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About Connecticut Museum of Culture and History

The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History (formerly the Connecticut Historical Society) incorporated the state’s folk and traditional arts initiative, the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program (established 1991), and has since folded its work of cultural sustainability into our overall mission and vision. As the official partner of the Connecticut Office of the Arts in the Department of Economic and Community Development, we provide statewide programmatic support for folk and traditional artists and their communities, supporting living cultural heritage practices, knowledge, arts, and lifeways that contribute to the well-being of communities across the state. With the recent rebrand, the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program has become the Department of Cultural Sustainability at the Connecticut Museum.

The Cultural Sustainability team actively does on-the-ground outreach across the state and region, conducting fieldwork to identify and support folk and traditional artists, and employ original research in partnership with artists and communities to strengthen community-based resources. We are fortunate to work with Connecticut's finest community-based folk and traditional artists. The artists work in many genres, both familiar and unfamiliar. Their art forms derive directly from the cultural expressions of their ethnic groups and communities. These artists come from groups who have recently settled here as immigrants and refugees, as well as from communities who have been in this area for a long time. They have remarkable artistic and technical skills that reflect the history and heritage of our neighborhoods and schools, making their presentations very rich and often familiar to students. Traditional arts can teach across disciplines such as geography, history, physics, literature, and language arts, and also encourage healthy social values.

We are offering two programs: Caribbean Carnival arts with artist Clerona Cain, and Lao arts and dance with artist Manola Sidara. In class, Manola and Clerona work together with Cultural Sustainability staff Kate Schramm, who shares study guides with teachers as a learning tool for each program.

Support for development of our in-school programs has been made possible through the Greater Hartford Arts Council's United Arts Campaign with major support from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

Grade Levels

3 , 6 , 7

Art Forms

Visual Art Dance

Curriculum Focuses

Social Studies

Program Formats

In-School Workshop

Programs