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Sponsored by: Greater Hartford Arts Council
October 31, 2022 2022 Giving Guide

Greater Hartford Arts Council

Mission:

We exist to be a catalyst for the arts and to promote an equitable arts ecosystem in the Greater Hartford area.

Who are you helping, and how?

The Greater Hartford Arts Council is the leading arts organization in the Hartford region, providing critical financial, educational and organizational resources to support the local arts ecosystem. We are focused on building a stronger community through the arts and ensuring that art is accessible to everyone.

We believe that committing to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, & Social Justice principles propels excellence, innovation and transformation. Through collaboration and strategic partnerships, together we can lift the voices of all to create a vibrant community through the arts.

Our work is to make Hartford New England’s premier creative destination. We are re-envisioning art by focusing on how we can give more people access to arts experiences throughout the Greater Hartford region. This year, we have joined the city of Hartford in an innovative partnership called “Hartford Creates” to elevate the local creative economy, increase engagement and diversity within the arts community and create access and awareness of the arts through strategic activation. Through creative products like public art installations and Re-envision Hartford (formally known as Summer in the City), people can enjoy art all year long!

GHAC staff. Back row from left to right: Tyrone Walker, Abhiram Khade, Jeannette Dardenne, Megan Lenzzo, Chelsea Pollard. Front row from left to right: Henry Alston, Jr., Rev. Dr. Shelley D. Best, Pablo Pita.

How can people and businesses help

We invite people and businesses to become arts ambassadors to help us transform our community and create opportunities for workforce development that will bring about positive change for individuals and businesses. We seek to make investments that will create new endeavors to propel artists and arts organizations forward. The Arts Council recently launched GROW ARTS, a program that gives individuals and businesses an easy opportunity to volunteer and get involved in supporting the arts. The goal is to bring people in at any level and suggest ways that they can show their support from home, at work, a place of worship and so on.

A few potential GROW ARTS opportunities include:

Host an Event: Plan an at-home lunch party, an exercise activity, a paint party, live music, group tours with local cultural organizations, etc., for which attendants provide donations in lieu of a ticket.

Connect with Organizations: Ask community groups like a Kiwanis Club or Girl Scout Troop if they’d host an event benefiting our organization.

Workspace Giving: Engage and inspire your workplace to hold a campaign and ask your company to match every donation.

Structural Impediments:

Organizations often lack the diversity and inclusiveness that is necessary to ignite positive change. We have started offering DEIAJ services to various organizations to ensure that all parts of our community are properly represented. Our region can continue to thrive if it evolves into a community of belonging, a community of creativity and a community of continued economic growth and innovation.

Post-pandemic

The Greater Hartford Arts Council wants to remind everyone how art can positively change and strengthen the creative economy to build a sustainable future for the workforce and business sector. Our three pillars — Create, Evolve and Belong — will create possibilities for makers and shapers to heal, transform and evolve the region as a premier arts destination. We must continue to build a place of belonging so that people from all over can celebrate the arts in greater Hartford. People want to be inspired, engaged and challenged. Art can do this. Art can mobilize a community into a place of excitement. Art can reinvigorate growth and innovation and drive economic vitality!

“The Greater Hartford Arts Council has been a beacon of information and support for me. After my mother was murdered here in Hartford, many thought I’d never be able to overcome that horror. I used art to push me to be greater than that horror. Art heals, art feels good, and art must continue to build experiences that bring the community together and support the people who create.”

Hydro Cardona

artist

About us

Year established: 1971

Total number of employees: 9

Geographic Service Area(s):

Andover

Avon

Berlin

Bloomfield

Bolton

Bristol

Canton

East Granby

East Hartford

East Windsor

Ellington

Enfield

Farmington

Glastonbury

Granby

Hartford

Hebron

Manchester

Marlborough

New Britain

Newington

Plainville

Rocky Hill

Simsbury

Somers

Southington

South Windsor

Suffield

Tolland

Vernon

West Hartford

Wethersfield

Windsor

Windsor Locks

Top funding sources

City of Hartford

Travelers

Raytheon Technologies

Hartford Foundation for Public Giving

Stanley Black & Decker

Connecticut Office of the Arts

Contact

100 Pearl Street, 12th Floor, Hartford, CT 06103

860-525-8629

www.letsgoarts.org

Chief Executive Officer

Rev. Dr. Shelley D. Best

Board of Directors

Brian Refici, Board Chair, MarshBerry

Janet Link, Stanley Black & Decker

Stephen Jackson, CohnReznick

Karen Eisenbach, Voya

Robert Braswell, Travelers

Mary Kay Curtiss, CLA

Christopher J. Delello, UCONN

Eric S. Goldstein, Shipman & Goodwin

Richard Hill, KPMG

Jason T. Gutcheon, Professional Business Insurers

Chris McGoldrick, United Healthcare

Haneef Nelson, Artist and Community Leader

Michael Pignatella, Prudential Retirement

Melanie Tucker, Hartford Hospital

Janée P. Woods Weber, Connecticut Women’s Educational and Leadership Fund

T’Challa N. Williams, Hartford’s L.I.T.