Hartford Stage Forms Ongoing Community Partnership

Pictured: (L-R): Elizabeth Williamson, Associate Artistic Director, Hartford Stage; Sharon Washington, Writer and Performer of Feeding the Dragon; Darko Tresnjak, Artistic Director, Hartford Stage; Bridget Quinn-Carey, Chief Executive Officer, Hartford Public Library; Margaret Patricelli, The Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation; Michael Stotts, Managing Director, Hartford Stage.

Hartford, CT, December 15, 2017 – Hartford StageArtistic Director Darko Tresnjak and Managing Director Michael Stotts, together with Hartford Public Library Chief Executive Officer Bridget Quinn-Carey, today announced a new community partnership that will deepen engagement and increase access to live theatre for residents of the city’s diverse neighborhoods.

The multi-tiered partnership includes:

• A Library Pass program providing the opportunity for Hartford Public Library card holders at all branches to check out and reserve complimentary theatre tickets to all Hartford Stage productions. The passes will be available at each library branch. Two tickets for each public performance will be set aside for each library branch, making approximately 4,000 tickets available to Hartford residents.
• A Neighborhood Ambassador Program enabling residents nominated by their library branches to represent their communities at Hartford Stage to discuss how themes of upcoming productions intersect with current civic or social issues in Hartford.
• Book displays at all Hartford Public Library branches will feature curated reading selections hand-picked by the Hartford Stage Artistic team and librarians which correlate to themes and ideas presented in the theatre’s productions. Custom Hartford Stage bookmarks and additional collateral accompany each display.
• HPL @ Hartford Stage - a Hartford Public Library kiosk branch at Hartford Stage - will enable theatre patrons with Hartford and Connecticut library cards to check out book titles directly related to each production to deepen their experience to the art presented onstage. Patrons who live in-state may also sign up for library cards at the theatre.

The Hartford Stage-Hartford Public Library partnership is made possible, in part, through a generous grant from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation. The Foundation is the lead funder of the partnership.
“The goal of these programs is to provide access to Hartford Stage productions to all residents of Hartford,” said Michael Stotts, Managing Director of Hartford Stage. “Partnering with the Hartford Public Library branches will ensure fair distribution of tickets across all neighborhoods, and the Ambassador Program will deepen civic engagement with our programs and productions. We are delighted that the Library embraced this idea and joined us as a partner; and we are grateful to the Patricellis for their generous support, which will subsidize the cost of the tickets.”

Bridget Quinn-Carey, Chief Executive Officer of the Hartford Public Library, said, “We are thrilled to partner with the Hartford Stage in making world class theatre accessible to all Hartford residents and to fostering community conversations and literary explorations through the new Ambassador Program and kiosk library at Hartford Stage.”

“It is our Foundation’s great pleasure to support these vital community programs,” said Margaret Patricelli. “Hartford has a constellation of nationally-recognized arts and cultural assets. It makes good sense to support innovative partnership programs, such as those created by Hartford Stage and the Hartford Public Library, which will enrich the lives of Hartford’s residents.”

The partnership was announced during a press conference held earlier today at Hartford Stage. Sharon Washington, who in January brings the play Feeding the Dragon – her own true story of growing up in the custodial apartment of a New York public library – to Hartford Stage, was a guest speaker. Hartford community leaders and representatives from the Hartford Public Library and Neighborhood Ambassador Program were also in attendance.