About us:

Every year in June, New Haven sparkles as The International Festival of Arts & Ideas displays a rare collection of gems: stunning music and dance, brilliant theater, bright and emergent thinkers gathered from around the world. As the Festival unfolds, the city shares the finery of its world-class theaters, courtyards, museums, galleries, and richly diverse neighborhoods with guests from near and far.

Now in its twelfth year, The Festival is firmly established as one of the world's most significant arts festivals. It has the distinction of fusing arts and ideas programs to present a broad array of offerings within and across genres. The Festival showcases hundreds of international events each summer, from over 20 countries, with an impressive scale and scope unmatched in the Northeast.

Mission:

The mission of Arts & Ideas 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.

Program:

The Festival's ambitious music and theater programs fill New Haven with renowned international stars, newly-discovered artists, and a number of U.S. premieres each season. The eclectic ideas program offers a mix of serious, controversial, and whimsical topics, all designed to inspire new ways of thinking. The Festival also features spectacular visual arts and plenty of family-friendly events. It continues to make more than 80% of Festival events free to the public, including some of the most prestigious opera, jazz, symphony, rock, folk and fusion music in the world.