by David Fortier | The Bristol Edition | June 1, 2026 |Â
Representatives from the Connecticut Office of the Arts and a consultant working with the agency toured Bristol's cultural district Thursday as part of a new state initiative aimed at strengthening the arts and cultural economy in the city.
City Arts and Culture Supervisor Arianna Therriault guided the three during their visit.
One stop brought them to Creative Jam Arts Co. on Riverside Avenue, where they met with two of the three co-founders of Creative Bristol, Bristol Poet Laureate Tom Lagasse and this reporter. The third co-founder, Marlo Marrero Fernandez was away on business.
The visit comes as Bristol prepares to launch “Ascend,†a new state-supported initiative designed to help cultural districts create long-term strategic plans through collaboration among artists, businesses, nonprofits and community advocates.
“Our role is to help each cultural district achieve goals, make measurable progress over the years and, to the extent that we can, help provide the expertise to a community to start the conversation that gets them a plan, gets them a budget (and) gets them a case for support,†said Community Development Specialist Kimberly Parsons-Whitaker, with the Connecticut Office of the Arts, under which the state's Cultural District program operates.
Bristol's Cultural District is located in the Downtown and Federal Hill neighborhoods, roughly in the following areas: from West to Main streets, between South and North streets; up to the Federal Hill area; and up Riverside Avenue and over to Memorial Boulevard.
“As one of the first cities in Connecticut to apply and receive official recognition of its culture district, Bristol has more than a few qualities that make it a good match for the initiative,†Parsons-Whitaker said.†First, Bristol is really easy to work with, there's a lot of creative people here, and there's a lot of people that care very much for their community.â€
“Second,†Parsons-Whitaker continued, “arts and culture is a part of the community and part of the creative economy,†with local leadership that is “enthusiastic about its prospects.â€
Bristol is one of two cultural districts in Connecticut selected to launch the new program, titled “Ascend.†The other district is in Ridgefield. There are 16 cultural districts statewide. Bristol was among the first municipalities to receive official cultural district designation in 2022 following an extensive application and review process, according to Parsons-Whitaker.
Parsons-Whitaker said Bristol and Ridgefield were intentionally selected because the communities differ significantly from one another, allowing the Connecticut Office of the Arts to evaluate how the initiative performs under varying circumstances while developing strategies to support the state's diverse cultural districts.
She said programs such as Ascend are critical not only for strengthening arts and culture, but also for fostering community connections and supporting local economic development.
The initiative, under the guidance of Air Collaborative, allows artists, advocates for the arts and for profit and nonprofit businesses within the cultural arts district to follow a tried and true process of collaboration and goal setting over a year to set a direction of their own determination.
Leading the process with experience in 20 states across the country since its inception in 2012 is Air Collaborative Executive Director and founder Beth Flowers, who joined Parsons-Whitaker and Therriault along with the cultural office's Program Associate Briley Neugebauer.
Flowers has been working with the Office of the Arts for five years developing cultural districts in Connecticut.
“My role is to help you, all, to learn to be more collaborative, to get more people around the table together, to come up with a plan that really can be implemented and that you, all, can measure,†she said, “so that you can go from being already a great cultural destination and place … to where your dreams want to take it.â€
She said Air Collaborative does not take a “cookie cutter†approach, but each community comes up with its own approach.
“Bristol is awesome,†she said. “I don't think that people hear that enough about their own community … I'm here to say, I travel all over the country, and the number of really unique museums and the spirit that I see here is not common, so you have things to be excited and proud of. That's great.â€
Neugebauer said she is excited because the more people can understand how cultural districts work the better the outcomes.
“The more that people can know and understand about cultural districts and why they should be implemented is only going to be good for everyone,†she said.
Therriault, the city arts and culture supervisor, said that she would like to have a draft of a strategic plan completed by the fall.
“I hope to get the movers and shakers that are in the cultural district involved in the planning process,†she said, “ to be a part of creating a better Bristol when it comes to everything that encompasses arts and culture.â€
Following the interview at Creative Jam Arts, Parsons-Whitaker, Flowers, Neugebauer and Therriault continued their tour with visits to the New England Carousel Museum and the American Clock & Watch Museum. Earlier in the day, the group met with Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu at City Hall.
Creative Bristol is the newly formed artist cooperative, which brings together a diverse group of area artists, with the goal of fostering the arts in Bristol. Meetings are held regularly at Creative Jam Arts. For information, follow the Creative Bristol Facebook page.
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