Our promise is to use the arts to “improve lives and transform communities.” A few years ago, we created the Arts Catalyst program, which provides small arts and culture organizations resources that support growth and innovation. In the “Where Are They Now?” series, we’ll revisit each community arts center that completed the first Cohort of our Arts Catalyst program, where they worked with an organizational development consultant and a Business Volunteer for the Arts. The first post takes a look at how the Farmington Valley Arts Center found a way forward after the devastating recession in 2008 and what they’ve been able to do with the Arts Catalyst resources.
There’s nothing like a fresh start, and the Farmington Valley Arts Center has seen many changes since it started over 40 years ago. This former Ensign-Bickford fuse factory nestled in bucolic Avon is no stranger to transition. Started by a local clergyman in 1974, the Arts Center had been providing programs, classes, studio space, and a children’s summer camp until 2008 when the economy crashed. After closing for just one day, the Board of Directors had a chance to refocus. A new Board President was appointed to tackle the significant financial issues, and to put the FVAC back on the path to financial stability. Their “Rebuilding” phase included expanding their studio rentals, re-imagining their education program, relocating and refreshing their retail space, producing more exhibits, and adding or revitalizing existing programs such as an Artist-in-Residence program, Art Parties and Art Hikes. They were also looking to take advantage of other funding opportunities, so they were excited to find out they had gotten in to the Arts Catalyst cohort in 2016.
As important as it is to start a project with this sort of breadth and depth with an open mind, it is completely normal to have some nerves and hesitancy, but Board member Linda Sorrell was ready to put all of the aforementioned ideas into action. “The innovation goal workshop really helped us crystallize things that we had been thinking about,” Sorrell said. “Going into the workshop, what became very apparent was that we had some really pretty good offerings and quite decent infrastructure in place. What we didn’t have was a way of marketing it.” Sorrell is referring to a strategic document that had been produced back in 2012, but a lot of the content had not been operationalized for various reasons. The innovation workshop guided Cohort 1 through an organizational analysis, vision development, and action planning exercises to help participants realize potential growth. Sorrell’s takeaway from the innovation goal workshop was the beginning of a marketing plan to operationalize their former strategic planning document.
“Working on innovation goals, it became clear that to do anything else, we had to get a particular message out there and start to address the audience, not only the audience we had at the moment, but to increase and diversify that audience pretty significantly.” Sorrell and the Board wished to grow the audience from a mostly homogenous group into different populations with varied interests. This is where the Business Volunteers for the Arts played a significant role. “[The] BVA partners were phenomenal…they understood social media in a way the FVAC board and volunteers did not…[they] put out surveys and collected a lot of data.” FVAC’s experience with the innovation goal workshop combined with findings generated by their BVA partners culminated in four distinct yet interwoven areas of potential growth: Visibility, Excitement, Community, and Sustainability.
Over the summer, the arts center hosted the first Funnybone Records showcase, an evening of music and poetry performed by artists associated with the West Hartford-based label of the same name. As part of their recently expanded clay program, they developed a series of “clay date nights” through Groupon that reached a new demographic and volume of people they hadn’t seen. “If we can get people back here once, we can get them a second and a third…we can start to understand what kinds of events will draw people in,” said Sorrell.
In conclusion, the Farmington Valley Arts Center participants had an overwhelmingly positive experience in the first Arts Catalyst cohort, and look forward to being able to produce more consistent offerings. Be on the lookout for our next “Where Are They Now” post, where we learn how the Windsor Art Center fared in their Cohort 1 experience!
Writers and aspiring writers can attend workshops with humor author/columnist Gina Barreca, poet Bessy Reyna, and storyteller/author Matthew Dicks. Travel writer Kim Knox Beckius, children’s author Dana Meachen Rau, and theater/music critic Frank Rizzo will share their insights.
On Saturday night at 7, New York Times bestselling author Gary Shteyngart will discuss his new novel, Lake Success. On Sunday evening at 7, prolific and popular author Jodi Picoult will speak about her new book, Spark of Light. Those presentations are included in the weekend ticket, or can be purchased separately.
Ballet Theater Company
Charter Oak Cultural Center
Hartford Stage
Noah Webster House
As one of the hottest and most humid summers in recent history comes to a close, we’re looking forward to capping off an incredible season of Summer in the City with Hartford Pride! Learn more about CLARO INC, the organization behind the festival and what its president, Charlie Ortiz, is most looking forward to on 
GHAC: How has the event grown or changed over the years?
GHAC: What is your favorite part(s) of the event?
GHAC: What does the future of the event look like – what are you looking forward to?
We’ve been having a blast at the 2018 Summer in the City events, so as a re-cap of some of the events we had the chance to catch up with a few of the event organizers to learn more about the history and what they look forward to in the future. In this post you’ll hear from Riverfront Recapture’s Mike Zaleski on the annual Fireworks Celebration, James Varano, the mind behind the Black Eyed and Blues Festival, and Desmond Sinclair of this weekend’s West Indian Independence Celebration.
GHAC: Why do you think this event is important to Hartford?
Summer in the City, which is made possible by United Technologies, is a program of the Greater Hartford Arts Council, in partnership with the City of Hartford.
Tucked away next to Grace Lutheran Church on Woodland St, the Hartford Artisans Weaving Center is led by Executive Director Katie Glass along with a handful of part-time staff and a team of about 30 volunteers. Glass recently joined the ranks at the Center with as much curiosity and excitement as a kid in a candy store, and you can hear it in her voice. “Soup to nuts, it’s a team thing,” Glass says. “I’ve never felt more kindness or support [in a workplace]…people help each other start to finish.”
In fact the Center, entering its 10th anniversary year after moving from Oak Hill, is a candy store in its own way. Enter the gate and walk up the stairs, and one of the first things you see is a community weaving project the Center brought to downtown Hartford for 
Every year, the Center presents an exhibit of their artisans’ work on the third floor of the Hartford Public Library. This year, “Block by Design” explores the endless designs one can weave using the basic unit of a block pattern. The artistic force behind every stitch is Creative Director Fran Curran, who not only conceptualizes the colors and patterns, but she also personalizes each design to every artisan. At most looms you will see a piece of paper with a set of numbers in a specific order; that is weavers’ code. For the artisans who are 55 and older, they will use the code as a visual guide. For the artisans who are visually impaired or blind, they might listen to the numerical pattern on headphones, translate it to braille, or even memorize it!
“Block by Design” is on view at the Hartford Public Library through September 29, and you are invited to meet the artisans at the gallery on