Werth Family Foundation Contributes to Housatonic Museum of Art
Contact: Robbin Zella (203) 332-5052
From the left, Housatonic President Anita Gliniecki, Werth Family Foundation’s Deborah Bachard, Housatonic Museum Curator of Works on Paper, Maura Brennan, and Housatonic Institutional Development Director Christopher Carollo.
Bridgeport, CT. Paul Antinozzi, AIA, President of the Housatonic Community College Foundation, Inc., has announced a gift from the Werth Family Foundation to the Housatonic Museum of Art (HMA).
The Werth Family Foundation’s three-year gift of $70,000 each year will allow the Museum to continue to care for the collection including treatment for paintings, sculpture, and works on paper. The gift also provides funding for a Curator/Collections Manager. In addition, it ensures the continuation of the Peer Docent Program and support for special exhibits.
The Peer Docent Program, a beneficiary of the Werth gift, is an after-school program that introduces middle and high school students to art and art history, teaches them how to look at art critically and ultimately equips them with the visual and analytical skills.
Citing a 2005 Rand Corporation report about the visual arts that argues that access to the arts fosters academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement, and equitable opportunity, Zella said, “Our mission is to integrate art into the daily lives of our students and to provide an aesthetically rich environment to enhance learning.” In addition to learning the specifics of the HMA collection, students visit other museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At the end of the program, the students share what they have learned with their classmates who come to Housatonic for art tours given by the docents.
The Woodbridge-based Werth Family Foundation was established in 2000 and supports educational, cultural and medical-related causes throughout Connecticut and in Asia.
The Housatonic Community College Foundation was formed in 1990 to assist the College and its students beyond the fundamentals provided by the state. The Foundation provides resources for scholarships, equipment, program enhancements, community outreach and support for the Housatonic Museum of Art.
For more information about the Museum visit www.HousatonicMuseum.org.