At a press conference earlier this month, the Greater Hartford Arts Council (GHAC), along with Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam, issued the Hartford Creates arts guide. The guide highlights the many festivals, concerts, and other arts events happening through the fall in the Hartford area.
The Hartford Creates initiative aims to build a sustainable arts ecosystem in the capital city.
“We call this a movement of creative disruption,” said Rev. Shelley D. Best. “We’re changing the system, the society, the network, the community, by bringing creatives into the midst of what’s happening to uplift and change our community.”
The guide highlights some of the ongoing festivals in Hartford, like the Pratt Street Salsa Socials, and the Pratt Street Sounds, an outdoor music concert every Friday night on Pratt Street through the end of September. There’s also the Audio Feed Lunch Hour Concert Series, where Hartford workers and residents are encouraged to bring their lunch to State House Square every Wednesday through September and hear live music.
Also included among the parades, food festivals, film festivals and concerts is the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz. Jazz trumpeter, and Greater Hartford Arts Council arts fellow Haneef Nelson, said jazz is an “essential ingredient” to the city.
“It goes back to prohibition, when the North End had tons of speakeasies where live music was being played,” Nelson said. “It goes back to the early twenties when Duke Ellington used to come here and play solo piano for service members. Through the forties, when the great Teddy Wilson had a weekly engagement here. So we have a very rich legacy in jazz.”
The GHAC also announced their plans to create a first-of-its-kind crowdsourced mural, the Art Star Mural. The 20’x20’ mosaic mural will consist of thousands of photographs submitted by contributors to the Greater Hartford Arts Council.
