It’s beginning to feel a lot like summer—which, in New Haven, means the International Festival of Arts & Ideas is heating up.
Monday, June 12
At 5:30 p.m. in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Kathryn James, a curator of early modern works there, conjures “Shakespeare’s Ghost: Matter and Meaning in the Imagined Object.” Plot twist: James’s talk gets a lot of mileage out of a series of frauds—specifically, “William Henry Ireland’s eighteenth-century Shakespeare forgeries,” which became collector’s objects in their own right, and which she uses “to examine the rare book and manuscript as fetish object.” 121 Wall Street, New Haven. (203) 432-2977.
Tuesday, June 13
From 6 to 9, two heavy-hitting graphic designers come to The Study at Yale Hotel (1157 Chapel St, New Haven) for “One Epic Night.” Discussing “work, life and more,” the featured speakers are Paula Scher—“one of the most acclaimed graphic designers in the world” whose CV includes a long list of well-known clients, “hundreds of industry honors and awards” and exhibitions around the world—and Eddie Opara, who’s younger but well on his way to a similarly stratospheric level of professional distinction. Both work in the New York office of Pentagram, which bills itself as “the world’s largest independent design consultancy,” and they’re coming to New Haven at the behest of the Connecticut branch of the American Institute for Graphic Arts. Tickets cost $50, with discounts available if you’re an AIGA member or a student.
Across downtown, during the latest installment of its Listen Here series, the Institute Library (847 Chapel St, 2nd Fl, New Haven; 203-562-4045) offers “an evening of great short fiction performed by members of the New Haven Theater Company, followed by a half-hour ‘talk back’ with the New Haven Review team” that curated the selections. This reading’s theme? “Kids these days.” 7 p.m. Free.
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Wednesday, June 14
This week’s free 9:30 show at BAR (254 Crown St, New Haven) is a mix of blends. The headliner is Dead Heavens, whose “hardcore, punk and post-hardcore provenance”—the band’s a sort of supergroup pulling from respected acts in those scenes—is a head fake for a southern-rocking sound, as if Queens of the Stone Age and The White Stripes had gotten together. Middle act InAeona, meanwhile, sounds like Tool and Jane’s Addiction had a beautiful baby, while instrumental opener Pray for Sound has the post-rock of Explosions in the Sky but the moodiness of Radiohead.
Thursday, June 15
Two performers with spots in the music history books visit “the musician’s living room,” Cafe Nine (250 State St, New Haven; 203-789-8281), for a 9 p.m. show. Richard Barone, who was the frontman of the ’80s “indie pop icons” The Bongos and has collaborated with a who’s-who of other recording artists, is bringing something unexpected: acoustic folk rock. Meanwhile, his showmate, Ricky Byrd—who spent over a decade as the lead guitarist for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—is reportedly playing a mix of blues and rock. $12, or $10 in advance.
Friday, June 16
As the 2017 International Festival of Arts & Ideas hits its stride, it’s offering about a dozen different walking tours this week alone. But at least one other tour, happening yesterday and today at 5:30 p.m., is all about taking it easy. At the No Worries Brewing Company (2520 State St, Hamden; $20), “learn about the unique story of the brewery, then sit back, relax and enjoy a handcrafted beer.”
Other festival highlights this week include choreographer Camille A. Brown’s Black Girl: Linguistic Play (University Theatre, 222 York St, New Haven; 8pm Thurs, Fri; $35; pictured above), which “uses the rhythmic play of social dance, double dutch, steppin’, tap and live original music to represent a nuanced spectrum of black womanhood;” and local graffiti troop HI Crew’s Refacing New Haven (city green; all day Sat, Sun; free), “a walk-through exhibit composed of plywood cube structures resembling a miniature city block, placed strategically throughout the green, exploding with colorful graffiti-esque styles and design.”
The green also hosts two of the festival’s signature evening-time concerts this weekend. The first, happening tomorrow at 6 p.m., features Mexican six-piece Troker—where “metal riffage merges with powerhouse funk drumming and DJ scratching, and melodic horn lines are pulled from jazz and the mariachi traditions of the band’s homeland”—and Fulaso (“funky latin soul”), which channels the sounds of Colombia, Cuba and Puerto Rico by way of New York City, mixing “traditional music with sixties soul and funk grooves to create a powerful new sound.” The second, happening Sunday night at 7, has the Jimmy Greene Quartet, whose saxophone-wielding leader is a Grammy-nominated Connecticut native, with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Performing songs from Greene’s A Beautiful Life albums, which celebrate his daughter, Ana Márquez-Greene, who was killed during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, organizers promise “an evening of poignant, reflective music.” Free.
Saturday, June 17
Hindinger Farm’s annual free-to-attend Strawberry Festival goes from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., when organizers promise “family hayrides, Brian making his famous Balloon Characters, Kelly’s Ice Cream, lots of food, live entertainment from Five in the Chamber and, of course, beautiful, delicious red juicy strawberries!” 835 Dunbar Hill Road, Hamden. (203) 288-0700.
Sunday, June 18 – Father’s Day
For many dads, it’s hard to imagine a better Father’s Day surprise than tickets to tonight’s Bob Dylan concert at the Oakdale Theatre (95 S Turnpike Rd, Wallingford; 203-265-1501). The bard of the Boomers goes on some time after 8 p.m., with tickets costing between $59.50 and $129.50.
Written by Dan Mims. Photo, of Black Girl: A Linguistic Play, courtesy of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.