Company Profile
Company Overview
The Hartford Conservatory is committed to providing access to performing arts to people of all ages and backgrounds in the Asylum Hill neighborhood, the City of Hartford, and the Greater Hartford region. Our commitment is served through two separate but complementary programs.
COMMUNITY PROGRAM: Serving people who seek enrichment in the performing arts, this program not only provides development for participants who have already revealed a particular aptitude but also serves to introduce a new generation to the sheer joy of the performing arts. We are particularly proud of a long-established and effective program providing an opportunity for children and youth from income eligible Greater Hartford families to participate in the performing arts on a tuition-free or highly subsidized basis. Targeting students ages 6-17 from low-income families who otherwise would be unable to afford tuition, this program addresses the diminishing availability of music, voice and dance instruction in Hartford and inner-ring suburbs, and the limitations on convenient access to arts education and enrichment programs.
DIPLOMA PROGRAM: This accredited post-secondary program helps students prepare for a career in the field of performing arts through specialized training in music, dance, musical theater, recording arts and piano technology. We serve students who could easily fall through the cracks in terms of obtaining higher education: their passion for the performing arts frequently leads to low high school academic achievement which prevents acceptance by traditional schools of higher education. This program, providing a real alternative that can change lives, not only engages new high school graduates but also older students who, after being in the workforce for some time, have come to realize that they want to work in the field of performing arts.
Company History
Founded in 1890 under the auspices of the Hartford Seminary as a school for church musicians and incorporated in 1908 as the independent Hartford School of Music, the organization is one of the oldest continually operating music schools in the United States. The school became known as the Hartford Conservatory in 1959.
The purpose of the Hartford Conservatory is to help people pursue their dreams in the performing arts. For more than 100 years we have welcomed a wide range of individuals seeking instruction – from returning war veterans to newly arrived immigrants, from youth exploring new horizons to adults following lifetime passions. Programs are available to people of all ages from diverse social, racial and economic backgrounds.