Organization City Bridgeport

CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant: Bridgeport Downtown Special Services District


  • Organization Name:
    Bridgeport Downtown Special Services District

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $22,300.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants were designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.


CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant: Bridgeport Arts & Cultural Council


  • Organization Name:
    Bridgeport Arts & Cultural Council

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $14,200.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants were designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.


CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant: Greater Bridgeport Symphony Society, Inc.


  • Organization Name:
    Greater Bridgeport Symphony Society, Inc.

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $30,200.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants were designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.


CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant: City Lights


  • Organization Name:
    City Lights

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $15,400.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants were designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.


CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant: Discovery Museum and Planetarium


  • Organization Name:
    Discovery Museum and Planetarium

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $5,000.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants were designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.


CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant: WPKN


  • Organization Name:
    WPKN

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $24,700.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants were designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.


CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant: Housatonic Community College Foundation/Housatonic Museum of Art


  • Organization Name:
    Housatonic Community College Foundation/Housatonic Museum of Art

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $5,000.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants were designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.


CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant: Neighborhood Studios of Fairfield County


  • Organization Name:
    Neighborhood Studios of Fairfield County

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $47,100.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants were designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.


CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant: Downtown Cabaret Theatre


  • Organization Name:
    Downtown Cabaret Theatre

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $97,500.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants were designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.


CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant: Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo


  • Organization Name:
    Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $37,600.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants were designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.


CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant: The Barnum Museum


  • Organization Name:
    The Barnum Museum

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $17,200.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants were designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.


CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant: Klein Memorial Auditorium Foundation, Inc.


  • Organization Name:
    Klein Memorial Auditorium Foundation, Inc.

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $59,000.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants were designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.


CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant: The Mary and Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community


  • Organization Name:
    The Mary and Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $11,900.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants were designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.


Improving WPKNs Content Delivery Platforms


  • Organization Name:
    WPKN

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $10,000.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    To keep WPKN both vital and more sustainable, the station will install, integrate, and program fixed 4K video cameras and technical support gear that will allow content to be streamed and delivered to TV, mobile, online, and social media in real-time. This is an important delivery platform for many population groups-especially next-gen and younger audiences- who rely on video-oriented media to be both entertained and to get their news, interviews, music and a way for WPKN to build its audiences.


Microfilming of the “Bridgeport Telegram,” 1932-1937


  • Organization Name:
    Bridgeport History Center

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $10,000.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    The Bridgeport History Center will work with a trusted vendor to microfilm the “Bridgeport Telegram,” 1932-1937, a newspaper published by the Post Publishing company 6 mornings a week from the early 20th Century through the 1980s. Quality masters, print masters, and service copies will be produced according the Library of Congress recommended filming standards and the masters will be stored in the CT State Library temperature and humidity controlled vault according to industry best practices.


A Freeman Center Digital Capabilities Upgrade


  • Organization Name:
    The Mary and Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $10,000.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    The Freeman Center seeks IT and digital infrastructure needed to replicate its existing website using the WordPress content management system. During the pandemic, the Center focused on strategic priorities & STEPS, making unprecedented progress; but had little ability to offer historical, educational, and cultural content online due to the high level of IT expertise needed. IT consultants and volunteers could no longer assist due to the pandemic.


Barnum Museum Onward!


  • Organization Name:
    The Barnum Museum

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $10,000.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    In 2020 the Barnum Museum transitioned traditional programs to engaging digital-media content drawing upon our extensive collection, digital archive, and staff expertise. The CTH grant will enable the Museum to build on the success of this effort, strengthening and expanding our humanities content by hiring strategic digital-media expertise and a digital educator, and introducing new digital communication platforms, adding to and enhancing the weekly YouTube programs and Curator’s blog.


The History of Connecticut’s Housing Crisis


  • Organization Name:
    The Housing Collective

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $23,460.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY22

  • Grant Summary:

    CT’s housing crisis cannot be addressed without understanding how urban planning has shaped our state. Supportive Housing Works is planning an exhibit that will travel between three community college campuses about the history of housing, land use, and zoning, and will organize an advisory committee made up of community representatives, historians, and housing experts to inform the exhibit development. We aim to stage the exhibit in Winter 2022 – Spring 2023.


Expressing Collective Grief and Loss in the Age of COVID


  • Organization Name:
    WPKN

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $4,597.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY21

  • Grant Summary:

    On November 20th The Bijou Theater and WPKN Radio, based in Bridgeport, CT will host a panel discussion on loss during COVID and the many ways that cultures use art and music as therapeutic and healing tools to collectively grieve and increase cultural sensitivity and awareness.


The Bridgeport Film Fest


  • Organization Name:
    Groundwork Bridgeport

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $4,999.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY21

  • Grant Summary:

    The Bridgeport Film Fest is a three-day short-film festival with both virtual and in-person viewing options, taking place between July 23-25, 2021 at the Klein Memorial Auditorium. Hosted in partnership with Groundwork Bridgeport, the festival will bring the community together and promote the humanities and arts through film screenings, workshops, and panel discussions. The festival will contribute to economic development and promote the city as a cultural and social hub for the entire region.


COVID Relief Fund for Museum Grant- Barnum Museum


  • Organization Name:
    Barnum Museum

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $22,727.25

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY21

  • Grant Summary:

    COVID Relief Fund for Museums grants are OPERATING SUPPORT grants for larger museums and other 501c3 nonprofit organizations that provide humanities-based projects and activities for the general public (i.e., museums, historic houses, historical societies, cultural centers, and other types of non-profit organizations that offer activities like interpretive exhibitions, discussion-based public programs, or walking tours to the general public). This funding was made available to larger organizations with full-time staff and annual operating budgets of at least $450,000, with priority given to those with annual operating budgets of $500,000 or more. *These grants are administered by CT Humanities, with funding provided by the Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD)/Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) with funding allocated to the State of Connecticut through the CARES Act.


Jane and Laurayne’s Walk Virtual Tour of Downtown Bridgeport


  • Organization Name:
    Bridgeport Economic Development Corp/ Bridgeport Downtown Special Services District

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $4,975.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY21

  • Grant Summary:

    Funding allows creation of a companion neighborhood tour video to their Jane + Laurayne’s Walk. They will honor Laurayne Farrar-James, who embodies the principles of community-led change, and introduce new people to her story and legacy. The video tour allows participants to connect with the neighborhood while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to persist.


COVID Relief: Mary & Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community


  • Organization Name:
    Mary and Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community, Inc.

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $5,000.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY20

  • Grant Summary:

    Funding for Connecticut nonprofit humanities and cultural organizations facing financial hardship resulting from COVID-19, funded by the CARES Act via the National Endowment for the Humanities.


COVID Relief: The Show Must Go On!


  • Organization Name:
    Barnum Museum, The

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $10,000.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY20

  • Grant Summary:

    Funding for Connecticut nonprofit humanities and cultural organizations facing financial hardship resulting from COVID-19, funded by the CARES Act via the National Endowment for the Humanities.

    * This relief grant was funded by the Connecticut Humanities Fund made possible by the Connecticut General Assembly.


Before the Afterlife: Exploring the Culture and Life of the Barnum Museum’s Egyptian Mummy


  • Organization Name:
    Barnum Museum, The

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $4,000.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY20

  • Grant Summary:

    Funding will enable The Barnum Museum to acquire and present new and contextual information about the Museum’s 4000-year-old Egyptian female mummy. On December 8, 2019, Dr. Sahar Saleem, an Egyptian paleo-radiologist and scholar with expertise in mummies and ancient Egypt will give a public program about women’s lives in the Middle Kingdom era, incorporating her analysis about the Museum’s mummy. Both the program and a focused interview will be professionally filmed to acquire footage for the next phase digital project.


Her Time


  • Organization Name:
    Council Of Churches of Greater Bridgeport/ Hang Time

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $2,500.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY20

  • Grant Summary:

    Funding enables the Council of Churches of greater Bridgeport (CCGB) to present “Her Time” from November 16-17, 2019. The production will serve to pilot the story of a fictional drama about prison reentry and obstacles faced in transitioning back to the community. “Her Time” is based on the film 5K motion, a story about a Connecticut teen mother who received a 40-year sentence for refusing to cooperate with legal authorities regarding her boyfriend’s role in a drug-related murder with an illegal firearm.


Facing History: Documenting and Sharing the Forensic Recreation of an Egyptian Mummy?s Face


  • Organization Name:
    Barnum Museum, The

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $3,999.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY19

  • Grant Summary:

    The Barnum Museum plans to pursue an opportunity to engage a forensic imaging specialist in sculpting the face of the museum?s 4000-year-old Egyptian mummy using a 3-D print replica of the skull. Funding is requested to film the process, and to enable a live-streamed public program with facilitated discussion at the Museum. Filming will be done at the New York Academy of Art during a one-week course in forensic sculpting taught by the specialist, who will demonstrate with the mummy skull.


Housatonic Community College’s One Book, One College 2018/2019


  • Organization Name:
    Housatonic Community College Foundation, Inc.

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $2,975.00

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY19

  • Grant Summary:

    During the 2018/2019 academic year, Housatonic Community College (HCC) will host One Book, One College (OBOC) 2018/2019, its third annual community-read program, with Connecticut author Okey Ndibe and his memoir Never Look an American in the Eye, centered around immigrating from Nigeria to the United States. This cross-curricular program will include an author talk, book signing, lectures around themes in the book, and a meet-and-greet reception open to the public, free of charge.


We Are Artists Everyone: The Art Center in Action, 1970-1986


  • Organization Name:
    Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library

  • Organization City:
    Bridgeport

  • Amount Awarded:
    $10511

  • Fiscal Year:
    FY18

  • Grant Summary:

    This project combines exhibition with public programming and hands-on instruction to tell the story of the Art Center, and the community it served from 1970 – 1986. By the time of its on-record closing of 1986, the Art Center had offered thousands of hours of art, photography, music and culinary instruction to city youth, adults, and senior citizens. The Art Center history is endangered in that there is no book, documentary, library archive or any other discrete medium in which its rich existence is recorded in full.


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