Arts Center East

@artscentereast

Arts Center East is home to a rich artistic community. We are a place where visual artists from across the state – and beyond! – exhibit and sell their work through juried exhibits and members exhibits. Unique handmade creations of pottery, jewelry, wood crafts, and other gifts made by local and regional artisans fill our artisan craft fairs. Musical and theatrical performances delight audiences of all ages, and our classrooms hum with the joy of artistic creation and growth. We are the heart of the arts east of the river. Arts Center East hosts numerous exhibits and events throughout the year. We offer classes and workshops in drawing, painting of all mediums, photography, writing, and more. Our Mission is to advance the arts for everyone through education, exhibits, events, and performances. This includes embracing and showcasing the diversity of artists and their work. As our organization continues to grow, we strive to reflect the varied and vibrant community we serve. Our vision is to become a regional arts destination in Connecticut. All are welcome to enjoy the innovative exhibits, educational programming, performances, and events offered at Arts Center East. Join us today!

Farmington Valley Arts Center

@artsfvac

The Farmington Valley Arts Center is enriching lives through art. We are dedicated to cultivating a community where people can create, learn, exhibit, exchange ideas and inspire each other. We welcome and support participants of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds on their personal artistic journeys. Housed in historic sandstone buildings of the former Climax Fuse Factory in Avon CT, FVAC has been connecting the community to the creative process for almost 50 years! We offer unique educational programming, gallery exhibits, special events and the opportunity to engage with a with a community of professional artists working in 17 studios on campus.

Black Tech Futures Media

@blacktechfuturesmedia

Black Tech Futures Media connects Creators to economic opportunities on the Blockchain and Web 3.0. We advise, develop, and educate culture creators through social media promotion, design, meetups, podcasts, advice, and consultation. Since April of 2020, Jamil Ahmed and Ira Revels have met every week consistently to deliver news about Black and Latinx NFT (non-fungible token) and digital art developers. This March 2022 our podcast about NFTs will celebrate 52 weeks! Contact us at https://blacktechfutures.media to learn more about how to get involved in creating NFTs and building a legacy and generational wealth on the Blockchain or preparing your business for Web 3 and Metaverse interactions.

Celeste LeWitt Gallery at UConn Health

@celestelewittgallery

The Celeste LeWitt Gallery at UConn Health is located in the North side of our main dining facility. Named after the founder of the Connecticut Collection, Celeste LeWitt Gallery hosts exhibits Four exhibits per year, featuring two artists Connecticut-based artists per show. Celeste, who was a cousin of world renowned conceptual artist, Sol LeWitt started the Connecticut Collection in 1979 through what was known as the women's auxiliary. She established our art collection with the intention of using art to enhance our public spaces and cultivate a healing environment. Celeste would later pass the baton to Linda Webber, who established the gallery in her honor. Linda served as Art Curator for 22 years before retiring in 2022. Andre Rochester is our current curator. All are welcome to submit work for our ongoing open call to artists. We are currently planning exhibits from 2026 and beyond. As a public institution, exhibits in Celeste LeWitt Gallery must not include imagery containing religious, political, violent, or nude content. Only two-dimensional art can be exhibited in the gallery. All works must be ready to hang, including appropriate hardware for installation. Artwork will not be accepted without proper wire installed. At the end of each show, artists often donate a work of art to our collection. Although encouraged, art donations are not a requirement for exhibiting.

Evergreen Family Theatre

@evergreenfamilytheatre

EFT produces accessible and educational theatrical events, at no or low-cost, for all members of the community with a focus on underserved communities and school-age children. Our goal is to bring theatre to all communities in Vernon, Hartford, and beyond.

Windsor Historical Society

@firsttownct1633

Our mission is to invite people to connect with Windsor’s evolving history by preserving, interpreting, and sharing our community’s artifacts and stories. Throughout 2020, the Society’s Inclusion Team, made up of Board, staff, and community volunteers, developed an Inclusion Action Plan, which begins with the following statement: Windsor’s residents—past, present, and future—are the holders and tellers of their experiences, their truths, their values, and their town. Through our intentional and deliberate self-reflection as an organization and as holders of privilege, we seek to acknowledge the exclusion of black and brown narratives and stories, and to ensure the inclusion of racially and ethnically diverse individuals across board, organizational, and programmatic levels going forward. Ongoing education around diversity, equity, and inclusion, professional development, and interpersonal growth are at the forefront for all of us at the Windsor Historical Society as we begin our second century. Windsor Historical Society, in partnership with the Windsor community, will learn its full and complete story, both as an organization and as a resource. We are also dedicated to unearthing the stories of all Windsor’s people, especially people of color, and sharing these stories in ways that are mindful of the needs of our community. We will lead initiatives to curate artifacts of historical, cultural, and ancestral value and we will love with a deference for difference of identity in the many ways it presents itself. As we begin our second century, and after thoughtful examination of our own history and place in the Windsor community, we aspire to: Be first in our region to center our history and culture on the lives of racially and ethnically diverse members of our community. We will do this by ensuring that our work is rooted in the history, stories and voices of all community members and that we build our core competence in diversity, equity and inclusion, aligning processes, systems, and structures with its vision.

HartBeat Ensemble

@hartbeatensemble

Founded in 2001, HartBeat Ensemble's mission is to create provocative theater that connects our community beyond traditional barriers of race, gender, class and geography. ​ HartBeat Ensemble is the only institution in Hartford that is consistently using theater to speak powerfully across different generations, races, populations and interest groups. As an ensemble of artist-activists, we create as well as present innovative productions based on critical civic issues. HartBeat offers audiences the chance to experience and respond to the work they have just seen through live performance and guided conversations. HartBeat’s original, full-length creative works, including the award-winning Flipside, the critically acclaimed Jimmy & Lorraine, and Pegao. HartBeat continues to inspire the next generation of leaders to create change for a better world through its Youth Play Institute. ​HartBeat is an artist-led, artist-driven company dedicated to building community partnerships and helping to integrate the arts into our community’s civic agenda.

Hartford Artisans Weaving Center

@hartfordartisans

The Hartford Artisans Weaving Center's mission is to enrich lives through hand-weaving. Our one-of-a-kind therapeutic artisan weaving program provides a creative community where over 30 people who are sight-limited, blind, and/or senior in age, congregate and weave original, beautiful items. Having a creative and practical skill adds purpose and satisfaction to their lives. This is our hallmark program, supported by 45 volunteers and 4 staff members. Our community could not exist without the efforts of volunteers who wind warps, dress looms, sew and work on countless other projects. The staff provide the structure, direction and expertise to run the organization as well as specialized skills sets to support our artisan weavers. The organizational vision of the Weaving Center is to be "known as a bustling and thriving community hub. Besides our artisan program, we offer a variety of weaving classes to the public throughout the year. Students often take multiple classes with us, gaining new creative skills and become part of our community. The positive impact of our organization is felt through our artisans, volunteers, staff, board, students, customers and larger Hartford community.

Hartford Chorale

@hartfordchoralesings

Founded in 1972, Hartford Chorale is a volunteer not-for-profit organization that presents, on a symphonic scale, masterpieces of great choral art throughout southern New England and beyond, serving as the primary symphonic chorus for the Greater Hartford community. Through its concerts and collaborations with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and other organizations, the Hartford Chorale engages the widest possible audiences with exceptional performances of a broad range of choral literature, providing talented singers with the opportunity to study and perform at a professional level. Our voices are raised in song to inspire thousands of ears, minds, and hearts. Hartford Chorale’s dedicated members are avocational singers with professional-quality voices and include musicians, teachers, students, doctors, lawyers, engineers and many more from all walks of life. Members are supported by a small core of professional vocalists members, live throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts and work in many businesses and schools in the region. Hartford Chorale is governed by a volunteer board, a diverse and impressive group of individuals with a wide range of business and musical experiences. They have a singular vision to keep the Chorale moving forward using our Four-Point Chorale Strategic Planning Framework. Many of the board members also sing in the Chorale.

Hartford Opera Theater

@hartfordoperatheater

Hartford Opera Theater, Inc. is dedicated to enriching the lives of all members of the Greater Hartford community by offering quality, innovative, and affordable opera. Our organization commits itself to keeping the genre of opera relevant for patrons and artists through the presentation of productions that are both culturally topical and true to opera as an art form. We foster a safe environment in which emerging and established artists can feel free to collaborate and create. In addition, HOT promotes arts education and appreciation by providing free outreach programs to members of our community. At HOT, we believe that all people deserve to experience the beauty and total art that is opera. Hartford Opera Theater - Opera for Everyone. ​ DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION STATEMENT ​ We at Hartford Opera Theater believe that the freedom of artistic expression can connect us to others, give voice to our human complexity, and move us toward truth and justice. This drives our commitment to a radically inclusive and welcoming model for collaboration, advocating for artistic innovation, and accessibility to all communities, in welcoming venues, and through affordable ticket prices. We commit to: Reflecting in our work, company leadership, and casting, the diverse community of Greater Hartford, with particular attention to BIPOC and LGBTQ communities and persons with disabilities. Creating a company culture of inclusion, support, and equity. Celebrating the creative, artistic, and influential work of our artists. Collaborating with local arts organizations to develop a regional community connection Connecting with our community so that the art we make is the art you want to see.