Connect 2022
May 4 – June 26, 2022
Rethink community. Honor the Earth. Embrace your roots. Meet new neighbors. Baila en la calle. Break the fourth wall. Learn something new. Connect with the Festival, and connect it all.
The International Festival of Arts & Ideas returns for its 27th Festival from May 4 through June 26, 2022, with more than 200 fully in-person events related to the theme “Connect.” Most events will also be live-streamed, and 85% of programming will be free with some ticketed events on sale in April.
This year, we'll explore how artistic genres connect to one another, and how our roots intertwine across generations, planting seeds for the future even as we embody the legacies of our past. Our city and community connect us all through shared space and vital issues. The Festival embraces the multi-faceted nature of all of us by finding ways to connect performance and workshop, new skills and old, and strangers through the arts.
Here's just a sneak peek at what's to come! A runway show with New Haven designers and Project Runway contestant Prajje Oscar, LA musician-activists Las Cafeteras, and Dallas Black Dance Theatre.
Stay tuned: We're announcing the full season in April!
The Festival is made possible thanks to the generosity of people like you! Consider making a gift of any amount to become a Festival Insider now.
Season Launch Party
Get ready to CONNECT with us!
How do you connect to your roots, your community, your world? Join us in kicking off our 2022 season in style with a night of drinks, bites, giveaways, dancing, tunes by Cuban jazz pianist Nachito Herrera, DJ Ch'Varda—and more. This is your first chance to see the 2022 Festival line-up and experience a taste of the artistry with live performances. Be the first to buy tickets and plan your summer with the Festival!
Catering will be provided by Bourassa Catering with generous drink donations from Freixenet Cava.
¿Cómo te conectas con tus raíces, tu comunidad, tu mundo? Únete a nosotros para comenzar nuestra temporada 2022 con estilo en una noche de tragos, bocadillos, obsequios, baile, melodías del pianista de jazz cubano Nachito Herrera, DJ Ch'Varda y más. ¡Sé el primero en comprar entradas y planificar tu verano con el Festival!
La provisión de comida estará a cargo de Bourassa Catering con generosas donaciones de bebidas de Freixenet Cava.
COVID POLICY
Proof of COVID-19 vaccination required for in-person attendance. Guests will be asked to wear a mask when not eating or drinking. Additional precautions may be required based on public health guidance and City of New Haven policy...
Dallas Black Dance Theatre
CONNECTICUT PREMIERE
Virtuosic dancers perform modern, jazz, ethnic, and spiritual dances that get at the heart of the African American experience.
ICONIC Connections Fashion Expo
High fashion meets the Festival in this premiere catwalk event featuring Project Runway's Prajjé Oscar, Neville Wisdom, Ng2 Studios, LaMoo Designs, and Isalina Sanchez.
Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower: An Opera by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon
Co-presented with the Yale Schwarzman Center
This fully staged opera created by Toshi Reagan in collaboration with her mother, Bernice Johnson Reagon, brings together more than 30 original anthems drawn from 200 years of black music to recreate Butler’s sci-fi, Afrofuturist masterpiece.
DRAGtastic Journey
In partnership with the New Haven Pride Center
FREE. Get ready to WORK and SLAY on the DRAGtastic Journey featuring some of New Haven’s local drag royalty!