Approximately 30 people attended a press conference last Monday morning, when Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz and Liz Shapiro, director of arts, preservation, and museums at the Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) announced the approval of Newtown’s application to establish a state-recognized Cultural District.

Bysiewicz announced Newtown is the 17th Cultural District approved in the state.

“This announcement is meant to showcase the talent, the culture, the beauty, the history, and the creativity that all come together for the unique character of Newtown,” she said August 10. “Newtown’s Cultural District is packed with so many great things, and it was so much, you had to have three subdistricts.”

The Main Street Subdistrict is anchored by its iconic 100-foot flagpole and includes Edmond Town Hall, The Matthew Curtiss House, Ram Pasture, and “beautiful historic buildings,” Bysiewicz said.

The Fairfield Hills Subdistrict houses everything from EverWonder Children’s Museum to the historic Fairfield Hills campus, home to one of Connecticut’s very few municipally centered and supported art galleries.

The Sandy Hook Subdistrict features public art installations, “fabulous restaurants and shops, and the Heritage Park Pavilion,” the lieutenant governor also noted.

Newtown Economic and Community Director John Voket said each subdistrict “reflects a distinct concentration of cultural activity, but together they form a connected and cohesive experience. Together they tell a broader story of our community, its history and identity, and its future.

“Newtown is a community that’s not only all in when it comes to sharing its wealth and diversity of visual, musical, architectural, historical, culinary, and artistic experiences, it’s also a community whose lifeblood is fortified, electrified, and made even more vibrant by the thousands of creatives who have continued to call Newtown home,” he added.

Voket served as emcee for the brief ceremony that took place in the courtyard of the historic Edmond Town Hall. Monday’s announcement was the culmination of 14 months of work by a local committee, most of whom were also in attendance.

“When this whole idea of applying for a Cultural District designation started, we had enthusiastic participation from” those who served the committee, Voket also noted. The committee was comprised of Voket, Newtown Cultural Arts Commission (NCAC) Chair Laura Lerman, Merredith Christos, Rhonda Cullens, Bill Glass, Jen Guman, Betsy Paynter, Sandra Rasmussen, and John Rudolph. Former First Selectman Herb Rosenthal and local filmmaker and artist Donna Ball later joined the committee, stepping in when Guman needed to step down “to handle other responsibilities,” Voket said.

Voket also acknowledged support from former First Selectman Jeff Capeci, who was in office when the project launched; current First Selectman Bruce Walczak; State Representatives Mitch Bolinsky and Martin Foncello; Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut Executive Director Lisa Scails; and Newtown ECD colleague Kimberly Chiapetta.

Among those who also supported the project were Congresswoman Jahana Hayes, US Senator Richard Blumenthal, and US Senator Chris Murphy. Hayes, Blumenthal, and Murphy were not in attendance, but each wrote letters endorsing Newtown’s application, said Voket.

The local ECD office served as the coordinating municipal agency for the Connecticut Cultural District application journey.

Bysiewicz said while the designation might feel simply ceremonial to some, “it can serve as a significant tourism driver and also economic driver. … Also, it is a great way to highlight everything that’s great about this beautiful and historic community. Our Cultural Districts promote tourism and give us the opportunity to celebrate local artists, historical sites, creative types, and entrepreneurial efforts.”

The Connecticut COA describes cultural districts as walkable, compact areas of cities and towns that feature a variety of cultural organizations, activities, and assets. They draw people from other communities and create a place for people to congregate and interact, while also promoting artists, entrepreneurs, and creative businesses; promoting tourism; improving the quality of life for residents; strengthening a community’s distinctive character; driving economic growth and expanding the tax base; and highlighting local culture and history.

Shapiro offered congratulations on behalf of the CT Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), Commissioner Daniel O’Keefe, and Connecticut Office of the Arts.

“I get to officially designate you as Connecticut’s 17th Cultural District,” she said, smiling broadly. Each of Newtown’s subdistricts, she said, “has a different flavor and that’s one of the things that you, moving forward as a community, have this amazing opportunity to use as a driver of tourism and economic activity, but also as a driver of community building.

“Look at those different flavors and show that you offer three different experiences in one,” she encouraged.

“We are now here for you,” she promised. “You decide who you want to use this name and designation; DECD is here to help.”

Local Recognition & Comments

First Selectman Bruce Walczak thanked the local committee members for 14 months of work.

“Seeing our assets presented so clearly in the application materials underscored the depth of talent, history, and creativity that defines this community,” he said. “Newtown has a story worth sharing. The Cultural District gives us a stronger platform to tell that story and to elevate the places where our community gathers, celebrates, learns, and creates.”

Walczak also said the designation is an economic driver.

“Cultural Districts consistently increase foot traffic, boost tourism, and strengthen spending at local restaurants and shops. They attract new creative enterprises, diversify our tax base; the arts enhance quality of life, strengthen civic pride, and contribute meaningfully to our local prosperity,” he said.

Bolinsky said the decision was momentous, but not a surprise to those who live in town.

“We all know that this is an artistic community,” he said. “As I look out at the faces that are looking back at us this morning, I see a good 12 or 13 artists in the crowd. That’s just the fabric of Newtown. It’s always been an artistic community.”

Bolinsky noted the appropriateness of doing the ceremony on the steps of Edmond Town Hall, one of the buildings financed by Town Benefactress Mary Hawley, “also underscores what makes Newtown such an incredible community. It’s all about the people. We’ve always known this is an artists’ community, a place where talent and creativity flourish.”

Bolinsky offered his thanks to Bysiewicz and Shapiro, saying their work and responsiveness “is really an example of what exactly state government is supposed to do. It’s supposed to be here for us. It’s supposed to be here for you. DECD has stepped up big time. We are tremendously grateful, and we know it’s not the last we’ve heard from DECD.”

Foncello said he was happy to be part of the process that led to Monday’s announcement.

“I’m happy to be where we’re at, both with having completed the process and where we’ll go from here, and number two, physically where we are right now: outside the former town hall in the shadow of the flagpole, on a beautiful day,” he said. “It’s a good omen for the district.”

Foncello loved, he said, that while he was speaking to those assembled in front of him, out of the corners of his eyes he spotted lamp post banners with buzzwords, one with Comedy and the other Music.

“I think this is prompting us to say ‘This is more of the same that we’ll get moving forward,’” he said.

Lerman said the success of the project “actually began when the state Office of the Arts required that our committee members be from different fields and have different experiences.”

The committee included a shop keeper, a photographer, a writer, someone with website experience, businesspeople, artists, and others, “people with different backgrounds, interests, and maybe even goals,” she said. “We all came together to begin to meld the arts and economic development through the Cultural District Program.”

Lerman said as it so often is with Newtown, “it was the volunteers who made the difference. They are the foundation of every successful art event we have. They gave an enormous amount of time, shared their skills, and led the way.”

The hard work will continue, she added, “but it will be an adventure.”

To close the press conference, John Voket invited resident, singer-songwriter, and music educator Jim Allen to perform a song he’d written ahead of visits by the state delegation during their application tours. Ahead of those visits last year, Voket shared, he asked Allen if he thought he could write a song for the stops on the tour.

“Four hours later I’ve got a demo waiting for me on my phone,” Voket said. “This is the kind of talent Newtown brings to our community, to the region, to the state of Connecticut, and to the world.”

Allen closed with a performance of “Crazy Kind of People Who Believe.” The jaunty song celebrates the local landscape, many local names and locations, and the broad array of cultural attractions within Newtown’s 60 square miles (see sidebar).

The Cultural District Program

The Board of Selectmen in July 2025 unanimously approved a resolution allowing Newtown Cultural Arts Commission to apply to the State of Connecticut Cultural District Program to have Newtown designated a Cultural District. The resolution required the creation of the Cultural District Commission, a subcommittee of NCAC.

Lerman told the board last year that if approved, the district would make the town eligible for in-kind marketing, promotional support, and other services.

The Town of Newtown and Borough of Newtown both expressed support in the committee going after the application and establishing the district. In August 2025 Economic and Community Development Director John Voket conducted a public information session — one of the requirements of the application — at which time he was among the first to note that acceptance of the application would put Newtown “on a whole different map.”

Tourism was already on the rise within the Nutmeg State, he said last summer. Implementing a Cultural District is another way to ensure tourism traffic picks up, he added. State grants are available exclusively for towns with Cultural Districts, Voket also noted.

Among the additional required steps taken by the Cultural District Commission were gathering cultural and creative assets, determining the district map, and having state officials visit and tour the district to see what Newtown has to offer.

Connecticut Cultural Districts were established under Connecticut Public Act 19-143, An Act Concerning The Establishment Of Municipal Cultural Districts. The law went into effect October 1, 2019. Ridgefield received the state’s first recognized Cultural District designation, in April 2021.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.