CitySeed’s Guide to the 2022 Arts & Ideas Festival
By Cortney Renton, Executive Director of CitySeed
By Cortney Renton, Executive Director of CitySeed
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been drooling over the 2022 Arts & Ideas Festival lineup for this June! Don’t know where to start? We’ve got you covered. Here are CitySeed’s top picks for a food-focused approach to the festival, including some friendly faces from CitySeed’s programs and partners.
Cultivating Community through Business Entrepreneurship
June 14, 5:30pm at the Yale Repertory Theater
Promoting economic development and community development are at the core of CitySeed’s mission.
So, we’ll be bringing our notebooks for what promises to be an illuminating masterclass from three New Haven leaders who make our community a more delicious, beautiful, and equitable place to live.
Join Jason Sobocinski, Alisha Crutchfield-McLean, and Erik Clemons for a conversation about how to build a brand and connect with community.
Long Table Dinner: Food, Fellowship & Stories
June 14, 7:00pm at the Eli Whitney Barn
This promises to be a memorable evening of food, music, and storytelling in a beautiful setting.
The event features food from two beloved CitySeed Farmers Market vendors: Olmo Kitchen, and Je Ta’aime Cupcakes, who is also a Food Business Accelerator graduate and member of the CitySeed Incubates entrepreneur network.
CT Food Launchpad Expo
June 16, 6:30pm on the New Haven Green
Did you know that CitySeed supports hundreds of food entrepreneurs and early stage food businesses?
Our CitySeed Incubates program provides commercial kitchen space, coaching, and programs to reduce barriers to entrepreneurship.
CitySeed partners with the Atticus CT Food Launchpad to help food products grow to the next level and tap into regional wholesale markets. Come check out CitySeed Incubates alumni ventures at the Expo: Bo-Yi Foods Asian superfoods; KDCrop Farms farm-grown relishes, pickles, james, chutneys and salsas; and Oh Shito! Ghanaian-American pepper sauces.
Afro-Vegan Cooking with Bryant Terry
June 19, 3:00pm at the Yale Repertory Theater
A can’t miss conversation to celebrate Juneteenth with James Beard award-winning author, chef, and food justice activist Bryant Terry.
Do yourself a favor, and pick up a copy of his stunning book Black Food: Stories, Art and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora before the event.
And swing by the Juneteenth Village on the New Haven Green on your way.
Recipes from the Oldest Cookbooks in the World
June 21, 4:30pm at Rawa
Time-travel 4,000 years in the past with Sanctuary Kitchen and Yale Peabody Museum Babylonian Collection during a truly unique evening of history and culture.
Peruse the oldest recipes in the world, preserved on a Babylonian tablet, and then try dishes cooked according to these very same recipes by chefs from Sanctuary Kitchen.
Learn more about our ongoing partnership with the Yale Peabody Museum to empower voices traditionally excluded from museum settings, and how stories from Sanctuary Kitchen chefs from Syria and Iraq will be incorporated into exhibits about food and cooking in ancient Mesopotamia in the renovated museum.
Growing Together! Gather New Haven’s Urban Farm Tour
June 23, 1:30pm at 613 Ferry St, New Haven
Join our long-time friends and partners, Gather New Haven, for a tour of the Ferry Street urban farm in Fair Haven.
They’ll share more about their farm-based programs, their weekly Farm Stand, and more!
Promos for Our FollowersWe are so happy to be partnering with Arts & Ideas to provide discounts for the following fantastic events. Just enter promotional code: ThankYou22
(not applicable for $20 student tickets or premium tickets)
(not applicable for $20 student tickets or premium tickets)
Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower: An Opera by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon
Tue, June 21, 2022 - 7:30pm
Wed, June 22, 2022 - 7:30pm
at Shubert Theatre
A triumphant, mesmerizing work of rare power and beauty that illuminates insights on gender, race, and the future of human civilization, Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower is “one helluva rock’n’roller-coaster ride.” (Vibe Magazine)
This fully staged opera created by Toshi Reagan in collaboration with her mother, Bernice Johnson Reagon, brings together more than 30 original anthems drawn from 200 years of black music to recreate Butler’s sci-fi, Afrofuturist masterpiece.
Parable of the Sower explores climate change, political division and other timely issues through the spiritual awakening of Lauren Olamina, a 15-year-old Black girl in a not-too-distant future of climate catastrophe and economic devastation.
$45 – $100
Dallas Black Dance
Tue, June 14, 2022 - 7:30pm
Wed, June 15, 2022 - 7:30pm
at University Theatre
CONNECTICUT PREMIERE
Dallas Black Dance Theatre is an internationally recognized professional dance company that presents performances from the African American experience through a mixed repertory of modern, jazz, ethnic and spiritual works by nationally and internationally renowned choreographers.
The virtuosic dancers have mesmerized audiences across 15 countries, including two Olympic Cultural events and for the Queen of England, and they were the first Texas performing arts group to perform in South Africa for Nelson Mandela in 1998.
Dallas Black Dance Theatre is the fourth largest black dance company in the nation.
$45 – $85
Michelle Buteau
Thu, June 16, 2022 - 8:00pm College Street Music Hall
Whether you’ve seen this “scene-stealing queen” (Netflix) in her Netflix comedy special or heard her narrating The Circle competition series (also Netflix), or even her former WNYC podcast Adulting, Michelle Buteau has become a household name with her powerful, honest humor about the human experience.
Her 2020 book, Survival of the Thickest, was recently announced to be adapted for Netflix in the coming months.
$45 – $65
Iconic Connections Fashion Expo
Sat, June 18, 2022 – 7 PM Iseman Theater
Exuberant color and bold designs from an array of distinctive fashion designers come to life on the catwalk at the Festival’s debut ICONIC Connections Fashion Expo.
Featured designers include New Haven’s legendary Neville Wisdom, Project Runway’s Prajjé Oscar, NYC-based sisters Ng2 Studios, Connecticut’s LàMoo Designs, and NYC-based gender-affirming designer Isalina Sánchez.
The designers’ creative journeys are reflected in their one-of-a-kind-pieces, from femme to abstract, cut to draped. Hosted by multitalented model & creative Kayon Kiss with beats by DJ JD Presents. Walk the red carpet area to gather and show off your looks and take photos before the runway starts.
$65 – $100