Hartford’s Stowe Center for Literary Activism can look forward to a $4.6 million grant for repairs and improved accessibility following a vote of the state’s Community Investment Fund board Tuesday morning.
The CIF board, chaired by State House Speaker Matthew Ritter and Senate President Pro Tempore Martin R. Looney, signed off on 36 grants worth a combined $74.68 million to municipalities and nonprofits.
These will support projects ranging from downtown revitalizations and upgrades of cultural assets – like the Stowe Center – to brownfield remediation.
The Stowe Center promotes social justice and literary activism by exploring the life and work of Harriet Beecher Stowe, and draws about 5,000 visitors annually to history tours, forums and events. It is centered around the 1871-vintage home of abolitionist and author Harriet Beecher Stowe. The state grant will support upgrades to gardens on the 2.5-acre grounds, increased handicap accessibility and building repairs, said Karen Fisk, executive director of the Stowe Center.
“We are just so excited about the potential this funding has to make this even more of a hub for this neighborhood, as well as folks that are visiting from far and wide,” Fisk said.
State lawmakers created the CIF board in 2020 with the mandate to approve up to $875 million for community-building projects in distressed municipalities over five years.
The CIF board signed off on grants for other cultural assets Tuesday, including $2 million for renovation of the Thomaston Opera House and $1.5 million for renovations to the Warner Theatre in Torrington.
The Warner had asked for $5.9 million that would have upgraded the 93-year-old building’s major systems and security, improved stage-level amenities and addressed handicap accessibility throughout.
Even so, Stephanie Fried, co-executive director of the Warner, said her organization is grateful to State Rep. Michelle Cook (D-Torrington) and state legislative leaders for a grant that will allow the theater to move dressing rooms and showers for performers out of the basement and on the same floor as the stage. This is crucial to booking traveling acts, she said.
“It will improve our ability to book better, bigger and more events, driving ticket sales and enlivening downtown Torrington,” Fried said. “It’s a great day for the Warner and a great day for those other organizations that were fortunate enough to be selected by the CIF Board.”
Freid said her organization continues to hunt for grant dollars to fund other desired upgrades.
The Warner has a 1,770-seat main theater and 275-seat studio. It hosts about 74,000 visitors at up to 60 events a year, Fried said. Those events drive visits to local restaurants and shops, she stressed.
Jeffrey Dunn, executive director for the Landmark Community Theatre, which manages the Thomaston opera House, said the CIF grant will contribute to an ongoing multiyear, multiphase and multimillion-dollar effort to renovate and modernize the 1883-vintage theater, which is located inside Thomaston Town Hall.
Among other things, this grant will pay for the replacement of a timber rigging system that is original to the 529-seat theater.
“We are still able to maintain it, but it certainly is labor-intensive and difficult to rig anything on the stage,” Dunn said.
The theater currently draws about 25,000 visitors a year between productions and events, Dunn said. That will increase following upgrades, he predicts. The theater will become a more productive part of a mix of local attractions, including the Railroad Museum of New England and Clocktown Brewing Co., he said.
“People who come to see a show might take a train ride, maybe go visit the brewery,” Dunn said. “It becomes a bit more of a value. It’s not just a show. They are making an evening of it or a day of it.”
Projects approved by the CIF board still have hurdles to jump. Tuesday morning’s vote goes to Gov. Ned Lamont as a recommendation for inclusion on an upcoming agenda of the state Bond Commission, which would authorize raising funds for the projects through borrowing.
Projects recommended by the CIF board are virtually assured to land on the bond agenda, which is almost certain to meet approval.
The CIF received 146 applications seeking $445 million in this fifth round of grants.
