Neal Fudge
When I was introduced to the Arts and Ideas Fellowship Program, I didn't know what to expect from it. What surprised me the most is that we were getting involved first-hand with the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, such as blogging our experience, picking artists to come down and perform. I learned that the purpose for the Arts and Ideas Festival is to bring individuals together, network, congregate and share their experience as a whole. I was introduced to this amazing program from a teacher in school. I'm an artistic young male and it is my passion and the program has a great potential to enlighten me in many different areas. So I took the opportunity. It is a wonderful experience from the theaters to the music concerts. The board members are informative and the students other than myself experiencing this amazing program also have a creative state of mind which makes it a great experience. My expectations about program were that I was going to get involved with the community with a lot of artistic things. What I've came to learn was not only getting involved with the community and bringing everyone together, but we also learn the infrastructure of how to put it all into effect; the behind the scenes work, so to speak. The Arts and Ideas Fellowship Program is an amazing program and I am more than appreciative to have been involved and granted such an opportunity.
Chrystal Dickey
What a program!
Hi, my name is Chrystal dickey; I am seventeen years old and live in the city of New Haven. So there’s this program called the Arts and Ideas Fellowship Program that I found out about from my mom. It’s a really good program and it is located in downtown New Haven on 195 Church Street. I would highly recommend this program for teens in my community interested in the arts because it teaches the importance of being well-educated in the field that you want to work in. It also teaches about different cultures and backgrounds. We were also taught everything there is to know about running an arts festival, owning a business, and working in it, such as: mission values, organization structure, understanding community, audience development, budgeting, marketing, fundraising, technical and production, sealing the deal, artist bios, and much, much more.