The Hartford iQuilt project to link the city’s cultural institutions with pedestrian and bicycling routes running from Bushnell Park to the Connecticut River has gotten a $400,000 grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.
IQuilt would establish a “quilt” of pathways weaving together downtown Hartford’s key cultural sites and institutions to promote economic growth and the redevelopment of the Capitol district.
The grant will be awarded over three years to complete the design and to provide start-up support.Â
The iQuilt area would consist of a half-mile square area bounded by Buckingham/Charter Oak Avenue, I-84, the Connecticut River and the State Capitol.
Almost all the key cultural destinations within the quilt, including the Capitol, Bushnell Park, The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford Stage Company, the Old State House, and the new Connecticut Science Center, are within a 15-minute walk of each other.
The pathways would make it enjoyable to walk from one cultural site to another with offerings such as public art, education and entertainment activities, vendors and small parks.
IQuilt partners are the Greater Hartford Arts Council, City of Hartford, MetroHartford Alliance, Metropolitan District Commission, Greater Hartford Business Improvement District, Bushnell Park Foundation, the state, and Bushnell Memorial Hall Corp., which serves as fiscal agent.
The Bushnell and the Arts Council initiated iQuilt in 2008 upon a recommendation from the Urban Land Institute that the city “focus on thoughtful, creative in-fill projects to link Hartford’s arts and cultural sector.”
