Culture Fills the Air in Downtown New Haven

New Haven, Connecticut will be the host to the 11th Annual International Festival of Arts & Ideas from Saturday, June 10 through Saturday, June 24.

This celebration of art and culture will feature U.S. premieres in dance, theater and musical events. It will also showcase internationally acclaimed artists and a variety of performances, events and family fun.

Opening weekend, Saturday, June 10 and Sunday, June 11, will feature New Orleans' famous Mardi Gras. The New Haven Green will transform into a festival of activities. There will be a variety of free performances on the green that will include Guardians of the Flame and Mardi Gras Indians.

On Sunday, June 11 the performance Work will take place. This is a dynamic collaboration between visual artist Suzanne Bocanegra and composer David Lang. This world premiere performance will integrate chamber music and theater against a video backdrop of the constant motion of hands at work. The musicians of Real Quiet will use rhythms from the images of carpenters, weavers, cooks and laborers who are featured in the video art.

Other highlights of the festival will include Canadian street performers, called Kromatik. These performers wear painted faces that turn the young and old into living canvases. Their performances will take place on Saturday, June 10 at noon on Chapel Street and at 3 p.m. on Audubon Street. They will also perform on Sunday, June 11 at 2 p.m. on Chapel Street and 4 p.m. in the Broadway Parking Lot.

Assurd, a female vocal ensemble from Southern Italy is filled with vibrant talent and passion for the rich, musical history of the Mediterranean. The group will perform on Tuesday, July 13 at 8 p.m. at the Branford College Courtyard. The ensemble uses hand-drums and a cappella to captivate their audiences with love songs and tarantellas. Tickets to this performance are $35.

As part of the visual aspect of the festival, there will be a demonstration and exhibition by New York sculptor Jason Michael Hackenwerth. The exhibition, being called The Extraordinary Prehistoric Balloon Creature Feature, will be shown at the Peabody Museum lobby on Friday, June 16; Saturday, June 17; and Sunday, June 18 from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

Hackenwerth designs each sculpture to fit its surroundings and his works will quite literally breathe new life into the Great Hall of Dinosaurs. He will start sculpting on Friday afternoon and continue throughout the day on Saturday. The creatures will be installed on Sunday, and will hang in the Great Hall through the following Thursday.

The Peabody Museum is located at 170 Whitney Avenue in New Haven.

On Sunday, June 18, there will be a free performance on the Green being dubbed, "Opera on the Green." This comic opera is about a will, greedy relatives and a conniving scoundrel named Gianni Schicci. The performance starts at 8 p.m.

Los Voladores de Papantla will perform the ancient act of worship from the indigenous traditions of Veracrus, Mexico with music and dance. The free performances will take place on Friday, June 23 at 1 and 7 p.m. and Sunday, June 24 at 11:30 a.m., 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. on the New Haven Green.

A Zydeco Party will bring New Orleans' Zydeco to the Green on Saturday, June 24 at 7 p.m. Hot local blues band Don't Tell Muddy will start the party. Grammy-winning Louisiana band BeauSoleil will perform at 8 p.m.

There are several other performances and exhibitions that are part of the 11th annual International Festival of Arts and Ideas. For more information and a complete listing of events, visit www.artidea.org.