Hartford Business Journal

4 Hartford Business Journal • December 21, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com w w w. H a r t f o r d B u s i n e s s . c o m (860) 236-9998 E D I T O R I A L Greg Bordonaro Editor, ext. 139 gbordonaro@HartfordBusiness.com Gregory Seay News Editor, ext. 144 gseay@HartfordBusiness.com Matt Pilon News Editor, ext. 143 mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com John Stearns Staff Writer, ext. 145 jstearns@HartfordBusiness.com Keith Griffin Digital Reporter Stephanie Meagher Research Director Heide Martin Research Assistant B U S I N E S S Joe Zwiebel President and Publisher, ext. 132 jzwiebel@HartfordBusiness.com Donna Collins Associate Publisher, ext. 121 dcollins@HartfordBusiness.com Jessica Baker Office Manager, ext. 122 jbaker@HartfordBusiness.com Kristine Donahue Administrative Coordinator, Ext. 137 kdonahue@hartfordbusiness.com Amy Orsini Events Manager, ext. 134 aorsini@HartfordBusiness.com Christian J. Renstrom Advertising Director, ext. 126 crenstrom@HartfordBusiness.com David Hartley Sr. Accounts Manager, ext. 130 dhartley@HartfordBusiness.com William C. Lambot Sr. Accounts Manager, ext. 128 wlambot@HartfordBusiness.com John Vuillemot Sr. Accounts Manager, ext. 133 jvuillemot@hartfordbusiness.com Donna Currie Human Resource Director Raki Zwiebel Credit and Collections Manager Valerie Clark Accounting Assistant/Office Manager Gail Lebert Chair, Executive Advisory Board P R O D U C T I O N Lynn Mika Production Director/Marketing Coordinator, ext. 140 lmika@HartfordBusiness.com Christopher Wallace Art Director, ext. 147 cwallace@HartfordBusiness.com Peter Stanton CEO pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Joseph Zwiebel President & Group Publisher, ext. 132 jzwiebel@HartfordBusiness.com Mary Rogers Chief Financial Officer mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions are $84.95. To subscribe, visit HartfordBusiness.com, email hartfordbusiness@cambey- west.com, or call (845) 267-3008. Advertising: For advertising information, please call (860) 236-9998. Please address all correspondence to: Hartford Business Journal, 15 Lewis Street, Suite 200, Hart ford CT 06103. News Department: If you have a news item: Call us at (860) 236-9998, fax us at (860) 570-2493, or e-mail us at news@HartfordBusiness.com Hartford Business Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does not return them to the sender. Hartford Business Journal (ISSN 1083-5245) is published weekly, 52 x per year — including two special issues in December — by New England Business Media LLC, 15 Lewis Street, Suite 200, Hartford CT 06103. Periodicals postage paid at Hartford, CT. Tel: (860) 236-9998 • Fax (860) 570-2493 Copyright 2015. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Hartford Business Journal P.O. Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894 www.copyright.com Talbott Our specialized business model and patent pending application procedures allow us to provide customers with top quality products as well as a safe and comfortable experience. FRANCHISE PACKAGE INCLUDES: • World-class franchise support which includes comprehensive training starting from pre-opening to ongoing support for your team using a cutting edge intranet infrastructure. • Top of the line retail products that have raised the bar on perfection and lasting beauty. • Marketing guidelines and access to the national print media library to help promote your location. • A well-recognized, proven business model concept that allows you to accurately project business volume and adapt for growth accordingly. Your Look. Your Style. Our Lashes.® Ph: 631.827.1497 elyse.pedersen@amazinglashstudio.com www.amazinglashstudio.com/franchise Become a part of the ever-growing billion dollar beauty industry by owning your own AMAZING LASH STUDIO. ALS_Franchise_ad_V2.qxd:Layout 1 9/9/15 3:36 PM Page 1 The cornerstone of Talbott's remaking of the Atheneum was the renovation/expansion, the largest in the museum's history. Five build- ings comprise the museum's footprint, ranging from the original structure that opened on Main Street in 1844, to the youngest wing dat- ing to the 1960s. The most significant restoration involved the historic Morgan Memorial Building, and the reinstallation of the European collections inside, said Atheneum spokeswoman Amanda Young. "I knew I wanted to finish the restoration before I retired,'' Talbott said. "I wanted to leave on a high note.'' About $15 million of the Atheneum's make- over budget came from holdover state funding from a still-born museum project, Talbott said. The Malloy administration allocated another $10 million to the project. Individuals, corpora- tions and foundations contributed the balance. While the makeover was underway, Tal- bott focused on widening the museum's audience among local residents. One glaring oversight was immediately obvious, she said. "We felt that inner-city Hartford residents did not feel that the museum was theirs,'' she said. "We thought that this was our mission, as a public institution, to be one that welcomed and was relevant to all segments of our population.'' Early under Talbott, the Atheneum forged a relationship with nonprofit community-sup- port agency Mi Casa, in the city's Frog Hollow neighborhood, in which a visiting artist col- laborated with Mi Casa's after-school program to create an art work that was featured in the museum. A dozen more art collaborations have been done with schoolchildren and other non- profits citywide, she said. Marta Bentham directs family ser- vices and is commu- nity ombudsman with the Hartford Board of Education. Ben- tham also is a two- year member of the Atheneum's board of trustees. Bentham said the museum for years was viewed by inner-city residents as an unin- viting place known mainly as the tranfer site for bus riders, and where only wealthy suburbanites were welcome. Talbott rad- ically altered that view, Bentham said. Working with the Hartford school system and the city, the museum opens for free the second Saturday of each month to pupils, their families and other city residents. The result has been, museum visitor surveys show, that some of those citizens return as paying customers, Talbott said. "Susan wanted a museum that was open to everyone," Bentham said. "She got the fund- ing. She did the planning. She hired people she knew she would need for this kind of initiative.'' Not everything has gone smoothly. Despite the millions raised and spent to expand and upgrade the Atheneum, Talbott says she regrets that some areas, such as the museum's café, were left untouched. "I would have renovated more of the muse- um, if I'd had more time and could have raised the money,'' she said. Partly to blame, Talbott said, is the diffi- culty the museum and other nonprofits have nowadays raising money. Also, despite the state's "incredibly generous'' backing, the lack of state-supported "line-item'' funding for artis- tic endeavors is problematic, she said. "It's not easy to raise money in Hartford … because Hartford is not like New York City or other cities in the nation. … We don't have line-item support,'' she said. "I see the next challenge for my successor will be building support to receive line-item funding.'' As for the next stage of her life and career, Talbott insists "I'm not yet done running muse- ums. I'm going to transition into retirement.'' She declined to elaborate, but added, "What- ever I do next will not be as intense." n A contemporary art buff, Susan Talbott appreciates Duane Hansen's "Sunbather'' sculpture. H B J P H O T O | G R E G O R Y S E A Y

• Cover