David Fay, president and CEO of The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, stands with Beth Costello, chair of the theater's board of trustees.
September 23, 2021
Remaking A Masterpiece
STEVEN LASCHEVER PHOTOGRAPHY
The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, above, has been a staple in Hartford's theater scene since 1930.
By John A. Lathinen
After the pandemic, the Hartford arts scene is bouncing back
Take a stroll around Hartford and you’ll quickly see why Connecticut’s capital city and the surrounding area are such a draw for artists and arts lovers.
With galleries, museums, theaters, music and dance venues, as well as cultural sites both big and small, Greater Hartford offers an abundance of options.
“There is a long tradition of engagement in the arts in our region,” said David Fay, president and CEO at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, a Hartford theater that first opened in 1930. “You have access, your voice can be heard, and your work can be seen. We are blessed with a population that not only appreciates the arts but places a very high value on the arts for themselves and their families. We are also blessed with some great artistic institutions. For students looking at colleges, it is invaluable. Even when not used by everyone, the mere presence of multiple points of entry into the creative world of imaginative artists is an important calling card for any community.”
It is a calling card that gathered dust during the Covid-19 pandemic. But the Hartford arts community has optimistically – albeit cautiously – welcomed the reopening of venues as well as the return of live events.
“The arts and cultural sector in Greater Hartford is a sector still very much in recovery, with many organizations just now beginning to reopen and artists still trying to build back a full schedule of performances or exhibitions,” said Kate McOmber, interim CEO of the Greater Hartford Arts Council. “Relief funding was a critical investment that helped the sector survive the closure period, but artists and arts organizations need continued support. It will take all of us, the Arts Council, our corporate and government partners, our generous donors, along with the artists and organizations all working together to get the sector back on solid ground.”
Hill-Stead Museum
At a time when many cultural institutions were forced to close or host virtual-only offerings, Farmington’s Hill-Stead Museum not only kept its 152-acre grounds and gardens open to all every day during the pandemic but also pioneered new relationships to bring live arts experiences into peoples’ lives.
“We transformed Hill-Stead’s front veranda and lawn into an impromptu outdoor theater where 30 separate events took place, involving 12 collaborating institutions, employing 102 diverse performers and dazzling 2,500 visitors, 65 percent of which had never before visited Hill-Stead,” said Anna Swinbourne, the art museum’s executive director and CEO.
TheaterWorks Hartford
TheaterWorks Hartford, one of few performing arts organizations across the country to produce theater continuously this past season, has played a significant role in the community for more than 35 years, bringing an average of 40,000 people a year downtown. During the pandemic, the theater launched a new membership program and a virtual platform with a shift to online content, focused on developing new works, expanding partnerships and accessibility, and exploring the ground between theater and film.
The relationship the theater shares with the city is an important one.
“TWH is a property owner and has long been committed to the neighborhood but also recognizes a broader obligation to the city at large,” said Freddie McInerny, director of marketing and communications. “We’re storytellers – a job that comes with awesome responsibility. It’s said that ‘we become the stories we tell.’ If TheaterWorks does its job right – and that’s something we need to work hard at every day – then we can tell and transcend the stories that best embody our potential. That’s no small thing.”
Connecticut Office of the Arts
The Connecticut Office of the Arts, or COA, has been hard at work building programs to support artists with project grants, including the Artists Respond grant, which will be offered twice in 2021. In addition to working more closely with regional service organizations (including the Arts Council), the COA has also teamed with CT Humanities to create several innovative programs, the largest of which will be operating support for area arts and humanities organizations.
Liz Shapiro, director of arts, preservation and museums for the COA, feels the arts need to be looked at in an entirely different way.
Shutterstock/ Mustafa H
The Hill-Stead Museum became an impromptu theater during the pandemic.
“Let’s compare the arts to the solar system,” Shapiro said. “Usually, when we think about the arts and the way they affect our landscape, the arts are put way out towards Pluto. The arts should be at the center, the arts are the true sun. Because of the high density of creative individuals, we have a high density of arts organizations. Those organizations feed the restaurants, the communities, the tourists, the housing market and the need for other services. And although no one talks about it nearly enough, Hartford is beautiful. It’s a river city, filled with parks and incredible architecture.”
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