Great Art, Big Ideas

International Festival of Arts & Ideas
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Introducing Great Art, Big Ideas Podcast from the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, CT. This series delves into the most pressing topics in our local community and around the world. Our eclectic program offers a mix of serious, controversial, and whimsical topics, all designed to inspire new ways of thinking.

  1. 5h ago

    The Stories We Carry: A Conversation with Sandra Cisneros

    Millions of Americans met Esperanza Cordero at about thirteen. The House on Mango Street — a slim book about a girl in a Chicago barrio who wants a house of her own — has been assigned in American classrooms for forty years, and has spent those forty years being read by people who had not often found themselves in a book before. Sandra Cisneros joins us from San Miguel de Allende to close Voices & Belonging, a day the festival gave over to a single question: who does the American story actually belong to? In conversation with IfeMichelle Gardin — founder of Kulturally LIT, and named New Havener of the Year for The Year of Baldwin — she talks about belonging, about the people her work has always written toward, and about a lifetime spent writing toward home. She has a MacArthur, the National Medal of Arts, the PEN/Nabokov Award. She holds citizenship in two countries and lives in one of them. She built two foundations to pay the way for the writers coming behind her. None of that is quite the reason to listen. The reason is that she has spent four decades insisting the particular — one street, one family, one girl’s voice — is how you get at anything true about a country. Recorded live at the New Haven Museum on June 28, 2026, closing Voices & Belonging: A Day of Literature & Identity. Presented with Kulturally LIT and CT Public as part of NEA Big Read: America 250. The panel that opened the same day — “Whose America? Perspectives on Identity and Belonging” — is Episode 8. Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe on YouTube!

    The Stories We Carry: A Conversation with Sandra Cisneros

  2. Nov 4

    Whose America? Perspectives on Identity and Belonging

    Who gets to call America home, and who decides? Four authors talk about race, citizenship and writing themselves into the national story. Victoria Buitron (A Body Across Two Hemispheres) answers the question every immigrant hears: “But where are you really from?” Zakiya Dalila Harris (The Other Black Girl) remembers being told she didn’t sound Black enough, and finding her people anyway. Christine Kandic Torres (The Girls in Queens) describes growing up in a borough where every stop on the 7 train is a different country. Krystal Marquis (The Davenports) talks about digging up history that was never taught, through libraries and archives that are now in danger themselves. The conversation is moderated by Ife Michelle Gardin, founder of Kulturally Lit.  It was recorded live at the New Haven Museum as part of the 2026 International Festival of Arts & Ideas. Great Art, Big Ideas is the podcast of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, Connecticut.  This episode is supported by Kulturally Lit, Possible Futures Bookstore and Connecticut Public. Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe on YouTube!

    Whose America? Perspectives on Identity and Belonging

  3. Oct 22

    Drew Dixon: In the Room Where it Happens

    She was checking a track listing for a Method Man album when she noticed an unused interlude. She pitched it as a duet, got Mary J. Blige on the vocal and Puff Daddy on the mix, and the result — “I’ll Be There For You / You’re All I Need To Get By” — became one of the defining records of the era. Her name wasn’t on it. Drew Dixon spent the 1990s in rooms where hip-hop was being decided. She started as an unpaid receptionist. At Zomba she signed Nas to a publishing deal before Illmatic came out. At Arista, under Clive Davis, she pushed until Lauryn Hill was in the producer’s chair for Aretha Franklin’s “A Rose Is Still A Rose”; she brought Wyclef Jean’s songs to Whitney Houston and to Carlos Santana. Then she left the business entirely. In conversation with Dr. Hanan Hameen of the New Haven Hip Hop Conference, Dixon is unusually precise about how women’s names go missing from the record — and her explanation has less to do with any one man than you’d expect. She talks about what she withheld from the makers of On the Record, and for how long. About what it actually costs to ask for credit. And about what she’s building now, decades after walking away. Recorded June 21, 2026 at the New Haven Museum as part of Queens of the Culture: Women Who Made Hip-Hop, presented in partnership with Artsucation Academy Network and CT Public. Includes discussion of sexual harassment and assault. . Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe on YouTube!

    Drew Dixon: In the Room Where it Happens

  4. Oct 20

    The Cypher: The Story of Hip-Hop through Movement, Music & Media

    In a cypher, nobody owns the floor. You take your turn, you give it back, and the circle is what holds. Recorded live at the New Haven Museum as part of our Queens of the Culture series, this conversation puts three women in that circle — each of whom built the culture in a different medium. Kim D. Holmes is a choreographer and dancer called one of the premiere luminaries of the urban dance movement, with a twenty-year career that runs from the floor to Beyoncé and Missy Elliott to teaching at Alvin Ailey and NYU. That’s the movement. Zeb Powell, known on air as Homegirl Zeb, is Music Director at WYBC 94.3 FM and co-hosted The Power Hours Rap Show, one of Connecticut’s first commercially successful hip-hop programs and one of the first anywhere fronted by women. That’s the music. Courtney Brown is a veteran journalist, former editor at The Source, and host of The Boogie Brown Show, where she pairs long-form interviews with lost audio from hip-hop’s archive. That’s the media. Moderated by Dr. Hanan Hameen-Diagne, founder of the New Haven Hip Hop Conference, the three trace the culture from Bronx block parties to global stages — and talk about what it was like to grow up inside something before anyone had agreed it was history. Hip-hop, as they describe it, has always been three things at once: a movement, a message, and a mirror. Recorded June 21, 2026 at the New Haven Museum, presented in partnership with Artsucation Academy Network and CT Public. Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe on YouTube!

    The Cypher: The Story of Hip-Hop through Movement, Music & Media

  5. Sep 18

    An Evening with Lhakpa Sherpa - 16th Annual Visionary Leadership Award

    We are thrilled to honor Lhakpa Sherpa, a true trailblazer whose impact and achievements continue to inspire across communities and generations. Set against the stunning backdrop of the historic New Haven Harbor, this evening features an intimate conversation with Lhakpa, moderated by Dr. Quan T. Tran. In 2000, Lhakpa Sherpa became the first Nepali woman to summit Mt. Everest and survive. She has since summited Everest more times than any woman in history — 10 in total — and has also conquered K2. Beyond the mountains, Lhakpa runs her own Connecticut-based guiding business, Hiking With Lhakpa, and continues to climb in pursuit of a better life for herself and her daughters, championing Nepali women and girls along the way. Her story — as an immigrant, single mother, and survivor of intimate partner violence who reclaimed her agency and independence — was told in Netflix's 2024 documentary Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa. The Visionary Leadership Award, presented annually by the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, honors a leader whose trailblazing work is impacting the world — carrying forward the legacy of Festival co-founder Jean M. Handley. Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe on YouTube!

    An Evening with Lhakpa Sherpa - 16th Annual Visionary Leadership Award

  6. Aug 11

    Shucking the Status Quo: How Communities are Restoring Long Island Sound One Shell at a Time

    Every oyster shell tells a story — and together, they're helping bring Long Island Sound back to life.  Watch "Shucking the Status Quo," a conversation on local aquaculture, indigenous stewardship, and community shell recycling, and how they're working hand in hand to restore one of our most treasured waterways. Featuring shellfish farmer Beth Simonds, Chief Sagamore Buddy Pocknett, and Tim Macklin of CORR-CT (Collective Oyster Recycling & Restoration), moderated by Tagan Engel of The Table Underground.  Recorded live at the New Haven Museum as part of the 2026 International Festival of Arts & Ideas.  Featuring:    Beth Simonds, co-owner of Stonington Farms Shellfish    Chief Sagamore Vernon "Buddy" Pocknett, Mashpee Wampanoag    Tim Macklin, co-founder of CORR-CT    Moderated by Tagan Engel, The Table Underground  #NothingWasted #ArtIdea2026 #LongIslandSound #CTOysters Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe on YouTube!

    Shucking the Status Quo: How Communities are Restoring Long Island Sound One Shell at a Time

  7. Aug 11

    Chef's Roundtable: A Conversation on Local Food

    | What does it really mean to cook local — and why does it matter?  Chefs Emily Mingrone, Arturo Franco-Camacho, and Damon "Daye" Sawyer get honest about sourcing close to home, building relationships with local farmers and fishers, and what sustainable food can look like on a Connecticut plate. Moderated by Tagan Engel of The Table Underground.  Recorded live at the New Haven Museum as part of the 2026 International Festival of Arts & Ideas.  Featuring:    Chef Emily Mingrone, Tavern on State, Provisions on State, Fair Haven Oyster Co. and The Pearl    Chef Arturo Franco-Camacho, Geronimo Southwestern Kitchen, Shell & Bones Oyster Bar, and Camacho Garage    Chef Damon "Daye" Sawyer, 29 Markle Ct    Moderated by Tagan Engel, The Table Underground  #NothingWasted #ArtIdea2026 #EatLocalCT #ChefsRoundtable Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe on YouTube!

    Chef's Roundtable: A Conversation on Local Food

  8. Aug 11

    UnCivil Uprising: Can A General Strike Save Democracy

    What's the most powerful weapon against fascism we've nearly forgotten? Jack Hitt and Chenjerai Kumanyika, hosts of the Peabody Award-winning podcast Uncivil, turn their lens on the labor movement — tracing the buried stories of workers who fought back against gilded-age oligarchs, accumulated wealth, and authoritarian drift.  This is not a history lesson. It's a warning — and a call to action. Recorded live at New Haven Museum as part of America 250: Democracy at a Crossroads, presented by the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. Featuring: Jack Hitt, journalist and co-host of Uncivil  Chenjerai Kumanyika, journalist, scholar, and co-host of Uncivil  Learn more about the festival: https://www.artidea.org  #America250 #DemocracyAtACrossroads #ArtIdea2026 #UnCivilPodcast Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe on YouTube!

    UnCivil Uprising: Can A General Strike Save Democracy
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Introducing Great Art, Big Ideas Podcast from the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, CT. This series delves into the most pressing topics in our local community and around the world. Our eclectic program offers a mix of serious, controversial, and whimsical topics, all designed to inspire new ways of thinking.

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  • Creator
    International Festival of Arts & Ideas
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    46
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Great Art, Big Ideas
  • Show Website
    Great Art, Big Ideas