Studio M/Michael Spengler Photo
Mary Lou Aleskie.
The International Festival of Arts & Ideas is included in the “Traveler 20,” a list of “travel-worthy events and happenings” published in the May/June 2011 issue of National Geographic Traveler.
Festival Executive Director Mary Lou Aleskie said, “I think that our audience is adventurous and curious and willing to be open to exploration of the unfamiliar,” not unlike the National Geographic Traveler readership.
Aleskie said the festival’s inclusion in the magazine’s “Traveler 20” list is “a statement about our relevance in a global world. … Being recognized on that level is very rewarding.”
Among the other 19 listings in National Geographic Traveler’s “Traveler 20” are the International Mahler Festival in Leipzig, Germany, Festival de Cannes in Cannes, France, and ILLUMInations, the 54th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennial in Venice, Italy.
National Geographic Traveler is published eight times annually by the National Geographic Society and has a circulation of more than 700,000.