Mission: The mission of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas is to create an internationally renowned festival in New Haven of the highest quality with world-class artists, thinkers and leaders, attracting and engaging a broad and diverse audience celebrating and building community and advancing economic development. The Festival plays a vital role in enriching lives in New Haven and throughout Connecticut by embracing diversity and leading people to understand how their futures are entwined. Arts residencies are created in schools and community centers throughout New Haven to introduce a diverse audience to the arts. Every summer, international artists teach young students of music, theater and the arts. The Festival attracts a strong local and regional audience, attendees from all 50 states, and a growing number of international visitors from dozens of countries.

International Festival of Arts & Ideas is a 501(c)(3) organization, with an IRS ruling year of 1996, and donations are tax-deductible.