About the Community Engagement Initiative
Mission Statement
The Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) welcomes and inspires new and existing audiences while ensuring the Wadsworth is a vital part of the City and greater Hartford.
Impact Statement
Participants embrace the Wadsworth as their place and come together to experience the power of art.
Milestones
2008
May |
Museum introduces the Community Engagement Initiative under the leadership of the new director, Susan Talbott |
September |
Various constituent groups are invited to the museum to participate in feedback sessions called the ChatBacks, which were held through February 2009 |
2009
October |
Last Saturdays for Families launches, adding free family programming to pre-existing free admission hours
First exhibition in the Connections Gallery opens, featuring the artist Mark Dion |
November |
Publication of the Phase 1 Final Report on the ChatBacks |
2010
2011
July |
Last Saturdays for Families transitions to Second Saturdays for Families |
2012
April |
Masterplan for new museum directional signage completed by C&G Partners, a project for which the museum was later awarded an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant |
May |
Artist Residency with Jan Tichy and The Amistad Center’s Teen Advisory Group culminates in a series of teen-created public artworks in Hartford’s North End |
June |
First Summer Diversity Internship offered at the Museum |
September |
New bilingual permanent collection audio tours launched at the first Envisionfest Community Day |
2013
2014
June |
American Sign Language video tour is introduced in collaboration with the American School for the Deaf |
November |
The museum holds bilingual focus groups to gather feedback on family materials |
December |
Engage! microsite launches |
2015
January |
The museum opens the newly renovated Post-War and Contemporary Art galleries and special exhibition spaces, including an Experimentation Gallery inspired by the success of the Connections Gallery |
June |
The Wadsworth holds a focus group with staff from LGBTQ youth-serving organizations to inform in-gallery interpretation for Warhol & Mapplethorpe: Guise & Dolls |
September |
Morgan Great Hall and the newly reinstalled European collection open to the public on Envisionfest Community Day, including the launch of the museum’s new mobile tour |
October |
Launch of the bilingual Great Chain Game, available through the mobile tour
The museum publishes “Collecting Audience Feedback,” a guide to conducting focus groups |
December |
Susan L. Talbott retires as Director and CEO of the Wadsworth Atheneum; Thomas J. Loughman is named her successor |
2016
January |
The museum is awarded the W.E.B. DuBois Talented-Tenth Award by the Scribe’s Institute for “your dauntless commitment to the children, to innovative practices, and to your commitment to the Greater Hartford community at large” |
March |
Anne Butler Rice is named the new Georgette Auerbach Koopman Director of Education, following the departure of Johanna Plummer in October 2015 |
August |
The museum launches Wadsworth Welcomes, which allows Hartford residents free admission any day that we are open |
Staff
Education and Visitor Services
Anne Butler Rice ·
Georgette Auerbach Koopman Director of Education
Lindsey Fyfe · School and Teacher Programs Manager
Marisely Gonzalez ·
Youth and Community Programs Manager
Jama Holchin ·
Education Assistant
Janna Israel ·
Adult and Academic Programs Manager
Angela Parker ·
Docent and Tour Programs Manager
Aqua Drakes ·
Head of Visitor Experiences and Services
Courtney Hebert · Manager of Groups & Visitor Services
Adriana Pulit ·
Visitor Services
Robert O’Brien ·
Visitor Services
Heidi Adams ·
Visitor Services
Education Committee
Michael Klein ·
Chair, Trustee
Marta Bentham ·
Trustee
Mally Cox-Chapman ·
Trustee
Carol Urick · Docent Council President
Philippa Feigen Malkin ·
Trustee
Laura Harris ·
Trustee
Merrill Mandell · Trustee
Michelle McFarland ·
Branch Manager, Mark Twain Branch Library
Eileen Pollack ·
ex officio Trustee
Ricardo Reyes ·
Edith Dale Monson Gallery Curator and Director, Hartford Art School
Hy Schwartz ·
Trustee
Barbara Ward ·
Trustee
Thomas Loughman ·
ex officio, Director
William R. Peelle, Jr. ·
ex officio, Trustee President