'Driven by excellence'

Tracey Weiss
Mar 27
5 min read

The Roberts Foundation for the Arts is 62 years strong in its support of performance and more

The Roberts Foundation is a strong supporter of symphony.

By Tracey Weiss

Editor

Unassuming in its pursuit, The Roberts Foundation for the Arts is one of the strongest supporters of the arts community in the Greater Hartford area.

“We fund everything—symphony, theater, dance, choral groups, museums, heritage homes,” said Executive Director Lisa Curran. “We’re driven by excellence in the arts; always looking for the upper tier performance.”

Once known as the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts, the organization changed its name on its 60^th birthday in 2024. The foundation offers three major grants in Hartford and towns that geographically touch Hartford: Newington, Bloomfield, South Windsor, East Hartford, West Hartford, Farmington, Wethersfield, New Britain and Windsor.

The “Excellence in the Arts Grant” is a quarterly base grant for programming. Under this program, “we prefer to find a specific project and fund it,” Curran said. For instance, “a play at Theaterworks, or an exhibit at the New Britain Museum of American Art.”

“The Creation of New Work Grants” is a quarterly grant program as well. According to Curran, it’s a one-year competitive grant for special projects with new artists to do something different., such as a “Real Art Ways installation or a new composer to write a new piece or a new play. It’s important that we remember the classics and create new pieces and give locals a chance.” Over the years, she added, “We have been so happy with the artists chosen. It’s great to see their careers take off.”

The “Joyce C. Willis Equity in the Arts Award” is a newer competitive grant that supports a partnership between a grantee arts organization and an artist of color, to foster new collaborations and fulfill the foundation’s mission to support and encourage excellence in the arts for the community.

Joyce C. Willis was a lifelong member of the Hartford community and was a fierce advocate of the arts. She served on many boards, including for the Roberts Foundation. When she passed away in 2020, the board created a new grant to honor her.

Joyce C. Willis was a lifelong member of the Hartford Community and a member of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s Board of Directors. She worked for the Hartford Times newspaper and The Hartford before retiring. She loved African American Art and was a founding member of the Amistad Foundation, now The Amistad Center for Art & Culture in Hartford. She served on many boards, including The Amistad Center., the Hartford Symphony, and the Roberts Foundation. She was also a charter member of the Black Giving Circle Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving (now the Greater Hartford Gives Foundation).

Sadly, she passed away in June of 2020. The Roberts Foundation Fund in her honor was established in December of 2020, Curran said, “to honor her. Initially, we awarded the Amistad Center, Hartford Symphony, and Hartford Stage each $150,000 over two years,” Curran said. “They brought in a new director, composer and pianist. Those artists also went out to the community,” and did a lot of outreach,” through community initiatives.

Granting

The Roberts Foundation has a $9 million endowment and spends $400,000 (5%) annually. “We try to help with grants for as many as we can,” Curran said.

Qualifications are simple for organizations looking to apply. They must be in Greater Hartford and a non-profit (501(c)3).

“We look at the budget and what they are asking us to fund,” Curran said. “We look at audience size too; We like to know a non-profit is building an audience.” The board meets to vote on the recipients, which is not as simple as it may seem. “It’s hard,” Curran added. “It’s often like picking a favorite child.”

Since its inception, the foundation and has awarded more than $11 million dollars to more than 150 area nonprofits.

“They were there in the early day and the youth of our company,” said Geoffrey Sheehan, the founder of the Capital Classics Theater Company. Every summer, they put on the Greater Hartford Shakespeare Festival at the University of Saint Joseph and have built a reputation for offering topnotch productions that bring thousands to the plays.

“Their financial support and approval means everything. They’re very thorough and want details on what you’re doing. Having their name attached to our projects is great. We’re proud to be associated with them and happy there is an organization like them that supports the arts.”

Ned and Sunny

The Roberts were a fascinating couple,” according to Curran. Edward Ned (Constant) Roberts and Ann (Sunny) Thorsen Roberts “met late in life. They met at a production by the Mark Twain Masquers. They met at the production of Our Town, when they married, she moved in with him and his mom at their Prospect Avenue house.”

She loved to paint. Ned kept his cello in the bathtub. They had a little dog and made a highchair for him so he could dine with them. “They were very colorful characters,” Curran said.

“Back then, the Masquers would perform all over. The couple decided to find a permanent home for them, but it took several years. Sadly, Ned died very suddenly, but it turned out he left $2 million to start a foundation. Sunny took the mantle and found Kingswood Oxford, where they were already looking to build a theater.”

The theater, named The Roberts Theater, was built. “The Masquers performed there for a few years. It was never finalized when they could use it, and then they broke up,” Curran said.

Sunny lived in the house and kept the costumes from the Masquers there, but unfortunately, a fire destroyed the house. So, she moved to the Mountain Commons condominium complex on Mountain Road and ran the foundation on her own from there for many years.”

When she died, the foundation became privately-run.

Our “Roberts” Town

Curran fondly recalls the special celebration they created for the 50^th birthday in 2014. “We commissioned a play about the Roberts, and we asked Jacques Lamarre to write it. He did an incredible job. He based his play, “Ned & Sunny: A Hartford Love Story” on the structure of “Our Town”—boy dies, life goes on, and she runs the Foundation. The play was beautiful. (Theaterworks founder and director) Rob Ruggiero directed it. (Married actors) Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry played the Roberts.”

Columnist and radio personality Colin McEnroe played the role of stage manager in the performance. Ironically, McEnroe’s parents had been good friends with the real-life Roberts. “As our narrator, Colin was our own Hal Holbrook,” who had played the role of stage manager in the Broadway production. “We performed it at the Roberts Theater,” Curran added. “There was not a dry eye in the house.”

Shows go on

This year, look for the Roberts Foundation name to be mentioned as one of the sponsors of events celebrating America’s 250^th birthday this year. The Harriet Beecher Stowe. Hartford Bonanza (The city’s independence day celebration), Riverfront Recapture, Theaterworks and more will be part of the festivities. WHL

For more information, go to Therobertsfoundation.org.