The Connecticut Museum works together with communities statewide to pursue activities that sustain cultural vitality. We collaborate with artists, artisans, and culture-keepers from diverse ethnic and workplace backgrounds to document, present, and sustain important living traditions, art forms, knowledge, and lifeways that are crucial to community well-being.
By serving as Connecticut’s official home for folk and traditional arts support and partner of the Connecticut Office of the Arts/DECD, we uplift forms of cultural artistic excellence that speak volumes about community history, identity, and values, and celebrate where everyday creativity communicates in community.
We embrace cultural sustainability as folklorists, prioritizing collaborative activities done together with cultural communities as equals with their consent and feedback, recognizing expertise and knowledge in their many forms, and advocating for mutual respect and communication. Commitment to authenticity of cultural representation and inclusion of members of the communities in research and program development are fundamental characteristics of our projects. We prioritize in-person outreach and original research in partnership with artists and communities to strengthen community-based resources. Documentation produced in association with these activities becomes part of the Museum’s collections, open and available to the public.
What about the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program?
In 2015, the Museum adopted the state’s folk and traditional arts initiative, the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program (CHAP or CCHAP), which was established at the Institute for Community Research in 1991, and was directed for 30 years by Lynne Williamson. In 2023, CCHAP changed its name to the Department of Cultural Sustainability, more clearly reflecting one of the ways that we are linking our longstanding dedication to Connecticut’s history and heritage with living, contemporary cultural communities.
To learn more about our work at the Museum, or to explore outreach or partnership opportunities, please contact Kate Schramm, Director of Cultural Sustainability, at kschramm@connecticutmuseum.org.
