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May 7, 2021

International Festival to bring music, food, entertainment

PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED LaDiva Monet, the Fantasia Impersonator, headlining the festival's drag show.

From May 14 through June 27, New Haven area residents will have a chance to celebrate the city’s diverse arts scene and local economy at The International Festival of Arts and Ideas.

Anne Calabresi, executive director of the festival, noted that this year’s festival will look different than previous years due to COVID-19.

To keep people safe, hosts will live stream content, require pre-registering online for in person attendees, and will encourage watch parties or small outdoor pods.

“The struggles from COVID have made an event like this even more important for the city’s recovery,” Calabresi said. “Art changes people’s feelings and outlook on the world. One of the things powerful about this theme is it’s an invitation to be creative, and we invite the community to be creative to add their own vision.”

Malakhi Eason, director of programming and creative vision for the festival, has seen local talent launch their ideas through the event.

“There was an individual who partnered with us several years ago and she’s still going strong with her endeavors with dance and educating youth. It was great to give her that platform in our space, so that she could get her vision out to our community,” Eason said, noting this year’s festival will feature two new events, a hair and drag show.

Last year, the festival partnered with local restaurants to create food experiences for customers, pouring all of the earned revenue back into the local restaurants.

“It was one of the only ways these businesses got revenue. A lot of them developed models of food events with remote pickup they can still use today,” Calabresi said.

For more information about the festival and a complete schedule of programming, visit: https://www.artidea.org.

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