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2021 VIRTUAL IDEAS PROGRAMMING; ALICIA GARZA, JOY HARJO, CLAUDIA ALICK TO IMAGINE DIFFERENT WORLDS

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THE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS & IDEAS

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS & IDEAS ANNOUNCES 2021 VIRTUAL IDEAS PROGRAMMING; ALICIA GARZA, JOY HARJO, CLAUDIA ALICK TO IMAGINE DIFFERENT WORLDS 

Local and international luminaries in dialog in online series of panels

   
It’s 2021. During this year of changes and transition, we are engaged in imagining and manifesting new worlds and ways of being, by protesting for Black lives and abolition, honoring Indigenous wisdom and rights, developing vaccines in mere months, changing administrations, and finding new ways to gather and care for each other. It’s a powerful time to Imagine new ways of being.  

The Festival is devoted to creating programming with and for its communities; one of its flagship programs is the Ideas series, which brings together vital thinkers and doers to engage with national and international issues through the microcosm of the culturally rich, diverse, and complex communities of New Haven. The Festival is proud to announce its Ideas series for 2021, centering the act of imagination, with panels that grapple with the questions and discourse happening in our homes and on our streets. 

“The ability to create new ways of being begins with the work of conceiving new worlds,” says Festival Executive Director Shelley Quiala. “It starts with imagination. In our Ideas series, we are convening thinkers and doers who will inspire us to be more bold, visionary, and collaborative as we approach the complex challenges that confront us. This is liberation work.”  

Join luminaries like astrophysicist and folklorist Moiya McTier; Alicia Garza, cofounder of Black Lives Matter; nationally recognized musician Toshi Reagon; and Collab New Haven cofounder Margaret Lee in moving beyond our current systems, beyond the present, imagining into the other futures that we can make possible together. 
Curated by Elizabeth Nearing, each of these 15 events are free, virtual, and will have ASL and captioning available for each.  For more information on each event, go to www.artidea.org/ideas. 
 
Ideas 2021 will explore:  
 
Black Futures, June 25 at 5pm 

Co-founder of the Black Lives Matter (#BLM) movement, organizer and civil rights activist Alicia Garza will sit down with Mercy Quaye, Founder and President of The Narrative Project, in this one-on-one conversation about the future of black lives in America. In partnership with The Narrative Project, a New Haven-based communications consulting group aimed at elevating the profiles of non-profits and mission-driven organizations, Garza and Quaye will discuss Black Futures Lab, an initiative to transform Black communities into active, interdependent, responsive public partners that change the way power operates—at the local, state, and national level.  
Presented in partnership with The Narrative Project 
 
Everything you touch, you change: Visionary Science Fiction and Liberation 
Friday, June 25 at 12pm 
Toshi Reagon, Hanifa Nayo Washington, and Walidah Imarisha in conversation 

Social Justice meets sci-fi meets songwriting in this panel discussion between musician, composer and curator Toshi Reagon, cultural producer & sacred artivist Hanifa Nayo Washington, and writer, activist, educator and spoken word artist Walidah Imarisha. In partnership with the Yale Schwarzman Center, these three award-winning luminaries will touch on themes of Afrofuturism, Octavia Butler, and the role of change in bringing a creative approach to our understanding of what social justice initiatives of the future might look like. 
Presented in partnership with the Yale Schwarzman Center 
 
Listening to Earth: Indigenous Wisdom & Climate Futures, May 26 at 5pm 

We rely on climatologists to deliver forecasts of a future planet, where the temperature slowly rises and everything from disease to population displacement to rising tides is inevitable. Solutions are proposed, but thus far we are woefully unable to meet benchmarks for scaling back the destruction. A different approach is possible: honoring indigenous wisdom that successfully stewarded the land for millennia before the arrival of western colonizers. This wisdom can be an even more powerful tool for diagnosing and curing what ails the living, organic organism of our earth. Hosted by NPR Science Friday’s Diana Montano, hear from a panel of Native environmental justice activists Eriel Deranger and Kyle Whyte on the climate knowledge that has existed in indigenous communities for generations, and the practical solutions that can spur a better collective attempt at caring for our planet. 
Presented in partnership with NPR’s Science Friday and Connecticut Public’s Cutline in Community 
 
The Legacy & Future of Love as Liberation, June 2 at 5pm 

This will be a conversation with global majority organizers and artisans who have been doing mutual aid prior to the pandemic. Through discussion of mutual aid, panelists will engage with the legacy and power of love and its role in their collective past as well as how it shapes their work and visions for the future. What are alternatives to charity that empower communities to care for each other? Hosted by Raven A. Blake, cultural worker, community organizer and Founder and Visionary of Love Fed New Haven, this conversation is sure to inspire love and community. Panelists include Leah Penniman, Rachel Sayet, Farron Harvey, Tenaya Taylor, Charline Xu, and Disha Patel. 
 
Reimagining Economies: Entrepreneurship and building a solidarity economy, June 16 at 5pm 

What does a solidarity economy look like? ‘Ethical entrepreneurship’ is a trendy phrase that demonstrates how ready consumers are for a people-centric shift in the marketplace. But how can budding entrepreneurs actually create communities of ethical care -- not just pay lip service to the concept? Join us for this panel discussion on the role of entrepreneurship -- if any -- in supporting the larger movement of solidarity and mutual aid that is surging across America in response to increasing financial hardship, among other forms of struggle. In partnership with Collab New Haven, a community-centered accelerator for Connecticut entrepreneurs and project builders, this talk will be hosted by Margaret Lee, one of Collab’s Co-founders. 
Presented in partnership with Collab New Haven. 
 
Full information on every Ideas event can be found at www.artidea.org/ideas.  
 
NEA BIG READ: Joy Harjo in conversation  
Thursday, at May 20 at 5pm 
Presented with support from the David T. Langrock Foundation, in partnership with the New Haven Free Public Library and the New Haven Museum 
 
Indigenous Writers of Connecticut  
Thursday, June 3 at 5 pm 
In partnership with the New Haven Museum 
 
The 15 Minute City: Imagining the Future of Transportation 
Wednesday, June 9 at 7pm 
In partnership with Pickard Chilton and The Connecticut Mirror 
 
New Haven Pride Center Day of Action: LGBTQ+ Racial Justice 
Sunday, June 13  
In partnership with the New Haven Pride Center, a daylong series of events  
 
New Haven Museum Founders Chat: Finding Your Rhythm 
Tuesday, June 15 at 6:30 pm 
In partnership with the New Haven Museum 
 
World-Building with Moiya McTier 
Friday, June 18 at 3pm 
This is a reservation-only workshop; on sale May 3 
 
Crowning Glory: The Art of Hair 
Saturday June 19 at 1pm 
Sponsored by Avangrid Foundation 
 
Monuments and Collective Memory 
Sunday June 20 at 5pm 
 
Imagine a world without prisons 
Monday, June 21 at 5pm 
 
How Artists Shape Our Future 
Tuesday, June 22 at 5pm 
 
Brilliant Boba: Amplifying Asian Voices 
Wednesday, June 23 at 12PM 
This project is presented in partnership with the Yale-China Association, with support from the International Association of New Haven  
 
Honoring our Bodies- A future for all abilities 
Wednesday, June 23 at 5pm 
 
Imaginando un Mundo sin Muros, Jaulas y Detención 
Thursday, June 24 at 5pm 
This will be a Spanish-language panel with English translation 
 
 
Ideas 2021 is sponsored by CT Humanities, CT Public, The David T. Langrock Foundation, Whitney Center, WSHU, WPKN, and the CT Mirror.  
 
ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS & IDEAS

Imagine New Haven. Imagina un mundo sin fronteras. Imagine music. Imagine theater. Imagine a better world. Imagine yourself--at Festival 2021. Together, we’ll explore the world as it is and how it could be with events ranging from drag to drumming, bike tours to beekeeping, truffle-making to cocktail-tasting. With paddleboard yoga, hair art, fresh takes on Shakespeare, gospel, Grammy winners, and more. With 200+ events--95% of them free--Festival 2021 has something for everyone. Full lineup announced soon. Tickets on sale May 3. Join our mailing list to stay in the loop.  Events will be primarily virtual with some in-person programming pending city approval. Learn more at artidea.org. 

The International Festival of Arts & Ideas is a year-round organization that culminates with an annual celebration of performing arts, lectures, and conversations each summer in New Haven, Connecticut. The Festival convenes leading artists, thought leaders, and innovators from around the world for dynamic public programs to engage, entertain, and inspire a diversity of communities. In 2021, than 95% of Festival programs will be free to the public, including events that feature some of the most influential musical, dance, and theater artists of our time.  
The 2021 Festival will take place virtually and, pending city approval, in open spaces in downtown New Haven, in the heart of the northeast corridor, 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, who 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, 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.