Karen Ponzio Photos
The New Haven outernet: Old-school flyers for events around town, past and present.
In the eight years that I have been reporting on arts and culture for the Independent, I have heard one question more than any other: “How do you find out about all of these events in New Haven?”
Aside from sources that are unique to news outlets, such as press releases, there are a plethora of ways to seek out what is happening in the way of music, theater, visual art, literature, and all the other ways the city has to entertain you. If this is something you have an interest in, please read on.
Let us start with the one place that is probably used the most: social media.
Yes, I know, so many of us are currently in the throes of trying to reduce our time on these platforms, so I am not going to encourage you to be on them if you do not want to be. However, if you are already on apps such as Facebook and Instagram, you make them work for you when it comes to arts and culture.
Begin with following your favorite artists, performers, venues, and arts organizations and organizers. Once you do this you are guaranteed to be invited to any event that they post, and all of the pertinent information one might need to plan your day or night out will be included in that event page. For example, are you a big fan of the Kehler Lidell Gallery in Westville, Witch Bitch Thrift in East Rock, or Cantean Coffee and Tea in Spring Glen? Then follow their Facebook and Instagram pages. You will know about all of their events as soon as they are posted.
One of my favorite ways to keep abreast of what is going on with minimal time spent searching social media is via Instagram Stories where you can speed through announcements in no time without having to scroll through and search for information.
That leads us to another seemingly obvious choice: the website.
“Hey KP, I don’t want to be searching a bunch of websites all the time,” you might be saying to yourself as you read this suggestion. Well, guess what? Most galleries, venues, theaters, and other event holding spaces have a newsletter you can subscribe to through their websites, which means you can sign up once and then find their info deposited regularly and conveniently in your email account.
Some of those emails hold quite a bit of information. Possible Futures, for example, lists not only their events for the month but also upcoming new book releases. The New Haven Free Public Library also has book-related content as well as event listings. And if you sign up at Yale Film Archive you not only get a full list of their semester offerings when they are announced, but you also get an email every time a film is being shown.
The Audubon Street outernet.
Visiting a website and/or signing up for an email list is also a great way to find out what is planned for annual events such as the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, Open Studios New Haven, and Kulturally LIT Fest, all of which are made up of a host of individual events across the city.
If you are not looking to get your email box filled with more correspondence, that is understandable. The websites are still there for your perusal. Event calendars for musical performances can be found on the websites of café nine, Firehouse 12, Volume Two, Three Sheets, Best Video, The Cellar on Treadwell, Space Ballroom, and College Street Music Hall, among others.
If you are looking for events that are not music related, you can hone in on that quite easily too. Do you enjoy live theater? Long Wharf, The Shubert, Bregamos, New Haven Theater Company, Collective Consciousness Theater: they all have websites and newsletters. How about visual art? Yale Art Gallery, Creative Arts Workshop, The Ely Center, City Gallery, NXTHVN: they all have all the information about their openings on their websites, as well as workshops and other events.
This next hint may be considered too obvious to mention, but I will anyway: flyers are still a thing. In fact, they may be an even bigger thing than they have been in years.
I’m sure you have seen them all over the city on poles and in windows, but have you really stopped to look at them? Every venue typically has them hanging up and promoting future events as well. Say, for example, you are at café nine for their weekly jazz jam, maybe grab your phone and take a picture of their wall of show flyers. There are also still a couple of public places where anyone can hang a flyer for pretty much anything. Both ends of Audubon Street have a round kiosk, and the alley next to Toad’s has a huge billboard. Check them out next time you’re grabbing a coffee or a cone.
And if you are still saying, “Wait, this is too much hunting and pecking, I want the most info in the smallest space and quickest way,” then I will direct you to a few organizations that might be able to help with that. Info New Haven and The Arts Council both have information on their websites as well as a newsletter you can subscribe to that encompasses a wealth of events happening all over the city. WestvilleCT.org as well as the Westville Renaissance Alliance are your go-tos for that section of the city. And even the Independent has its own calendar. It is small, but it is mighty.
The city itself is small but mighty as well, and the arts and culture scene is pretty much bursting at the seams these days with happenings. There is no way we can catch and list them all, so this is where you come in, dear reader. Use the comments section to let us know where else one can find information about events around town. Culture and creation are based in community. Let’s help each other out!
Alley off York Street.