May 1

  • The Hartford Public Library will be hosting a community program on planning for sustainability. The HPL says, “This workshop offers in partnership with the Hartford Foundation for Public giving. Sustaining your initiatives requires leadership, persistence and a plan. This workshop will enable you to think and act more strategically in demonstrating the sustainability of your initiative and will offer suggestions on planning for program continuation.”  10am-12pm in the Downtown Youth Program Room.
  • Reel Youth Hartford Film Festival, founded by Public Allies Connecticut, “aims to engage and unite Hartford youth in telling their stories and the stories of their city through film.” Films created by youth living in Hartford will be screened tonight at Cinestudio. Doors open at 5:30pm, programming begins at 6. There will be an awards ceremony and reception. This is free and open to the public.
  • Also at 5:30, young professionals are welcomed to the Connecticut Convention Center for the free networking event, Get HYPEd. This goes until 8:30pm. It’s casual. No rsvp required. Bring business cards!
  • Ever wanted to try drawing with a live model as the subject? Who hasn’t? Studio N111 is offering a Life Drawing workshop with a different theme every month. For tonight, JaVon will model as artists of all skill levels wrangle with “proportion.” There is a $15 fee that includes materials. 7pm. Studio N111 is located at 75 Pratt Street, #301. No need to rsvp — just drop in.

May 2

  • Wear red for free admission to First Thursday: The Sights and Sounds of Peru at the Wadsworth Atheneum, 5-8pm. The museum says, “Create your own worry dolls, listen to the Andean sounds of Mestizo Manta, watch a typical Peruvian dance demonstration, sample Peruvian tapas. Charter Oak Brewing will be sampling their newest brew, Wadsworth IPA.” The Art After Hours event will be followed at 8pm by the film, El Perro del Hortelano. 
  • Julie Fenster, author of Ether Day: The Strange Tale of America’s Greatest Medical Discovery and the Haunted Men Who Made It, will be giving a talk at the Connecticut Historical Society as part of the programming for the This Won’t Hurt a Bit! A History of Pain Relief exhibit at the museum. 5:30-7pm.  Tickets: $5 CHS members, $10 non-members.
  • At 6pm there will be a meeting of the Blue Hills NRZ (Neighborhood Revitalization Zone). This will take place at Cull Books, 677 Blue Hills Avenue. Civic meetings are always free.
  • Satirist Roy Zimmerman will be performing at the Unitarian Society of Hartford (space ship/spiderweb/volcano) on Bloomfield Avenue at 7pm. There is a suggested donation of $20, but nobody will be turned away for lack of funds– pay what you can! Doors open at 6:30pm.

May 3

Tick Tick BOOM! will bring improv comedy to La Paloma Sabanera at 7 tonight.

May 4

  • Jay Kaplan from Roaring Brook Nature Center will be leading a Feathered Friends walk at the Cedar Hill Cemetery. This is free, but the price is needing to be there at 6:30am. Participants are encouraged to wear comfortable footwear and bring binoculars and water.
  • Re:Create CT, a holistic & green living event, takes place from 10am-4pm today in Elizabeth Park. There will be sound meditation, yoga, poetry, speakers, demonstrations, and vendors. Want to learn about GMOs? Going dairy-free? Avoiding negative energy? Want to participate in community weaving? Festivities will be in the Rose Garden and Pond House areas of the park. Free.
  • HUZZAH! Another season of Vintage Base Ball begins with a doubleheader at Colt Meadows. The first game is scheduled for 11am, with the second one beginning about twenty minutes after the conclusion of the first game. This is free, family-oriented fun in Colt Park. Vintage Base Ball is ultra old school, following rules from the 1800s. Bring a blanket or lawn chairs.
  • The 7th annual Samba Fest — an event co-produced by Trinity College and Riverfront Recapture — will bring music to the Riverfront Plaza from 11am-5pm. There will be Maculelê and Capoeira dance, along with performances by Ed Fast & Conga-Bop, Trinity Steel, De 4 Ahwee and Co. Steelband, and the Trinity Samba Ensemble. This is free. Rain or shine.
  • The second annual Trinity Film Festival will take place at Cinestudio from 5-10pm. Free.
  • Speak Up, an evening of true stories centered on a common theme, begins at 7:30pm at Real Art Ways. This is the first in the series. Storytellers for the inaugural event will include: James Bengiovanni, Ellen Painter Dollar, Rachel Leventhal-Weine, Okey Ndibe, Plato Karafelis, Kim Damokosh, and Matthew Dick. Admission is free. Doors open at 7.
  • Catch Ferris Bueller at Spotlight Theatres at 11pm. $6.

May 5

30th Annual Foodshare Walk Against Hunger begins at 2pm in Hartbeat Park. Walkers can check-in starting at 1.

May 6

  • To mark World Organ Day, organist Jason Charneski will perform works by Messiaen, Widor, and Vierne at Center Church from 12:10-12:35p.m. Free.
  • Youth ages: 8 and up are invited to “celebrate Cinco de Mayo with papel picado, a traditional Mexican craft, and explore papel picado decorations from around the world” at the Mark Twain branch of the Hartford Public Library, 4-5pm.
  • Frog Hollow Social Club. This one’ll cost you.
still from Downeast // Photo by Meghan Brosnan

May 8

Blancanieves. Cinestudio describes this film: “With Pablo Berger’s utterly distinctive new silent film of Snow White, you can forget any memories of Disney’s bluebirds or cheery dwarfs whistling as they work. This is Gothic dark romanticism à la Brothers’ Grimm, set in a 1920s Iberian world of volatile passions. Carmen, the Snow White character, played by Macarena García, is the daughter of a bullfighter and a flamenco dancer, who is exiled to the forest by a sly and kinky stepmother (Maribel Verdú) after the death of her mother. Carmen is befriended by a cheeky rooster and a band of little people (one a cross-dresser) who encourage her desire to become a bullfighter.” 7:30pm. Ticket prices vary.

May 9

  • The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center will host a wrap-up event for the CT Girlcott, “an initiative to raise awareness about body image and the relationship between women and makeup.” This will highlight the accomplishments and begin the planning for next year’s CT Girlcott. Refreshments from 5-5:30pm, discussion from 5:30-7pm. Free.
  • Expressions in Sounds and Motion, a photo exhibition By Maurice D. Robertson, opens today at the Butler-McCook House and Garden. The event will also include music by pianist Orice Jenkins and his trio. This is free. 5:30-7:30pm. The photo exhibit will be viewable through early June.
  • Study in Lace opens in the Hartford History Center at the Hartford Public Library at 6pm. This is a free event. This exhibit will feature the work of thirty artisans from the Hartford Artisans Weaving Center. When the exhibit closes in August, weavers’ creations will be up for sale.
  • A Raisin in the Sun comes to the Charter Oak Cultural Center, through May 12th. Tonight’s show is at 7. $15 adults, $10 children under fifteen.

May 10

May 11

  • Today is the final day of the KNOX plant sale — 9am-4pm. Get there early for best selection.
  • Join in a walking tour of Keney Tower, the Old North Cemetery, and the Isham-Terry House. $12 general, $10 for Connecticut Landmarks members. 10a.m.-1p.m. Contact CTL to register and get directions.
  • Saint Patrick – Saint Anthony Church will hold a Bluegrass Mass at 6:30pm. Church Street, free.
  • Michael Korman‘s second Master of Music recital will be held in the Berkman Recital Hall on the campus of the University of Hartford at 8pm. This free event will also include performances by baritone Junhee Lee, soprano Allison Holst-Grubbe, cellist Kayla Herrmann, and violinist G. Asa Gudjonsdottir. The Berkman Recital Hall is located in the Fuller Music Center.
  • Back to the Future is the $6 late-night film at Spotlight Theatres tonight. 11pm.

May 12

Sea Tea Improv will be hosting an evening of improvised comedy at City Steam Brewery’s Brew Ha Ha Comedy Club. Doors open at 6pm; show begins at 7pm. Admission is free. Those under 21 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian because City Steam sells alcohol.

May 13

  • The WordForge Reading Series features Alfred Corn and Glyn Dowden tonight at 7. There will be an open mike. This is free– Studio at Billings Forge on Broad Street, located on the opposite side of the parking lot from the Firebox.
  • Last chance to see LIFE: A Journey Through Time at the Hartford Public Library’s ArtWalk Gallery. Free.

May 14

Black-eyed Sally’s hosts a free show by Michael Palin’s Other Orchestra, an 18-piece band. 8pm.

May 15

Catch a screening of Hava Nagila at Real Art Ways. <– Check back to the Real Art Ways site for the updated film time(s). Ticket prices vary.

May 16

Free yoga! This happens at 6pm every Thursday at the Kabbalah House (1023 Albany Avenue). This is sponsored by True Colors.

May 17

Bike to Work Day!

May 18

  • Help clean up the Earle Street Community Garden with the KNOX Green Team. 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
  • The Hartford Public Library hosts some intense dialogues. Today there will be one about the skills gap — a continuation of the discussion that began earlier this month — from 10am until 3pm. Refreshments and lunch will be provided. This is free but participants are asked to register.
  • Last chance to see HartBeat Ensemble’s Riding the Turnpike at the Carriage House Theater. Based on the book, The Berlin Turnpike: A True Story of Human Trafficking in America by Raymond Bechard, HartBeat Ensemble says the play is “set in a strip club on the Connecticut Berlin Turnpike in which four women are involved in prostitution in different ways and for different reasons. The lines between who is trafficked, who is there of their own free will and who is there for survival, are blurred as we watch the women navigate their own disparate situation, each more complex than the next. The play looks at what makes certain women and girls targets and examines all that one person can and will do to survive and secure their needs.” Not for kids. Performance at 7:30pm. Ticket prices vary.

May 19

Live bluegrass at the Firebox from 5-8pm. No cover charge. Tonight’s feature: Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys.

May 20

Jazz Mondays at Black-eyed Sally’s is open to all ages. Check the Jazz Mondays page for details on performers and cover charge (it’s usually free). 8-11p.m.

May 21

Partnership for Strong Communities hosts another of its forums: “A key question in the fight to end homelessness: how to best serve frequent users of emergency rooms and other expensive health services?”

Breakfast and networking, 8:30-9a.m.; 9-11:30a.m. program. This is free. Advanced registration is suggested. This is at the Lyceum (227 Lawrence Street).

May 22

  • What were they thinking? Hartford Then and Now is a free lunchtime lecture at the Old State House, which is in view of many of the things you have probably asked that exact question about, such as Constitution Plaza and the plans to rip out part of the State House Square plaza to accommodate buses. The event will include a talk by Tomas Nenortas, Associate Director of the Hartford Preservation Alliance, who will explore “the impact of urban renewal on the city of Hartford, lost treasures and current efforts to restore historic buildings and adapt them for 21st century life.” This will be followed by a panel discussion. 12pm-1pm.
  • SYLLABLE returns to La Paloma Sabanera from 7-8:30 tonight with the theme of “crime.” Check out the submission policy if you’d like to read; just show up if you want to listen. Suggested donation: $5. Nobody turned away for lack of funds.

May 23

Behind the Wheel, an exhibit of 20th century posters about automotive safety, opens at the Connecticut Historical Society. Admission prices vary.

May 24

Gimme the Loot opens at Real Art Ways. Check the Real Art Ways site for updated showtimes. Ticket prices vary.

May 25

  • Colt Meadows Invitational: an afternoon of Vintage Base Ball, Mark Twain, and kids’ activities in Colt Park. Free, 10a.m.-5p.m. Bring a blanket or lawn chair.
  • The 9th Annual Spring Festival will be held at the Ebony Horsewomen Equestrian & Agricultural Center (337 Vine St.) from 11a.m.-7p.m.: pony rides, antique cars, vendors, farmers’ market, train rides, kiddie carnival rides, exotic animals, music, and more. Free admission. The rain date is May 26th.

May 26

Cinestudio will be screening Safety Last, a fantastically-titled silent film. This marks the film’s 90th anniversary. Showtimes today: 2:30 and 7:30pm. This will be at Cinestudio through May 30th. Ticket prices vary.

May 27

The Hartford Jazz Orchestra will perform at the Arch Street Tavern. 8pm, free.

May 28

MathAlive! opens at the Connecticut Science Center today. This traveling exhibit shows visitors practical uses for the math they are learning in school. Ticket prices vary.

May 29

Drop by the Barbour branch of the Hartford Public Library “to meet your neighbors, discuss local or national issues, cooking, sports, or the latest book or movie you enjoyed. Refreshments served.” 6-7:15pm. Free, no registration needed.

May 30

Inspiring Action: Human Rights in the 21st Century will include a free networking followed by a panel discussion from 3-5:30pm at the Immanuel Congregational Church (10 Woodland Street). Panelists will include Michelle Alexander, Mike Lawlor, Victoria Steele, and Rev. Michael Williams.

May 31

Sea Tea Improv performs long form at the Studio at Billings Forge. 8-9:30pm. $10 at door.

Want your event listed next month? Get the information to us before May 25th. Preference is given to free or low cost civic and cultural events that occur in Hartford.