International Festival Of Arts & Ideas Announces 2021 Season

NEW HAVEN, CT- In 2020, The International Festival of Arts & Ideas reinvented its summer Festival at the last second, launching a 2-month virtual extravaganza of 200+ events that drew more than 120,000 people from throughout the world. Now, the Festival is taking what it learned from its 2020 virtual programming and stepping into the future, listening to their local and global communities to Imagine 2021 together.

A predominantly virtual festival, Festival 2021 will take place June 18 - 27, 2021, and its 200+ events—80% free—will feature such luminaries as Jacob’s Pillow-awardee choreographer Ronald K. Brown, Indigenous playwright and Forbes “30 under 30" theater director Madeline Sayet, as well as a high drama, high fashion Hair Art show. The Festival will share the full May and June programming line-up this spring when events are open for reservation. More information is available at artIdea.org.

Director of Programming & Community Impact Malakhi Eason is eager to bring his first season with the Festival to life. “I’m extra excited for this year’s Festival not just because the theme is Imagine, which allows us to think beyond the borders that have been placed on the arts, but also as my first year experiencing the International Festival of Arts & Ideas as its programmer.” To him, Imagining is all about connection. “Imagine is a great way to connect community, life, and dreams to the world of Art and Ideas.”

Imagination, to Festival Executive Director Shelley Quiala, is hope in action. “There’s an aspirational and uplifting nature to the theme Imagine—it's a future that we don’t yet have in our hands but are working toward.” She is excited to do this work of imagining—together: “It’s collective. It allows people to weave the new reality together. It’s not just one person’s vision; it’s expansive, and it creates room for voice and dreaming in a way that we really need right now.”

Imagine New Haven. Imagina un mundo sin fronteras. Imagine music. Imagine theater. Imagine a better world. Imagine yourself--at Festival 2021.


The International Festival of Arts & Ideas is a year-round organization that culminates with an annual celebration of performing arts and vital conversations each summer in New Haven, Connecticut. The Festival convenes artists, thought leaders, and innovators from around the world for dynamic public programs to engage, entertain, and inspire its diverse audiences and celebrate the richness and vitality of its New Haven home. More than 80% of Festival programs are free to the public and feature artists and thinkers who are profoundly influencing our world.

Downtown New Haven, in the heart of the northeast corridor, is two and a half hours south of Boston and 90 minutes north of New York City.

The Festival’s programs have an impact throughout the year and include additional performances, educational opportunities, and the annual Visionary Leadership Award. The Festival was established in 1996 by Anne Calabresi, Jean M. Handley, and Roslyn Meyer. They envisioned an annual celebration in New Haven—a city steeped in a rich array of cultural and educational traditions—distinguished from other arts festivals by its fusion of the arts with events centered on sharing ideas.

The Festival is presented with major support from Yale University, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Connecticut Office of the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts with additional support from The City of New Haven, KeyBank, The Whitney Center, Yale New Haven Health, the Avangrid Foundation in partnership with United Illuminating and Southern CT Gas, Connecticut Humanities, a non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and our generous community of individual supporters.