Hartford Performs

What Hartford Performs does

Hartford Performs is a nonprofit arts-integration organization headquartered at 1049 Asylum Avenue in Hartford, Connecticut. It delivers curriculum-aligned arts programming — covering dance, music, theater, and visual arts — to students in all 30-31 PreK-Grade 8 public schools of the Hartford Public Schools district, reaching more than 10,000-11,000 students annually. Programs are delivered by vetted local teaching artists under a selection-committee review process aligned to Common Core State Standards and National Arts Standards, and include classroom residencies, school assemblies, family engagement events, and field trips to regional museums and performance venues. The organization also provides professional learning workshops for Hartford teachers and supports teaching artists through an application-based program submission process.

The organization's product surface consists of three program rosters — Core Arts Integration, Assembly, and Family Engagement — all browsed and booked through an online program database at database.hartfordperforms.org. Site coordinators at each school manage selection and scheduling during dedicated Hartford Performs selection meetings, while teachers can save program preferences but cannot book directly. Programs are offered at no cost to schools or students; each grade level receives a $20/student budget allocation to select 2-5 programs, with individual program costs ranging from $0 to $20 per student.

Hartford Performs operates with a small staff of approximately 9 and is funded through a diversified mix including Hartford Public Schools contributions, federal and state arts grants (National Endowment for the Arts, Connecticut Office of the Arts), regional arts funding (Greater Hartford Arts Council), corporate sponsors (Travelers, Webster Bank, Aetna, The Hartford, MassMutual, Disney, Lincoln Financial Foundation, Liberty Bank Foundation), private foundations (J. Walton Bissell Foundation, Betty Knox Foundation, Greater Hartford Gives Foundation), the City of Hartford, and individual donors supported by the annual Birdies for Charity campaign. Its go-to-market is direct and school-centric, with no consumer-facing sales motion and geographic scope limited to the Greater Hartford region.

Name

Hartford Performs

Legal name

Hartford Performs

Website

https://hartfordperforms.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Hartford Performs is a Hartford, Connecticut nonprofit that delivers curriculum-aligned arts-integration programming to all PreK-Grade 8 Hartford Public Schools, serving more than 10,000 students annually through vetted teaching artists, and is funded by the district, government arts grants, foundations, and corporate sponsors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts Education Services (K-12 Arts Integration)

NAICS

Fine Arts Schools (61161), Fine Arts Schools (611610), Performing Arts Companies (7111), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Theater & Drama Education (Acting, Improvisation, Musical Theater) (EDAMAAAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Performing Arts Programs (Band, Choir, Orchestra, Theater) (EDAJAJAE), Children’s & Youth Theatre (MPAGABAE)

Keywords

• Arts integration programs
• School arts education
• Teaching artist curation
• Educator professional learning
• Nonprofit arts funding

Headquarters

HQ city

Hartford

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Grants and Foundation Funding: Funding from local and federal grants, foundations, and organizations including Greater Hartford Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Connecticut Office of the Arts, and various private foundations.
2. Individual Donations: Individual donors contribute to support student programs, including Birdies for Charity campaign with matching donations from Webster Bank and Aetna.
3. Hartford Public Schools Partnership: Hartford Public Schools contributes to funding student arts integration programs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Hartford Performs is a nonprofit arts-integration organization that places vetted teaching artists into Hartford Public Schools classrooms to teach PreK-Grade 8 students through dance, theater, music, and visual arts, and it provides professional learning for Hartford teachers to integrate arts techniques into their own instruction. It also runs assembly programs, family engagement events, and field trips to local cultural venues, with programs funded by Hartford Performs itself at no cost to schools or students.

Product overview

Hartford Performs operates as a unified arts-integration platform combining multiple program rosters with an online booking system. The Core Arts Integration Roster, Assembly Roster, and Family Engagement Roster serve as the main program offerings, all accessible through the Program Database platform for school coordinators and teachers to browse and book. Supporting services include Teacher Professional Learning and Programs for Teaching Artists, creating an end-to-end system from program development to classroom delivery.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Core Arts Integration Roster Primary program offering listing dance, theater, music, and visual arts programs that integrate with academic curriculum for PreK-Grade 8 students; available for booking through the online database at no cost to schools or students.
• Assembly Roster School assembly programs available for selection through school site coordinator login, providing whole-school or grade-level arts performances for Hartford Public Schools.
• Family Engagement Roster Family engagement programs available for selection through school site coordinator login, designed to involve Hartford Public Schools families in arts-integrated learning experiences.
• Teacher Professional Learning Professional development workshops for Hartford Public Schools teachers to learn arts-integration techniques that support academic, creative, and social-emotional learning goals in their classrooms.
• Programs for Teaching Artists Professional learning and onboarding programs for independent teaching artists, including the Letter of Intent application and program submission requirements for artists aged 21+ seeking to deliver programs through Hartford Performs.

Quantifiable outcome

• More than 11,000 students benefit annually
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Hartford Public SchoolscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary school district partner. Hartford Performs provides arts integration programs to all 30-31 PreK-Grade 8 public schools in the district.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Young Audiences Arts for Learning (National): National umbrella for the Young Audiences affiliate network, which operates the same arts-in-education model in 22+ states. Direct competitor at the national level and a strategic threat if it deepens Connecticut presence.
• Young Audiences Arts for Learning Connecticut: Affiliate of the national Young Audiences network operating in Connecticut with the same model: vetting teaching artists and delivering arts-integration programs to public schools. Most directly comparable peer given overlapping mission, customer base, and delivery model.
• Arts for Learning Connecticut: Connecticut-based nonprofit that places teaching artists in schools to deliver arts integration and residencies. Same target customer (public schools), same product (artist residencies), same funder base (state and local arts councils).

Broad incumbents

• The Kennedy Center Education: National arts education division offering school programs, teacher professional development, and curriculum resources. Overlaps with Hartford Performs' teacher professional learning and student program offerings as a much larger national player.
• Lincoln Center Education: Education arm of Lincoln Center that develops arts curricula, professional learning for teachers, and student programs aligned to Common Core. Larger, better-resourced incumbent offering comparable arts-in-school services at a national scale.
• Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute: National arts education program producing school-based music programs, teacher training, and curriculum resources. Comparable in mission and approach (music-focused subset of Hartford Performs' performing arts scope) at national scale.

Regional players

• The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts: Hartford-area performing arts venue that hosts student field trips and arts education programming in partnership with local schools. Adjacent offering — Hartford Performs actually arranges field trips to venues like Bushnell — making it a partner and partial substitute for school arts experiences.
• Hartford Stage: Regional professional theater in Hartford that runs in-school education programs, student matinees, and theater residencies. Operates in the same city and serves overlapping schools, but is a producing theater rather than an arts-integration intermediary.

Others

• Greater Hartford Arts Council: Regional arts funding umbrella that is itself a major Hartford Performs funder. Thematically related as a regional arts intermediary but operates as a grantmaker rather than direct program provider — useful comparable for funder relationships and ecosystem position.
• Connecticut Office of the Arts: State-level arts agency that funds Hartford Performs directly. Not a competitor but a key funder comparable for understanding policy tailwinds and state-level arts education funding dynamics affecting the organization.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/171837686197784
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hartford-performs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hartford Performs