This piece began with Jessica Rizzo’s text, three voices speaking simultaneously, a polyphonic poem juxtaposed with one body bearing the weight of it all. Yang Hao has interpreted this text using dance and pedestrian movement to speak to his experiences as a Chinese man pushed and pulled by both eastern and western cultural influences.
It’s time for the annual unveiling of another dynamic Festival! In 2017, June is “Festival Month” in New Haven, with programming beginning June 3. Be among the first to hear about this year’s world premiere performances, co-commissioned works, Ideas Events, Trex, Food Experiences, Pop Up-Festivals, and an exciting new program partnership with the churches on the New Haven Green!
The Every 28 Hours Plays is a national project focused on the current Civil Rights movement. The title came from the widely shared and contested statistic that every twenty-eight hours a black person is killed by vigilante, security guard, or the police in the United States. The project consists of around 70+ one minute plays and original local content with participation from artists across the...
Poignantly chronicles the turbulent life of a young man living in an impoverished inner-city and his remarkable return from death.
(Stephen Dest, 2017)
Events and Film Screenings
Explore the Dixwell neighborhood of today, recalling the importance of its historical African American sites.
Film Screenings
Prepare your tastebuds for an epicurean extravaganza. Ride to food destinations featured in the documentary Food Haven - including Da Legna, Geronimo, Thali and Miya's - and meet local entrepreneurs, chefs, and culinary artists that make New Haven a true Food Haven.
The Ride is immediately followed by a free screening of the film at the Whitney Humanities Center as part of NHdocs: The Fourth...
The Arts & Ideas high school Fellowship students are teaming up with Citywide Youth Coalition to present a Town Hall discussion as part of "Activate (Be)longing."
A look at a real-life start-up GovWorks.
Travel North from New Haven to Cheshire and learn about plans to connect the former rail trail to Northampton, MA. Visit historic Locks 12 and 14 before returning to New Haven. A representative of East Coast Greenway will lead the ride and provide information and background on the trail.
A behind-the-scenes documentary about the Clinton for President campaign.
Discover the latest technologies as they apply to your health and fitness. Learn how health and fitness are defined, which APPs are useful for your health and fitness goals, and how those may integrate with the healthcare system. Take a ride to some interesting, healthy, places along the way.
A cinema verite pursuit of Al Franken follows the life of the former Saturday Night Live comedian turned best-selling author and political satirist.
Performing a new adaptation of Hansel and Gretel, including dancers from the school.
An award-winning dance company brings New York-premiered pieces to New Haven.
Sixteen contenders seek the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France ("MOF"), France's highest honor in the sublime art of patisserie.
Visit many of New Haven's community gardens and nature preserves to learn how the creation and maintenance of these urban oases contributes to the vibrancy of the city's neighborhoods.
Filmmakers follow animal rights lawyer Steven Wise in his unprecedented challenge to break down the legal wall that separates animals from humans.
Celebrate New Haven's 8th Sister City, Changsha, China. Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, is known for its spicy, delectable food and 3,000 year cultural history. Learn how the relationship between Changsha and New Haven was established, how it has developed, and what the future holds for these two intellectual centers.
Tour stops include Yale-China Association, School of Management...
A panel discussion with filmmakers Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker about animal rights and their documentary film Unlocking the Cage.
Creative music draws upon jazz, classical, folk and popular music traditions.
Stroll through history learning about the people and institutions that shaped old New Haven.
Join La Tanya S. Autry, the Marcia Brady Tucker Senior Fellow, Department of Photography, and curator of the exhibition leads a walking tour that tells the story of the African American liberation movement in New Haven.
Located in the heart of New Haven and based on a set of principles that include historic preservation, human scale, and mixed-use development, the Audubon Arts District not only provides a place where people can live, work, shop, and be educated, its commercial properties return profits to support the area’s arts community.
A walk through Farnam Memorial Gardens and Marsh Botanic Gardens highlighting a number of notable trees. A few of the trees are state champions, meaning that they are the largest of their kind in Connecticut.
An improvisational performance and installation created and performed by Megan Craig.
Identifying and understanding the parallels between our current reality and that of 20th century Europeans.
An unforgettable musical adventure through Mexico!
Canadian rapper Baba Brinkman brings science to life on stage.
A seven-piece jazz band playing the classics of a bygone era.
"Small Great Objects: Anni and Josef Albers in the Americas" and "Lumia: Thomas Wilfred and the Art of Light"
Take a grand tour of Road Trip! with guest-curator, Mary Donahue as she explores the history and roadside architecture of one of the great American pastimes, road trips!
Visit this iconic structure and learn about its inner workings on this special tour of the facility.
East Rock Park is more than a dramatic cliff with wonderful views of New Haven, and more than a peaceful respite or a prime birdwatching spot.
An award-winning "kindie" band with a high energy, interactive, and educational show.
Explore the song in you to inspire the world. Participants will be involved in a three hour session dedicated to learning an instrument, writing a song and recording it. Participants will learn a basic chord progression in the first hour. The group will come together and by using the chord progression they will develop lyrics and melody. When then song is birthed, the group will record the song.
Shoreline Greenway Trail volunteers are at the helm of this ride to bring you the latest updates on the mission to build a 25-mile trail. Ride the East Haven leg of the trail in the spectacular Farm River State Park and conclude at Cosey Beach for ice cream and Q&A.
John Dankosky in a lively discussion recorded for broadcast, that looks at the new economic reality under Donald Trump.
One of today’s most compelling performers of contemporary American opera and song.
Cello, violin, guitar, drums, bass, and electronics craft a unique blend of melody-driven orchestral rock sounds.
In this devised, clown-esque piece, a troupe of eccentrics creates a “BrouHaHa!”
Ugandan author Makumbi reads from her debut novel, Kintu. In this tale of immigration and home, a woman travels back to Uganda to organize her husband’s funeral and is stunned to discover a web of deception. Makumbi’s writing relies heavily on Ganda oral traditions, especially myths, Legends, folktales and sayings.
Discover the transformation of turn-of-the-century Winchester Repeating Arms Company service buildings into an inspiring educational environment
Home to the world’s largest collection of paintings, sculptures, and other visual media related to the Famine that took place in Ireland from 1845 to 1852
Join us for an in-depth, close look at works in the collection. Led by Gallery staff, small groups engage in slow looking, close analysis, and critical conversation for a truly participatory experience.Thursday, June 15, 4:30pmGallery Talk, Guided Looking Session: Candy/A Good and Spacious LandJoin Jim Goldberg, Germano Kimbro, Christopher Klatell, Kevin McBride, Laura Wexler, and Jason Mancini...
Explore the concept of the “model city” through the lens of New Haven.
Award-winning choreographer Camille A. Brown uses the rhythmic play of - social dance, double dutch, stepin’, tap - and live, original music to represent a nuanced spectrum of black womanhood in a racially and politically charged world.
Scottish-Sierra Leonean author Forna discusses her novel, The Hired Man, set in Croatia. This suspenseful story centers a local hunter and a British family that has come to live in his town. A dark and infamous history of the place bubbles to the surface with the arrival of newcomers.
Go behind the scenes of the American Decorative Arts Furniture Study, the Gallery’s working library of American furniture and wooden objects, which features more than 1,000 works from the 17th to the 21st century.
The new Adams Center for Musical Arts opened on January 2017, twenty-four months after ground was broken. The complex connects a newly renovated Hendrie Hall to the previously renovated Leigh Hall by way of a new structure that is anchored by a dedicated orchestra rehearsal hall and an atrium in which students from the Yale School of Music and Yale College can gather.
Presented in conjunction with the newly published, Candy/A Good and Spacious Land, and an exhibition of Goldberg and Wylie’s work.
In honor of the 90th anniversary of chaplaincy at Yale University, and to celebrate the rich diversity that this community embodies, the chaplains are leading a sacred sites tour on and around Old Campus where many religious groups hold worship and meditation services.
Juliet Nicolson, in conversation with curator, Timothy Young, discusses the legacies of her grandmother, Vita Sackville-West - both literary and horticultural - and the thread of creativity connecting generations of women in her family, as detailed in her latest book, A House Full of Daughters. The talk is in conjunction with the special exhibition at the Beinecke Library, Happiness: The Writer...
The Cameroonian novelist Mbue talks about her 2016 debut book, Behold the Dreamers. It tells the story of a Cameroonian couple living in New York City after immigrating; the fragility of making ends meet; and the vulnerability of their relationship and their future security to the rise or fall of an employer’s fortunes.
The brewery where the motto is "enjoy every moment, do what you love, and embrace the world around you."
A walk-through exhibit composed of cube structures resembling a miniature city block.
Travel South on the East Coast Greenway to Silver Sands State Park in Milford. This section of the East Coast Greenway incorporates the Vision Trail, the Harbor side trail, the Long Wharf Nature Preserve, and the Savin Rock Trail. A representative of East Coast Greenway will lead the ride and provide information and background on the trails.
All paces and ages are welcome to join in walks with physicians and clinical professionals to discuss health topics with all walkers.
Discovering Amistad invites you to take a tour aboard Connecticut’s flagship, the Amistad at Amistad Pier, Long Wharf Drive in New Haven.
Visitors must be a minimum of six-years-old, and all under 15 must be accompanied by an adult. Limit 40 visitors
108 Monkeys invites you to ignite connection and tune up our commitment to compassion and empathy, by engaging in synchronized movement and breath in a shared space: the great urban outdoors of The New Haven Green.
An all-style teen dance competition.
Calling all young thinkers and tinkerers! Come out and help construct a model city of the future made out of cardboard boxes. Local architects, makers, and city planners will assist, offering advice, and distribute permits to Box City's young entrepreneurs.
Nigerian-American author Ndibe discusses his 2016 memoir Never Look an American in the Eye: Flying Turtles, Colonial Ghosts, and the Making of a Nigerian American, which examines the differences between Nigerian and American etiquette and politics; considers American stereotypes about Africa (and vice-versa); and juxtaposes African folk tales with Wall Street trickery.
As part of the BIG READ, New Haven Story Project has been collecting stories of Immigration and Migration.
Experience the architectural wonders of the Yale campus, featuring stories of student life and the history of the University.
Join our educators for an interactive tour of the Gallery’s history, architecture, and encyclopedic collection.
SPACE IS LIMITED
Created by the award-winning team of Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jafferis, (Be)longing is a powerful performance event reflecting our society’s collective emergence from large-scale tragedies.
Ride to Hindinger Farm in Hamden for the annual Strawberry Festival. Events include family hayrides, clowns, lots of food and entertainment, and of course, beautiful, delicious red juicy strawberries!
Drink, eat, and tour local history on the second Grand Avenue Gastronomy Tour!
This tour will explore East Rock Park and offer great opportunities for wildlife opportunities and spectacular views of the rock itself. Difficulty Level: All levels
Six musicians from all over Mexico, with different influences but the same goal of creating mesmerizing rhythms and presenting unrepeatable live experiences, Troker’s sound careens between the sublime and the dangerous. Fulaso’s FUnky LAtin SOul sound creates a soul-affirming, dance floor-burning party.
Shimmy your way down to the New Haven green for a dance party you won't forget. We Dance, one step, one love, one rhythm. The city dances to One Beat. Young, old, 2 left feet, dance enthusiasts to dance professionals are all welcome to join us for the Arts & ideas Festival as we get the energy flowing through the streets of New Haven. Dance lessons and dance social will be on the menu of dancing...
Shimmy your way down to the New Haven green for a dance party you won't forget.
Winchester Rifles to precision clocks and everything in between, New Haven has a rich industrial heritage. Explore the links between the city's industrial past and the post-industrial present while visiting the sites of many of New Haven's powerhouse manufacturers of yore.
Meet MakeHaven members who will be working on projects using: laser cutters, wood shop, vinyl cutters, brewing machine, 3D printers and sewing machines.
Bonsai trees are not a special species, but rather are the result of years of collaborative work with nature to create a miniature tree or forest scene in a shallow pot. Learn about the history of bonsai, and what it takes — both the tools and the techniques — to create these works of art, while a member of the Bonsai Society of Greater New Haven demonstrates some of the work that sets a nursery...
The epic story of how New Haven politicos signed the Constitution, kickstarted the Industrial Revolution, pursued the City Beautiful, built New York, and launched the Model City.
A history of American eating preferences and how we got to where we are.
Come down to the Green to participate in this unique and creative musical experience!
GRAMMY nominated saxophonist, composer, arranger, and Connecticut native, Jimmy Greene, wrote and recorded the album Beautiful Life three years ago to celebrate the life of Ana Márquez-Greene, his 6-year-old daughter who was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Now, Greene has released a sequel: Beautiful Life, Volume 2, and is bringing his music to the New Haven Green. He’s joined by...
A tour of the CTL's freshly renovated space in Sterling Memorial Library, designed for teaching in the twenty-first century.
Free painting workshop for kids with local artist Katro Storm, celebrating African American culture. Come and paint a beautiful African sunset that you can take home and keep forever!
Exploring the African Diaspora and celebrating our roots through dance.
Learn about local and farm-raised oysters from the Northeast.
Featuring songs and colorful folkloric dances of México, romantic Bolero songs, and Spanish "rumba Flamenca."
Manual Cinema combines shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, and innovative sounds and music to create immersive stories.
Instrumental Mini Big Band. Awesome Afro Peruvian and Pan American Jazz music.
Readings of works by Emily Dickinson, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman, discussed alongside and in connection to objects in the Gallery’s collection.
Join architectural historian Kathryn M. Kuranda to discuss the historical background and design intent of this important African-American landmark.
Arm-of-the-Sea combines large-scale visual storytelling with live music in contemporary works of mask and puppet theater.
An 8,500 square foot facility that fosters collaboration, creativity and the development of solutions to challenging problems.
This behind-the-scenes Beinecke event features the Walt Whitman Collection, part of the library's extensive Yale Collection of American Literature.
Join the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to learn about your local national wildlife refuge.
Who has it, who grants it, and why?
Join the Citywide Youth Coalition, Inc, International Arts & Ideas Festival, and Aaron Jafferis (writer of (Be)longing) to bring together youth, community activists, healers, and mental health professionals for a night of discussion on life after loss. As a continuation to the Dinner and Dialogue discussion Survival of the Fittest: Youth, Guns, and the American Culture of Violence, "Life after...
Join CitySeed's Sanctuary Kitchen and IRIS on Tuesday, June 20th for the World Refugee Day Food Bazaar.
A world premiere oratorio takes the thoughts of critic and professor Harold Bloom on a musical journey of passion, insight, and personal revelation.
Abbie Gardner, the fiery Dobro player with an infectious smile has been touring with Americana darlings Red Molly for the past eleven years.
Discusses the work of Hugh Steers, B.A. 1985, and David Wojnarowicz, focusing on each artist’s depiction of life during the AIDS crisis in the 1990s.
Soro-Bindi is an exciting, interactive performance that incorporates traditional Ghanaian dances, songs, and stories
Learn about the many facets of Manual Cinema‘s work and get hands-on training in the elements of cinematic puppetry and visual storytelling
The historic buildings of Wooster Square tell stories of the diverse groups that settled in this neighborhood.
We Are Citizens is the culmination of a three-day intensive New Haven residency with Theatre of the Oppressed NYC, a company whose mission is to partner with communities facing discrimination to inspire transformative action through theatre.
Elm trees, powder house keys, and the Black Panther party; the revolutionary 9 squares of New Haven. Unlock the mysteries and histories of the first planned city of the Colonies. Last stop, ice cream.
The Word: 4th Annual Citywide High School Poetry Jam. A showcase of the Weekly Word Warriors original poetry.
SriKrishna Leelamrutham encaptures Lord Krishna's compassion, courage, and mischief.
The INTAKE Music Ensemble is comprised of professional worldwide musicians performing native and classical instruments and repertoire; Ensemble members serve as faculty of the Native Instrument Academy and perform residencies, concerts, and international tours in a concert stage and community settings.
Visual artist Phoebe HUI and choreographer CAI Ying blend their kinetic creations to curate a unique experience for each audience member. Immerse yourself in a hybrid of concert, performance, installation and kinetic sculpture with everyday objects from two premier Hong Kong artists.
Working with New Haven public schools, sculptor Debe Sham will help students find their voices in their city as they design their own urban playground. Students will develop small models that will be realized as life-sized sculptures at our Pop-Up Festivals and on the New Haven Green.
See the New Haven factories that produced a wide variety of local products with Connecticut historian Bruce Clouette.
Join Patricia Illingworth on a tour of the first chartered burial ground in the United States.
The Mulan Fitness and Art Academy will perform two short dances, a form of Yangko that utilizes the general rhythm of Jiangnan (A Chinese traditional music style) and modified with some new patterns. They will then teach the techniques used in performance to the class.
Wilson's wife Romero and Scholar Elam discuss the playwright's art and engage his famous ten-play history cycle.
Two of New Haven's finest mixologists mix-off in this swizzle-stick-biter of an event!
What does it feel like to be contained in our chaotic world? Using elements of the ancient Chinese game, Mahjong, Never Stand Still gives audience members an opportunity to travel on a journey with people halfway around the world, in Hong Kong, for a completely new experience.
Open Ring Circus is an arts and entertainment collective based out of the North Eastern USA and Canada.
Join Margot Broom from downtown New Haven's Breathing Room Yoga Center for a special Asana & Art mash-up yoga class.
East meets West as award-winning musicians perform together for the first time a new work by Chinese composer Xiaogang Ye.
The Bossa Nova Project was founded by Brazilian native singer-songwriter/pianist, Isabella Mendes with the intent to share happiness through music.
This is an exciting chance for theater and music lovers to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the creation of new music theater.
This professional ensemble performs a colorful, crowd-pleasing repertoire of Afro-Brazilian dances that fuse rhythmic music with high-energy gymnastics and martial arts.
Learn the maculele and capoeira dance moves with one of the Master Teaching Artists from Ginga Brasileira!
Join Jason Sobocinski as he walks you through the wonders of pairing beer and cheese.
A 100-voice mass choir, spoken word artists, and dancers.
A mind-bending, funny, surreal, and surprisingly touching work, LEO challenges the senses through the clever interplay of acrobatic physical theatre and video projection.
Take a tour of Long Wharf, the East Shore, and the lovely, and sometimes hidden, parks that surround the area. Learn how commerce has changed over the centuries and how the harbor impacts daily life in New Haven and the region.
The Human Library™ is designed to build a positive framework for conversations that can challenge stereotypes and prejudices through dialogue.
Join photographer Chris Randall in an exploration of New Haven during the Festival.
An art project in response to how our culture of disposable plastics has caused severe harm to our ocean planet.
Visit Common Ground: a high school, urban farm, and environmental education center in West Rock Ridge State Park in New Haven.
Join Team Red, White, & Blue (RWB) on their mission to enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity. We will ride to the Veteran's Museum, visit historic spots, and pay tribute to the New Haven Grays.
Building community through humor and art during our current times
Explore hidden architectural gems and learn more about the symbolism of the sculpted stone on the Yale University campus.
A unique runway experience that features wearable art made from materials that have been diverted from the waste stream.
The Wailers Band put reggae on the map. They brought reggae to the attention of the world outside of Jamaica, elevating Bob Marley to superstardom, and in the process, bringing the music of their home to audiences on every continent. The quintessential live band, Rusted Root has honed the perfect combination of musical intuition, freedom, and virtuosity for two decades, shaping their sound into...
The Festival culminates this year with a celebratory evening and farewell to Mary Lou Aleskie, groundbreaking Executive Director of the Festival for 11 years. Your Lux & Gravitas ticket includes a roaming dinner at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library with artists and special guests close to Mary Lou; a premium seat for the evening’s gravity-defying circus performance LEO; and a...
