Public Forum Set for Hartford 'iQuilt' Project

The Bushnell is hosting a public forum for Hartford’s "iQuilt" project this Wednesday, June 24, at 5 pm in The Bushnell’s Belding Theater when architect Douglas Suisman will present his preliminary vision plan for the project and be available to receive public comments and ideas.

What’s an “iQuilt”? Envisaged as a loose grid of park-to-river pedestrian routes, the iQuilt aims to weave together Hartford’s key cultural sites and institutions around the theme of cultural innovation in order to promote economic growth and the redevelopment of the Capitol district. The Bushnell and The Greater Hartford Arts Council are co-leading the project, which will complement the ongoing state, city and private sector efforts to revitalize Hartford’s economy and neighborhoods.

Hartford – unlike many American cities – enjoys a remarkably compact and clearly bounded downtown. With the small square area of the iQuilt ( just over a half mile square) bounded by Buckingham/Charter Oak Avenue, I-84, and the Connecticut River, is a loose grid of north-south and east-west streets which, in map view, form a kind of charmingly irregular quilt. Within this quilt, almost all the key cultural destinations, including the Capitol, Bushnell Park, The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford Stage Company, the Old State House, and the new Connecticut Science Center, are within a 15-minute walk of each other. The iQuilt will make it easy and enjoyable to walk from one cultural asset to another, while linking them conceptually under a theme of cultural innovation – in science, art and human affairs.

For more information on the forum, visit www.bushnell.org, email iquilt@bushnell.org or call 860-987-5929.