Southington Community Cultural Arts Awarded $118k Grant

Southington Community Cultural Arts was awarded a $118,000 grant through the Bradley Henry Barnes and Leila Upson Barnes Memorial Trust at Main Street Community Foundation.

The grant will help transform the historic Gura Building into a community arts center where artists can create.

The Connecticut Office of the Arts chose it as a Uarts facility for the Central Connecticut region. Uarts provides accessibility, engagement, resources and opportunities for people with a wide variety of mental and physical disabilities.

“The program will help this underserved population tap into their creativity and ensure quality of life and personal fulfillment,” said Mary DeCroce, the Executive Director for SCCA and an artist herself.

More from the Main Street Community Foundation:

A large workroom on the second floor of the Gura Building will serve as an artisan workshop and the home of the Uarts program. Community artists will be trained and serve as mentors to program participants. Products that will be created include ceramics, drawings, paintings, textile art, fashion accessories and jewelry.

“Items created as part of the program will be sold in the first floor retail store, giving the artists added income and a sense of pride and accomplishment,” stated Mary DeCroce.

“The Uarts program will be another partner in a range of activities offered in Southington to afford those with disabilities a more enriching life and to connect them to the community,” said Susan Sadecki, President & CEO of Main Street Community Foundation.

The Main Street Community Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for both present and future generations in the communities served by encouraging and promoting gift planning, prudent stewardship of assets, effective grantmaking and community leadership. A nonprofit public charity, created by private citizens, the foundation works with donors in Bristol, Burlington, Plainville, Plymouth, Southington and Wolcott who wish to build permanent charitable endowments to support their communities. Since its founding in 1995, the foundation has provided over $11 million in grants and scholarships.