 |
Hartford, Connecticut
Partner Organizations:
Hartford History Center at Hartford Public Library
The Amistad Center for Art & Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Community Profile:
As the capitol of Connecticut, Hartford is the third largest city in the state, with a population of 121,578 according to the 2000 Census. Among Hartford's noted institutions are the Wadsworth Atheneum, the nation's oldest public art museum, and the Mark Twain House. Several colleges and universities are located in the Greater Hartford area including Trinity College, the University of Hartford, Saint Joseph's College, the University of Connecticut School of Business, the University of Connecticut School of Law, and Hartford Seminary. Many prominent insurance companies, such as Travelers, Aetna and the Hartford Insurance Group, have their headquarters in Hartford.
Although Connecticut has been stereotyped as a largely white and wealthy state, Hartford's demographics reflect a more diverse population. The city's ethnic composition differs greatly from the other Age in America sites with the population at 40.5% Hispanic, 38.1% Black, and 17.8% White. Additionally, 9.5% of the population is aged 65 or older. According to the 2000 US census, approximately 30% of the population is below the poverty line, including 23% of those 65 or older.
…Age
Age in America / Hartford's Project Update
…Age is a dynamic collaboration between the Hartford History Center at Hartford Public Library and The Amistad Center for Art & Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Established in February 2008, the collaboration has evolved into a dynamic relationship allowing for creative brainstorming, measurable results and multiple community partners including the Hartford Art School, the Hill-Stead Museum and Hog River Journal. The fellow collaborators further enhance the scope of the project, providing a multitude of creative resources from which to interpret age and aging as a function of time, place and culture. Together we offer greater opportunities for community involvement, outreach and dialogue.
Image courtesy of The Amistad Center
As part of the national Age in America project (AIA), …Age is designed to demonstrate the potential for museums and libraries, working together both locally and nationally, to strengthen public understanding of aging as an historical and cultural phenomenon. Hartford is one of three sites selected nationally to participate in this project.
This exciting collaboration provides a matrix of intergenerational interpretation and artistic expression with oral history participants, poets and artists all inspired by something that came before and all responding within the context of their personal life stage and lens. Because …Age commences with the Hartford History Center and The Amistad's collections, it is from that historical context the creative process is sparked.
We will present a keystone May 2009 Main Street exhibition spanning the public walkway between the Wadsworth Atheneum and Hartford Public Library. This signature program will be a vehicle with which to explore new ways to access and interpret historical collections be they images, archives or art through the construct of age. Hog River Journal continues this theme in its summer 2009 issue dedicated to life stages. Together, we will initiate community conversation on how we inspire and are inspired by our age and through the ages.
…Age will culminate in original works of public art that our collections have inspired as well as create additional documents and material objects to further enhance our individual holdings.
The Exhibition Process:
Hartford History Center and The Amistad Center will pick intergenerational and ethnically diverse teams to work with oral history facilitators. Teams of two (one teenager from The Amistad's TAG program and one participant over 20 years of age) will select an image from either collection that in some way inspires a personal response from both (a select number of images will be displayed from both collections for teams to choose from); participants will also pick an …Age word that puts their narrative into context (possible …Age words could be advantage, voyage, engage, adage, passage, sage, etc.).
Monica Scott, curator of education at The Amistad, and Susan Campbell, Hartford Courant columnist, will be our oral response facilitators. One-on-one interviews with the facilitators will be filmed and, via our collaboration with the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, participants' narratives will be shared with an intergenerational mix of poets who will create poems from each personal response.
Each poet will receive two DVDs, each DVD containing one oral narrative. They will also receive a reproduction of the object chosen, along with the corresponding …Age word. For each narrative (and its supporting materials), the poet will create a poem.
The image, the …Age word, and either all or part of the poem will be displayed on large banners spanning the public walkway between the Hartford Public Library and the Wadsworth Atheneum.
There will be 8 banners (2 of them being title/credit banners), each banner having the chosen team image front and back but the design treatment of that image will be different as well as the text element (all or part of the poem as well as the …Age word chosen). The banner will include, at the bottom, information on the collection piece shown, as well as name the oral history participant, the poet and the designer.
Students from the Hartford Art School at University of Hartford will design these final banners. They will work with both text and image. At present, the banners are 8x4 feet, and vertical. Design treatment would need to be reviewed early in the process by the institutional partners.
The original collection pieces, the entire oral narrative and the complete poem as well as profiles of participants will be on display in the Hartford History Center throughout the summer 2009. Under discussion is the production of a quality exhibition booklet containing the images, art, narratives and poems of the …Age project. It is possible Hartford Art School students will undertake the design of the exhibition booklet; confirmation to follow.
We plan a May 14, 2009 artists' reception in the Hartford History Center. We have invited Katherine Ott, curator at the Smithsonian Natural Museum of American History, to speak on historical perspectives on aging.
Collaborating institutions will be acknowledged on the printed material, including the 2 title and credit banners. On the 6 individual banners, individual participants, poets and artists will be recognized on those banners they helped create.
Image courtesy of the Hartford History Center at Hartford Public Library
Community Partners
The Hartford History Center at Hartford Public Library and The Amistad Center for Art & Culture are collaborating with local partners to explore the construct of age and aging in our regional community.
The Amistad Center for Art & Culture was founded in 1987 and owns a vital collection of 7,000 items including art, artifacts, and popular culture objects that document the experience, expressions and history of the people of African American heritage.
The Hartford History Center at Hartford Public Library is home to the Hartford Collection, a non-circulating, multi-media collection comprised of more than 50,000 books, trade publications, directories, postcards, and photographs that convey community life in Hartford spanning more than 250 years.
Hog River Journal is a statewide magazine exploring Connecticut's history "one good story after another." Its editorial team has enthusiastically picked up the theme of age and aging and will direct its Summer 2009 issue to exploring life stages within an historical context. The …Age Main Street exhibition will also be showcased in its popular "Destinations" column.
The Hartford Art School has a rich history beginning in 1877 with its founding by a virtual who's who of late 19th century Hartford women. These visionary individuals included the abolitionist writer, Harriet Beecher Stowe; the wife of Mark Twain, Olivia Clemens; the president of Colt Firearms Manufacture Company, Elizabeth Colt; the wife of the owner of the Hartford Courant, Susan Warner; and Mary Bushnell Cheney of Cheney Silk Mills. We are delighted to be joined by what is today considered one of the most highly regarded art schools in the country.
Hill-Stead Museum is a National Historic Landmark museum showcasing French Impressionist art and host to the nationally recognized Sunken Garden Poetry Festival. Since 1992, audiences have enjoyed verse and music among the fragrant blooms of Hill-Stead's Sunken Garden. This performance series has featured the likes of Billy Collins, Yusef Komunyakaa, Maxine Kumin and Grace Paley. Festivities include a plein air café and bookstore and meet-the-poet opportunities.
