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81 | DOING BUSINESS IN CONNECTICUT | 2018 2018 | DOING BUSINESS IN CONNECTICUT | 81 Tour de Force Collaboration, community awareness and innovation create strong tourism industry By Joan Hunt The state's thriving tourism industry attests to the fact that there is strength in numbers. Connecticut offers visitors world-class music and entertainment venues, spectacular natural panoramas, history dating back to when dinosaurs roamed the earth, rich cultural dining experiences, and a website portal – www.ctvisit.com – that is guaranteed to help even the least seasoned traveler find every one of them. And rather than competing with one another for tourist dollars, these innovative resources are working together to bring $14.7 billion in traveler spending and $1.7 billion in tax revenues to the state each year. Just one example is the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. HSO Director Carolyn Kuan said she believes that partnering with other organizations is one of the symphony's strengths. When the mayor asked for help getting people to frequent downtown Hartford restaurants, for example, HSO stepped up. "We created a program called Playing with Food that talked about the signature dishes at downtown restaurants and what they would sound like in music," Kuan recalled. Another HSO partnering tool is the Intermix concerts that join performances with cocktails and mingling opportunities to highlight both the music and the venues that host it. "We also actively partner with the Wadsworth, Hartford Stage and local environmental groups, and work with Real Artways," Kuan said. Being in touch with the community, Kuan believes, includes exploring its cultures. A recent program incorporated the Jewish shofar, an ancient musical instrument made from a ram's horn. Future programs will incorporate Latin American and African music. Kuan is the youngest musical director, the first female, and the first Asian to lead the HSO. Under her direction, the HSO encourages people to create their own concert experiences. Some performances offer seating, but also the opportunity for people to walk around while the symphony is playing to experience the sounds made by various sections. "We have also worked with other artists painting while we were playing music," she said. Their Movie Lights program provides live music during movies like Harry Potter or next year's Star Wars. "Most people don't realize when going to a movie that it is classical music in the background," said Kuan. In addition to partnering, serving the community and providing innovative programming, Kuan credits the dedicated family of musicians and support people for making the HSO successful. In this, its 75th year of operation, these are the people who will be celebrated. June 29 kicks off another sharing event, the Symphony Orchestra's annual Talcott Mountain Music Festival, with an Independence Day celebration in Simsbury featuring regional church choirs. Collaboration is also at the heart of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, where playwrights, artists, and performers at all stages of their careers come together. The O'Neill, the nation's foremost organization dedicated to the development of new works and new voices for the American theater, also offers theater training through the National Theater Institute. "We invented what is now used everywhere, called the stage reading model," said Amanda Ritchie, the O'Neill's director of marketing and college relations. "It started in the 1960s as a place where undiscovered writers could test their work, just focusing on words on the page, and not worry about things like lighting, costuming and set." Carolyn Kuan conducts the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE