International Festival of Arts & Ideas

Art and politics have a long history of complex entanglement, but in the new millennium, the global artistic scene has exploded with political controversy. From the Mariinsky Ballet to Brett Bailey's Exhibit B, from Tania Bruguera to Charlie Hebdo, via El Sistema and other social experiments, artists and their work appear more and more entwined with surrounding political issues and volatility.

Part 2 of this talk features a debate on these topics and more with Afa S. Dworkin (Sphinx Organization), Antonio Aiello (PEN American Center) and Paul Smith (Director of the British Council in the USA and Cultural Counsellor at the British Embassy Washington DC)

Participants

Presenter: Graham Sheffield CBE Global Director Arts, British Council

Moderator: Paul Smith Director of the British Council (USA) and Cultural Counsellor at the British Embassy

Respondents: Afa S. Dworkin Executive Director, Sphinx Foundation

Antonio Aiello Content Director and Web Editor, Pen American Center

In Part 1, Graham Sheffield CBE, Global Director Arts for the British Council, offers reflections on the current situation, examining issues of conscience, freedom of expression, social action and identity in an international context.

This celebration of the life and work of Frank Sinatra explores his influence on American music and art. Presented in association with The Grammy Museum and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, this talk features a panel of Sinatra experts, former collaborators, and family members.

Participants

Moderator Bob Santelli Executive Director, GRAMMY Museum

Amanda Erlinger Fine Art and Photography Curator, Frank Sinatra Enterprises and Artist/Photographer, Granddaughter of Frank

Tina Sinatra Managing Member, Frank Sinatra Enterprises and Producer/Author, Daughter of Frank

Charles Pignone Senior Vice President of Frank Sinatra Enterprises and Author/Producer

Gay Talese Author

Max Weinberg Drummer from the E Street band

Kurt Elling Jazz vocalist

Bob Finkelstein Sinatra Family Attorney

Renowned poet Claudia Rankine discusses her lauded book Citizen: An American Lyric, an archival and curatorial project that makes present race in American life and fixes our gaze on the network of concrete and abstract forces threatening black bodies. Presenting the visual art employed throughout Citizen as “text” in and of itself, as well as the book’s accompanying video project, Rankine will discuss how her use of mixed media has enriched her poetry on these pressing issues—and catalyzed deeper dialogue across the nation.

In the wake of the September 11th attacks, the U.S. government expanded its surveillance programs, collecting more electronic communications in an attempt to better protect against future attacks. The outcry about these programs due to privacy and civil liberties concerns, particularly after the Edward Snowden leaks, has been—and continues to be—tremendous. In a conversation moderated by The New York Times Washington correspondent Charlie Savage, David Medine, Chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and Laura Donohue, Professor of Law at Georgetown University discuss the ongoing legal and policy issues relating to national surveillance programs and the potential repercussions on all of our lives.

This conversation focuses on Carmen de Lavallade’s fascinating life and creative legacy. Given Ms. De Lavallade’s years performing at Yale Repertory Theater and teaching at the Yale School of Drama, this is an opportunity to reflect on New Haven’s rich artistic history.

Participants

Moderator: Lileana Blain-Cruz, Director

Robert Brustein, Former Dean of the Yale School of Drama and Founder of the Yale Repertory and American Repertory Theatres

Carmen de Lavallade, Dancer/Actress

Alvin Epstein, Actor

From the NSA’s mining of citizens’ personal data to the police’s use of lethal force in Ferguson, Cleveland, and Staten Island, recent events have called into question U.S. authorities' exercise of power. In this talk, journalist and University of Connecticut history professor Jelani Cobb discusses citizenship in an age of expanded state authority. How much power should we afford those who keep us safe? How have strained relationships between minorities and governing authorities defined the nation's first black presidency?

It has been twenty years since the Festival began its annual artistic takeover of New Haven. Both here and around the world, the expansion of arts and culture beyond the walls of theaters and traditional institutions has made the city itself “the stage” and often the workplace. Graham Sheffield moderates a panel discussion that addresses the intertwined destinies of cities and their cultures. How have uniquely urban platforms for art changed our cities, our audiences, our very lives? How might they continue to do so in the future?

Participants

Moderator: Graham Sheffield CBE: Global Director Arts, British Council

Javiera Parada: Cultural Attaché to the Chilean Embassy

Shona McCarthy: Director of Shona McCarthy Consulting, Founding Director of Culture Trust and Chairperson of Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast

Cedric Douglas: Artist and designer

The Visionary Leadership Award honors a leader whose trailblazing work is impacting the world. The Award was created in honor of the late Jean M. Handley’s leadership as a Founding Director of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.

The 2015 Visionary Leadership Award honors ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO- Singer, songwriter & UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. In an expansive career marked as much by extraordinary musical achievement as passionate advocacy and philanthropy for her homeland of Africa, Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and performer Angélique Kidjo has found many ways to celebrate the rich, enlightening truth about the Africa’s women beyond the media spotlight.

In this conversation she is interviewed by Marco Werman, host of Public Radio International's The World.

2014 marks 20 years of democracy in South Africa, as we contemplate South Africa’s post-Apartheid hearings and the legacy of Nelson Mandela. Has the Truth and Reconciliation process been a catalyst for other communities emerging from violent histories? Where is South Africa on today’s world stage?

Panelists:

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, award-winning journalist

Zakes Mda, writer and cultural commentator

Lydia Polgreen, international editor and correspondent, The New York Times

John Stremlau Ph.D., Vice President, Peace Programs at The Carter Center

Elevator Repair Service created its show Arguendo from a Supreme Court transcript of oral arguments from a First Amendment case. Leading experts in First Amendment law and the Supreme Court discuss and reflect on the issues at hand in the play and beyond.

Panelists include:

Robert Post, Yale Law School Dean and First Amendment scholar

Linda Greenhouse, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Yale Law School lecturer

Emily Bazelon, Senior Editor, Slate