Create Here Now Middletown

CreateHereNowMiddletown is a chapter of CreateHereNowCT pilot program of the State of Connecticut DECD/COA that will build a network of distinctive, artist-repurposed vacant spaces statewide. The program will facilitate the creation and growth of businesses and sustainable placemaking initiatives by fostering cooperative partnerships among municipalities, artists, entrepreneurs and property owners

. CreateHereNow is a statewide initiative made possible by a generous ArtPlace grant to effect creative placemaking in twenty communities around the state. It capitalizes on the momentum started by the City Canvas Initiative under the leadership of Deputy Commissioner Kip Bergstrom in an effort to empower rapid change in the public space and in the thinking of municipal leaders and artists. CreatehereNow's aim is to catalyze creative and innovative people within their communities by re-purposing under-utilized storefronts and historic buildings to become hives of community energy and activity and members of a growing statewide network of economic growth. Recent examples include the Arcade Storefronts and the launch of the Reactivated Historic McLevy Hall in Bridgeport, the Morrison's Artists Collective in Torrington and Waterbury/CreatehereNow's holiday launch of the statewide artisan's marketplace, State of Makers which will begin touring the state in the second half of our initiative.