Hartford Performs

Hartford Performs brings professional teaching artists into schools to teach curriculum in creative new ways. We take kids out to area arts organizations to ensure they experience professional dance, music, theater and museums. We provide teachers with professional-learning programs to help them use art techniques in their classrooms to help kids learn and develop. And we engage families in making learning at home more fun and interactive. More than 10,000 students in all 31 PreK-Grade 8 schools in the Hartford Public School district benefit from our programming each year. We also serve students in other nearby schools. Through our programs, students learn how molecules move by dancing like them, practice using exponents by writing rap rhythms, and understand vocabulary words by acting them out. Evaluation shows that our approach works – plus, it brings much-needed joy to the school day. Mission: Working in partnership with school systems and artistic communities, Hartford Performs infuses and integrates arts and cultural experiences into teaching and learning in ways that enrich the student experience and improve outcomes across the curriculum.