WELCOME LETTERS

WELCOME

Gordon Geballe Dear Friend,

For 26 years, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas has produced programming that celebrates and supports Greater New Haven and beyond. The Festival engages hundreds of artists and speakers who live in and around New Haven, as well as artists from throughout the world, to practice their craft, connect with audiences, and celebrate their part in the cultural fabric of our city.

Arts & Ideas is also a collaborator in education and arts training. The Festival Fellowship program, in partnership with Gateway Community College, provides mentorship and resources for New Haven public high school students to establish a foundation in arts administration. Since the program’s inception, more than 50 students have leveraged their participation in the program to secure jobs in the arts.

Our community is everything. Throughout the last year, we have stepped up our examination of our practices as an organization committed not just to the conversation but to the manifestation of racial and social justice. This work is a generations-long commitment undertaken in partnership, and I’m grateful to be part of a community and an organization that understands the power of that mission.

As we celebrate how far we have come, we recognize the vision of our founders Roslyn Meyer, Anne Calabresi, and Jean Handley. As we imagine the future, I am confident that the International Festival of Arts & Ideas is ready to embrace the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Gordon Geballe, Board Chair

Dear Friend,

I was drawn to the International Festival of Arts & Ideas by its community-based and globally connected vision. The Festival’s programming invites us to imagine a bolder world, to put conversations of equity and inclusion into practice, and to celebrate our shared humanity through creative expression.

The COVID-19 pandemic tested the very foundation of what makes the Festival, the Festival. Our question became: How can we fulfill our mission to connect people when everyone must be apart?

In 2020, we reinvented the Festival, launching a two-month virtual exploration of the power of arts and the theme of Democracy. More than 120,000 people from throughout the world participated Shelley Quiala in 200+ events. In 2021, we celebrated the reopening of our community with in-person Green programming and in-person tours and food events, complemented by a wide variety of virtual programming. The nearly 250 events—more than 95% free and open to the public—featured artists who are also change agents. They brought new perspectives to our work, helping us shape the Festival’s renewed focus on building relationships, advancing racial justice, and bringing new voices to the stage while exemplifying world-class art.

Our programming during these turbulent years has served as a hyper-example of what we strive to do every day: offer a means of connection, celebration, and hope. We can’t do it without each and every one of you.