson and Meghan Bowden of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.

On Sunday, there will be an All Come Workshop, where local dancers/choreographers will introduce their ideas to the larger group and begin developing dances and recruiting participants.

Learn how to become a 2009 Festival Docent. RSVP by February 16.

Dear Friends,

Global Interdependence. Think Global, Act Local. Responsibility and Accountability.

Who knew just how present these phrases would be today when we focused on our 2009 Festival theme "Global Identities/Local Heroes" two years ago?

Artists...Creators...Innovators...that's who. And they usually do know before the rest of us mere mortals.

Our Festival themes reveal themselves in the kind of artistic expression we see in creators around the world. When we set about looking for projects for the 2009 Festival, we noticed a common thread in the subjects and styles of work we were seeing and...

The announcement of the Festival's 2009 theater programming appeared in both Variety and The Hartford Courant:

Variety
Arts & Ideas fest announces slate
Offerings include 'Circus,' 'Ivanov'
January 28, 2009
By Frank Rizzo

The Hartford Courant
Irish, Hungarian Theater At FestivalJanuary 29, 2009
By Frank Rizzo

The dazzling array of artists and thinkers that will be a part of the 2009 Festival are going to be announced on January 30 at the culmination of "Sneak Peek Week"- the 2009 International Festival of Arts & Ideas Preview Party.

Just as we want you to be the first to get a glimpse of the music, theater, dance, and discussions about “Global Identities/Local Heroes”, we also want you to be the first in line to take advantage of a very special discount ticket offer: $25 tickets for all performance events in June go on sale to Members of the Festival on Monday, February 2!

www.artidea.org with...

Click here to read the article from January 22 in the New Haven Register about "Sneak Peek Week".

It is interesting to think back to when I gave the lecture last June. I remember being very nervous before hand, but pleased afterwards as it seemed to go down quite well. Presenting 'Siren' in New Haven was great in itself, but it has also made doing other shows in the US more achievable, including at the Here Arts Centre in New York as part of Under the Radar and in Minneapolis and Columbus in February. Hopefully we will have some more opportunities to present Siren in the US over the coming year.

There will be limited availability. "Sneak Peek" events are discounted for Members of the Festival – purchase your Membership today!

Executive Director Mary Lou Aleskie was quoted in the New York Times "Culture" section on Sunday December 14. Click here to read the article online.

Watch a video clip and read the article about "Unsilent Night" in the New Haven Independent

The International Festival of Arts & Ideas collaboration with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange continues Saturday, December 6 and Sunday, December 7 at the Educational Center for the Arts at 55 Audubon Street in New Haven. Elizabeth Johnson, Associate Artistic Director of the ground-breaking inter-generational dance company, will be continuing work with New Haven community members that began in February. Thousands of people participated in a new series of dance works, “613 Radical Acts of Prayer,” which explored spirituality and social activism during the finale of the 2008 International...

I remember asking myself whether audiences would be willing to sit and concentrate through 90 minutes of nonstop music. Originally I thought it better to separate the pieces by saying a few words about the connection I see in the multi cultural tapestry I wanted to present. But it felt somewhat contrived: I did not want to explain in words how each piece is related to all the others: I wanted the work to "explain itself ".

I never believed that music should be solipsistic: I knew early on in my career that I am taking a risk by insisting on always presenting new music. In most of my...