Driving the Downtown Renaissance: Trinity-On-Main

It’s a beautiful spring evening in Downtown New Britain, and the buzz in the air is palpable.

At Main, Chestnut and Arch Streets – New Britain’s “Triangle of the Arts” – smiling ticket takers welcome guests as nationally acclaimed comics inside the bustling Trinity-On-Main performing arts, cultural and community center rehearse their routines. Across the way, anxious theater-goers spy posters trumpeting the new drama at the Hole in the Wall Theater.

Next door, at the Hardware City Tavern in the historic Andrews Building, diners pay their tabs and head for the show, already thinking ahead to the next evening’s jazz concert at the Music Series at South Church. Almost as if on cue, the church’s clock tower bell strikes, heralding not only the promise of a weekend of live entertainment in the city, but the dawn of a new era.

Yes, there is life in the Hardware City, driven not by the pounding machine presses of years ago but by a new generation of arts and culture. As Anne Pilla, executive director of Trinity-On-Main, says, “People are starting to believe.”

Much of the faith and infectious enthusiasm about the transformation taking place in Downtown New Britain begins with Trinity-On-Main, the spectacular, 100-year-old former home of Trinity United Methodist Church which only a few short years ago faced the imminent prospect of a wrecking ball. Instead, thanks to the efforts of a group called the Committee to Save 69 Main Street, as well as Vision New Britain, city and state elected officials, and funders such as the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, Trinity-On-Main is now a beacon of renewed energy and hope for a proud city.

Trinity-On-Main’s weeks are filled with arts, entertainment, cultural and community events, ranging from comedy performances, to classical music, to opera, to jazz. It is home to the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and its music education program, and regularly hosts the Children’s Dance Theater Connection. Community groups hold regular meetings there. Families use the building for private functions. The facility is a whirlwind of activity.

Over the past five years, the Community Foundation has been a major supporter of Trinity-On-Main, committing more than $135,000 in grants, including a $75,000 challenge grant in 2007 to help restore the building’s 108-foot granite tower. Trinity-On-Main fits neatly with the Foundation’s ongoing investment and commitment to Downtown revitalization.

“New Britain is so rich in culture,” says Pilla. “I love meeting people who are down on the city. I tell them, come to Trinity-On-Main, come to Hole in the Wall, come to South Church.

“And then I say, ‘Tell me New Britain isn’t alive!’”

Originally published 6-08.

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