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Int'l Fest Eyes Own Y2K Woe
Next year Collard's last; 1999 impact lauded
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Business New Haven
9/6/1999
By: BNH
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Next year's International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven will be festival Director Paul Collard's last.
Collard earlier announced his intention to return with his family to their native United Kingdom at the conclusion of the 2000 event. Festival Chairman Daniel J. Miglio says an "international search" for Collard's successor will commence shortly.
"The experience of living in and getting to know New Haven has been wonderful," said Collard. "I look forward to making the next festival the best yet and hope that it will contribute, as the others have, to drawing national and international recognition to one of the most remarkable small cities in the world."
In related news, a Quinnipiac College study of the economic impact of the 1999 festival reported that direct economic impact from the event rose to $3.5 million from about $2.5 million for the 1998 event. Total economic impact over the same span more than doubled to almost $12 million, according to QC associate economics professor Mark Gius.
"The primary reason for the increase," explained Gius, "was a dramatic increase in the average expenditure of all visitors and the increase in the length of the festival from five to 16 days."
The more-than-trebled festival duration, coupled with an increase in the number of ticketed events, generated more dollars in 1999, especially for performance venues such as Long Wharf Theatre and the Shubert Performing Arts Center.
They also attracted more attendees - about 111,000, or some 16 percent more than attended the 1998 event. Festival officials also reported that the number of audience members coming from beyond New Haven and "immediate" suburbs rose from around 30 percent in 1998 to more than 45 percent this year.
Those figures, said Collard, "confirm the festival's position as one of the region's major cultural events of the summer."
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