International Festival Of Arts & Ideas Announces 2021 Programming

New Haven CT

27 April, 2021

4:31 PM

Description

Press release from the International Festival of Arts & Ideas: April 27, 2021 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. press release was produced by the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. The views expressed here are the author's own.