Farmington Legislators Applaud Investment in Sunken Garden Poetry Festival

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A non-profit humanities group that receives substantial funding through the state budget has just announced that it will use some of that state funding to become a major sponsor of the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival for the second year in a row.

Connecticut Humanities Executive Director Douglas G. Fisher said Tuesday that his group this week awarded $50,000 to the popular summer poetry series which is held from June to August at the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington.

The $50,000 grant is part of the $2 million that Connecticut Humanities received in the biennial state budget approved in June 2013; both state Senator Beth Bye (D-West Hartford) and state Representative Mike Demicco (D-Farmington) voted for that budget.

“Sunken Garden, the Hill-Stead and Farmington go hand in hand, just as state support for the arts and Connecticut Humanities go hand in hand,” said Sen. Bye. “We’ve got a lot of these great public-private partnerships going on all across Connecticut. That’s one of the reasons why I’m so proud to support the state budget and all of the myriad investments it makes.”

“This funding is much appreciated and is a testament to the fine job the museum is doing in offering so many quality cultural programs,” said Rep. Demicco. “Hill-Stead is an important part of Farmington’s identity and the arts community. Each year, visitors from across the state attend The Sunken Garden Poetry Festival.”

“We are thrilled to be able to continue our support for the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, which grows in popularity each year and has become a mainstay of summer life in Farmington and central Connecticut,” Fisher said. “The setting at Hill-Stead is perfect, and the content is always compelling. We are grateful to those in the state legislature who provided the grant resources to support quality programming such as this at the local and regional levels across Connecticut.”

“Hill-Stead Museum is thrilled to receive this grant to present the 2015 Sunken Garden Poetry Festival,” said Hill-Stead Executive Director and CEO Susan Ballek. “The humanities-rich program content for 2015 includes poetry writing workshops, interactive Prelude interviews with headlining poets, and opportunities to better engage the community in poetry and language arts. Hill-Stead hopes to increase Poetry Festival attendance this year with a later start date onJune 24, and two weekend performances during the summer. With the support of Connecticut Humanities for this acclaimed public program, the museum anticipates its best Sunken Garden Poetry Festival season yet!”

Sunken Garden is one of the premier poetry events in the country that since 1992 has showcased famous American poets and provided a venue for emerging and student poets to perform their work.

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