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Under One Roof
Aniskovich seeks to market state's arts, historic assets in one attractive package
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Business New Haven
2/16/2004
By: BNH
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Last month Jennifer Aniskovich of Branford began a new job as head of a new state commission: the Connecticut Commission on Arts, Tourism, History & Film (CCATCHF). Created last year by the legislature, CCATCHF seeks to match marketing of the state's cultural assets with existing expertise in promoting tourism. A lawyer by training, she is married to State Sen. William A. Aniskovich (R-12).
What is your background?
I had served as a commissioner at the Connecticut Commission of the Arts, which is one of the component divisions of this new agency. I was also a non-profit lawyer for a number of years at the New Haven firm of Wiggin & Dana. In that capacity I had worked with lots of arts organizations. I also worked for the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, and I ran the Guilford Handcrafts Center. As executive director of the handcraft center, I worked with a lot of local tourism interests and served on a tourism committee in Guilford. I ran a fairly large tourism event - the Guilford Handcraft Expo - that drew about 17,000 people. And, I was very involved with the Henry Whitfield House in Guilford which is one of the state museums that this new agency oversees. So I've had a background that brought me to this from a lot of different areas, with arts being the largest among them.
What is the background and makeup of this commission?
I began here January 2 and I am the first executive director for this new agency. Doug Evans had been the interim executive director and had carried over from having been executive director of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. The agency brought together the Commission on the Arts, the Historical Commission, the Office of Tourism and [state] Film Office into this new single agency. It also brought together the Connecticut Humanities Council and the Trust for Historic Preservation - not as governmental agencies, because they are stand-alone entities, but for purposes of physical and strategic planning. So they now work closely with us to develop a coherent and wholistic approach to culture and tourism in the state.
Why was the commission created?
Last year there was a move to consolidate existing agencies as a budgetary measure. We were facing a very large deficit and the legislature and governor were concerned with closing the budget deficit. They saw an opportunity to bring like-minded individuals with common and overlapping purposes together to create an entity that could more accurately represent what is a large community in which the lines and distinctions between art, heritage, humanities and tourism are often blurry. For instance, [Hartford's] Mark Twain House - which is in some measure a humanities center, in some measure an arts center, and certainly a tourism attraction - would be represented by an entity that shared all of those component parts.
What is the commission's budget?
Our budget that was proposed [February 4] is about $25 million. About half of that is for things like the marketing budget for the state tourism office, the pool of grant money that is given out for arts grants and the money that goes out in terms of historical awards. Of the $25 million, $11.5 million comes to the agency or one of our affiliated entities. The other about $13 million is granted out in individual line items to different entities, some of which previously received funding through the hotel intercept and some are new additions to that list.
Who, for example, gets money from you?
An example would be that the Greater Hartford Arts Council, which receives $150,000. The legislators decided that these individual entities would be funded and that this statute would be the vehicle for funding them.
How would you evaluate what Connecticut has done to preserve its history?
I think that the state has fallen short in terms of its commitment to its historical resources. There is an opportunity with this new agency to renew its commitment to the state's four museums, historic homes that have been designated in the state to the historic districts and to each of those treasures that really makes Connecticut unique. It is particularly a part of our cultural identity. More and more as you look toward tourism destinations and why people choose to live somewhere or relocate their business somewhere, you find that they are looking for a quality of life that is personal, local, specific and has something with which they can identify. Connecticut has historical assets second only to Massachusetts. In the last decade, certainly on the arts side we have seen a renewed commitment to the capital needs of arts institutions. Something like $100 million has been bonded in our cities and towns to meet the capital needs of arts institutions. I would see historical and heritage institutions as the next group of institutions deserving [similar] attention.
What are the commission's future goals?
I will count this agency a success in the next two years if we have successfully conveyed to our legislature the economic impact of areas not traditionally measured in that way, and count us as a success if we see increased funding to those historically under-funded areas like history. More importantly, we'll be successful if [we can create] a unified voice from all of these different areas that says, 'Look - culture really matters in this state. It's part of who we are, and if we are to be successful in our efforts or adjust the quality of life and experiences for our citizenry, then we need to invest in culture.'
Why haven't we invested more in culture?
Historically having the arts, history, humanities and historic preservation under different roofs created a situation where we were competitors, not collaborators. Legislators are used to evaluating the quality of the state's investment in terms of economic data. When you talk about quality of life in the state, it is a challenge to quantify that in economic terms. As we become more technologically advanced and lose our sense of place, I think that the arguments about quality of life begin to resound a little more for those legislators. They recognize when they make funding decisions, that it's not just about dollars and cents - it's about how we live our lives and what we see when we walk down the sidewalk and experience every day of our lives.
How does Hartford's Adriaen's Landing project fit in with the tourism mission?
What Adrian's Landing does is to take whatever happened in smaller venues and make it more understandable for people. It is already the case that Mystic Aquarium and the Omni in New Haven bring people in to Connecticut, and the cultural and recreational destinations we have already bring people here. I think Adrian's Landing, because of its size and its component parts, has an opportunity to remind people that we have the capacity to bring larger groups than we currently do. Practically speaking, I think it will be fabulous for Hartford. I think it will be the kind of destination that gets people here so they can then go out and explore the smaller attractions. I think it's wonderful that we'll have the opportunity to host such large groups here. What makes Adriaen's Landing possible is the existing infrastructure of quality theaters, well-preserved historic homes, world-class dance troupes. If we didn't already have amazing attractions and artists in the state there would be no reason to build it. I do not believe that if you build convention centers, they will come. If you have a state that is overflowing with attractions and experiences and a quality of life that is high and then you build the convention center - then they will come.
We've written about the 'Passport Project,' in which a number of tourist attractions in Massachusetts and Connecticut cooperated on joint marketing. Should there be more such interstate efforts, since tourists don't care about state boundaries?
The Passport Project has been very successful for the entities that were involved in it. And they have been thinking about expanding the entities that were involved in it. In terms of in-state cooperation, the consolidation of 11 tourism districts to five districts [in Connecticut] makes possible for the first time a real coordination between those five districts and between the districts and the state tourism efforts.
Why do you think this agency is likely to be successful?
This is the one agency that is entirely about all things positive in Connecticut. We are blessed with a state that is rich in history, creativity, ingenuity, people who are creative and institutions that are world-class. To bring all of these things together under one roof, along with all of their budgets and the kind of newly recognized stature that goes with an agency of this size is a real opportunity that I am tremendously excited about.
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