Charter Oak Cultural Center

08/28/2026

Charter Oak Cultural Center’s City School of the Arts (CSA) is a truly one-of-a-kind program. CSA provides tuition-free arts classes, workshops, and other programming to over 1,000 Hartford youth each year. All children should have access to high quality arts education. Learning an art form enhances creativity, and teaches perseverance, team skills, self-confidence, self-expression, and so much more. Fall classes are now registering including music, dance, cooking, martial arts, visual arts, and much more! To learn more, visit https://charteroakcenter.org/school-of-arts/classes/

08/22/2026

Charter Oak Executive Director Rabbi Donna Berman, Ph.D. has shared a sermon she delivered on "The Importance of Being Foolish." It is available for your reflection on our website: https://charteroakcenter.org/the-importance-of-being-foolish/

08/20/2026

These types of BOTS are good bots!

Have you seen Charter Oak's BOTS Eats of the Streets pots when you are out and about in Hartford? These beautifully-painted container gardens are planted and maintained by current and former members of the unsheltered community who are paid to tend them all season long. The pots are filled with flowers and vegetables for EVERYONE in the neighborhood to enjoy at no cost. To learn more about Eats of the Streets and the BOTS program, click here: https://charteroakcenter.org/in-the-community/

08/13/2026

Did you miss it? You can watch UConn Professor Jerry Phillips' lecture on 19th century American Imperialism here on our YouTube channel!

08/05/2026

TOMORROW!
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EMPIRE IN 19th CENTURY AMERICAN HISTORY
with UCONN Professor Jerry Phillips
FREE virtual lecture via Zoom
Thursday, August 6 at 6:30pm

In his famous essay on “the significance of the frontier in US history,” the historian Frederick Jackson Turner identified nineteenth=century frontier expansionism as the key motive force of the American character. However, the frontier was politically understood by Americans as the living principle of American Empire. The nation was framed as a republic, and the republic was framed as an empire. In other words, nation, republic and empire form a single complex of ideas in the American experience. The concept of a republican empire affected all facets of American life, including the realities of war and colonization, freedom and slavery, citizenship and race. In this lecture I will discuss how the notion of empire informed the major political debates of the day, and I will also pay mind to its lasting impact on the fraught question of American nationhood.

FREE lecture via Zoom. To register, CLICK HERE: https://charteroakcenter.org/event/americanimperialism/

This talk is part of CHARTER OAK IN CONTEXT: The World in Which the First Synagogue Built in Connecticut Came to Be, a lecture series honoring the 150th anniversary of our historic home

08/03/2026

THURSDAY!
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EMPIRE IN 19th CENTURY AMERICAN HISTORY
with UCONN Professor Jerry Phillips
FREE virtual lecture via Zoom
Thursday, August 6 at 6:30pm

In his famous essay on “the significance of the frontier in US history,” the historian Frederick Jackson Turner identified nineteenth=century frontier expansionism as the key motive force of the American character. However, the frontier was politically understood by Americans as the living principle of American Empire. The nation was framed as a republic, and the republic was framed as an empire. In other words, nation, republic and empire form a single complex of ideas in the American experience. The concept of a republican empire affected all facets of American life, including the realities of war and colonization, freedom and slavery, citizenship and race. In this lecture I will discuss how the notion of empire informed the major political debates of the day, and I will also pay mind to its lasting impact on the fraught question of American nationhood.

FREE lecture via Zoom. To register, CLICK HERE: https://charteroakcenter.org/event/americanimperialism/

This talk is part of CHARTER OAK IN CONTEXT: The World in Which the First Synagogue Built in Connecticut Came to Be, a lecture series honoring the 150th anniversary of our historic home

08/01/2026

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EMPIRE IN 19th CENTURY AMERICAN HISTORY
with UCONN Professor Jerry Phillips
FREE virtual lecture via Zoom
Thursday, August 6 at 6:30pm

In his famous essay on “the significance of the frontier in US history,” the historian Frederick Jackson Turner identified nineteenth=century frontier expansionism as the key motive force of the American character. However, the frontier was politically understood by Americans as the living principle of American Empire. The nation was framed as a republic, and the republic was framed as an empire. In other words, nation, republic and empire form a single complex of ideas in the American experience. The concept of a republican empire affected all facets of American life, including the realities of war and colonization, freedom and slavery, citizenship and race. In this lecture I will discuss how the notion of empire informed the major political debates of the day, and I will also pay mind to its lasting impact on the fraught question of American nationhood.

FREE lecture via Zoom. To register, CLICK HERE: https://charteroakcenter.org/event/americanimperialism/

This talk is part of CHARTER OAK IN CONTEXT: The World in Which the First Synagogue Built in Connecticut Came to Be, a lecture series honoring the 150th anniversary of our historic home

07/31/2026

Our City School of the Arts summer programs are in full swing and our big brass band is already swinging! Enjoy this performance of "When the Saints Go Marching In" by our youth and teaching artists! Your support of Charter Oak makes this FREE educational program possible.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

07/28/2026

Our City School of the Arts summer programs are in full swing and our big brass band is already swinging! Enjoy this performance of "Iko Iko" performed by our youth and teaching artists! Your support of Charter Oak makes this FREE educational program possible.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.