Festival Stories

Canadian Inuk vocalist Tanya Tagaq is a wildly inventive artist who seems to master any medium in which she creates. Her music is like nothing you’ve heard before: a blending of punk, folk and electronica into a complex and contemporary sound. Backed by a “sound tapestry” choir, Tagaq will bring her unique style of throat singing and artistry to UW’s Meany Center on Friday, Feb. 8. She will also read from her book Split Tooth, followed by a Q&A with the author, on Wednesday, Feb. 6, at the wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House at the University of Washington’s Seattle campus.

As a musician,...

Michelle Dorrance would be considered a tap phenomenon even if all we knew of her was virtuosic footwork. But as her movement skills have developed and matured, so has her musical acumen and choreographic imagination, elevating tap to a new level of execution, innovation, and sophistication. And with Dorrance Dance, presented by World Music/CRASHarts Friday night, she has assembled a rock solid crew of impressive, precise technicians with vivid personalities and fabulously expressive flair.

The program opened with the jazzy “Jungle Blues.” Set to the eponymous tune by “Jelly Roll” Morton, this...

Brisbane-based circus arts company Circa is one of Australia’s greatest cultural exports — a groundbreaking ensemble of circus artists constantly stripping back and reinventing their art form, and consistently wowing audiences at arts festivals all around the world. I haven’t always been entirely sold on their productions although I appreciate their skills, artistry and innovative spirit; I often find their meshing of contemporary dance and acrobatics a little abrupt in larger ensemble works, but this intimate piece for three acrobats and one violinist is expertly executed and often very...

Australian circus artist Daniel O'Brien comes from Maryborough, three hours north of Brisbane. He started gymnastics at six years old but gave it up at 15. However, he later he moved to Melbourne to train in circus at NICA, where he specialised in hand-balancing and aerial straps. He has been an ensemble artist with Circa since graduating in 2013. Daniel is married to Kimberley O'Brien, another Circa ensemble member. In his spare time he loves playing video games and reading.

Having already been in eight Circa shows, Daniel now joins the cast of its latest production, Humans, which explores...

The International Festival of Arts & Ideas, based in New Haven, Connecticut, stands with hundreds of leading companies and small businesses from coast to coast in support of a vital common goal: getting more people out to vote.

The International Festival is giving its entire staff a paid day-off on Tuesday, November 6, in order to lower the barriers for all of its employees to vote and to participate in Election Day volunteer activities.

The U.S. has one of the lowest voter participation rates in the developed world: as low as 36% in the last midterm elections in 2014. One of the most common...

I hadn’t intended to get married when I left the house this afternoon.

But by 5pm, I had a new husband – a stranger I had never met – who drank wine and toasted me with a moving but silent speech before hundreds, during a sumptuous, slightly surreal celebration that all but brought a tear to my eye.

I had become tangled in the audience improvisation surrounding Geoff Sobelle’s delightful HOME; an uplifting foray into physical theatre and existential clowning that elevates the meaning of social interaction into heady, graceful realms.

And, many rooms and situations later, including my wedding...

Our Co-Director, Tom Griggs, joined WNHH host Host Mubarakah Ibrahim to talk Festival!

At the 2017 Golden Globes, Donald Glover made the proclamation that the Atlanta rap trio Migos was “The Beatles of our generation.” It was an ambitious statement, one that made audiences question what three Atlanta rappers have in common with Liverpool legends. It all comes down to one word, Beatlemania, a musical phenomena that eclipsed the concept of fame itself.

With the arrival of John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, music and the celebration of it changed forever. Fans of The Beatles introduced us to an excitement music had yet to see; venues were overrun, women...

Claudia Rankine sits on stage. She has just won the 8th annual Visionary Leadership Award. Speaking calmly, taking pauses only to let her words resonate more clearly, Rankine discusses her award winning poetic novel, Citizen. “If I were more imaginative I would have made Black Panther,” laughed Rankine. Her responses to the age old questions, “are your experiences real?” Rankine composed Citizen socially. Every moment she described is obviously real. Through dinner parties and social speaking events, Citizen came to light. The crowd never waivered throughout her talk. Laughter only occurred...

Gordon Geballe, Chairman of the Board of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, announced that Liz Fisher, Tom Griggs, and Chad Herzog have been appointed Co-Directors of the Festival, roles in which they have been serving on an interim basis since spring 2017.

Liz Fisher has served as Managing Director of the Festival since 1998. Tom Griggs has served as Director of Development since 2014. Chad Herzog has served as Director of Programming since 2015. They will continue focusing on their areas of expertise, while equally sharing executive leadership responsibilities.

“On behalf of the...