Commentary - WCCT

Arts & Ideas Diary Day 3: Tuesday, June 18

By Christopher Arnott — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:00:00 EDT

Ongoing coverage of the two-week-long arts festival

I talked more about the festival today than I experienced it. I was one of several guests on Colin McEnroe’s WNPR radio show, broadcast live from the lobby of the Study Hotel on Chapel Street. Festival artists Martin Bresnick, David Chambers, Akiya Henry and Aaron Jafferis talked about their varied projects (the chamber opera My Friend’s Story, the Handspring Puppet Company/Bristol Old Vic production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the new musical theater piece Stuck Elevator), which festival director Mary Lou Aleskie and I provided context.

Arts & Ideas Day 2: What Happened Sunday

By Christopher Arnott — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:36:00 EDT

Arts & Ideas Day 1

By Christopher Arnott — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 13:25:00 EDT

The ongoing coverage begins

A fine first day of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas 20013. I saw two musical theater workshops, a talk by two winners of the Governors’ Arts Awards, and two renowned acts play live on New Haven Green.

Arts on the Edge Has Kicked Off the Summer Festival Season in New Haven

By Christopher Arnott — Sat, 8 Jun 2013 18:38:00 EDT

Next up: the International Festival of Arts & Ideas

The 2013 Audubon Arts on the Edge festival (which ended minutes ago, as I write this at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, June 8) has exactly the same elements as it has had for the last few years:

Unions, Others to Protest Scott Walker in Stamford May 20

By Christopher Arnott — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:26:00 EDT

Wisconsin Governor is speaking at State Republican fundraise

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is coming to Stamford on Monday, May 20 to speak at a fundraiser for Connecticut Republicans. Walker is the guy who reduced wages and benefits for state workers in Wisconsin, causing a national uproar that led to a recall vote (though Walker persevered and remains in office), massive protests throughout the state, and such bizarre incidents as all 14 Democratic senators fleeing the state for weeks rather than allow the governor’s so-called “Wisconsin budget repair bill” (which denied collective bargaining agreements and otherwise hamstrung unions) to come to a vote. Walker’s the guy who fell for a prank phone call from a Buffalo-based journalist purporting to be conservative magnate David Koch. At the time, Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent opined that “this will reinforce perceptions that Walker is in way over his head.”

Freddie, Meet Eli

By Christopher Arnott — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:46:00 EDT

Yale Class Day and the Freddie Fixer Parade Both Take Place Sunday May 19

It’s always a magical collision of town and gown when Yale’s Class Day (the pre-Graduation Day event where the world-famous guest speakers hold forth) falls on the same afternoon as the Freddie Fixer Day Parade (a major community tradition in the African-American community). The traffic jams following these simultaneous gatherings are some of the most amusing you’ll ever witness.

May Day on May 4

By Christopher Arnott — Fri, 3 May 2013 10:17:00 EDT

Annual springtime peace-and-justice, up-the-workers celebration on New Haven Green Saturday

For nearly three decades, a hardy group of local activists, peace-lovers and community-boosters have been throwing a big consciousness-raising party every year on New Haven Green around May Day. More often than not, weather permitting, the event has been held on May Day itself, May 1.

New Haven Turns 375 Today!

By Christopher Arnott — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:16:00 EDT

Laser sculpture turns on tonight, plus latest schedule for Saturday's party on the Green

New Haven’s 375 th birthday is today. The area was settled on April 24, 1638. A lot has happened since.

The Dorothy Awards Have a Heart, Brains, Nerve and a Home

By Christopher Arnott — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:10:00 EST

Did you see the fabulous Oscar pre-show fashion event where movie stars had to guess what was inside a covered glass case? The answer was Dorothy’s ruby slippers.

Arts & Ideas Names Three of Its Shows for 2013

By Christopher Arnott — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:59:00 EST

The International Festival of Arts & Ideas has named three of the featured acts in its 2013 slate. One had already been tipped by the Hartford Courant a few months back: The Handspring Puppet Company’s new version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which will have its world premiere in England in February and will have just two U.S. stops on the subsequent tour. Handspring is the group which brought The War Horse to Broadway. A Midsummer Night’s Dream plays at the Yale University Theatre June 15-23.