CCSU's Burritt Library Receives $10K Grant

By Jeniece Roman, The Bristol Press

April 19, 2022

Central Connecticut State University is the recipient of a grant to help to preserve some of the university’s colorful history in the Connecticut Digital Archive.

The Elihu Burritt Library received a $10,000 grant from CT Humanities to create a digital collection of artwork and murals. The collection will be composed of artwork by Professor Emeritus Mike Alewitz and his students. It will also feature work that was produced by Alewitz during his time as director of the mural painting program at CCSU, which he was for 16 years.

Alewitz, a well-known activist and agitprop artist, lead anti war activist at Kent State University and was a leader of the national student strike that followed. He was named a Millennium Artist by the White House Millennium Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation in 1999. Alewitz’s students focused topics of mural painting included issues in science, education, substance abuse, sexual assault, war, racism, climate change, 9-11, homelessness, censorship, popular culture and many other topics.

Students have produced more than 100 murals on the CCSU campus since the program’s launch in 2000 and numerous murals in downtown New Britain. Several murals and hundreds of smaller art pieces have also been seen throughout the world as part of the program’s international mural slams. The collection will consist of a diversity of students’ perspectives, artistic styles and political viewpoints that will be informed by their unique backgrounds and experiences.

This project is sustained by the CT Humanities SHARP capacity grant, which provides funding through the American Rescue Plan. The Connecticut Digital Archive, a statewide digital repository, will feature the contributions of the young muralists on a permanent online collection. The Connecticut Digital Archives digital repository is featured at the University of Connecticut, which is a partner of the Digital Public Library of America, will expand the Burritt Library’s digital collections.

The archive will be available for CCSU students, artists and scholars worldwide to help support teaching and research in art and art history. Throughout the year, materials will be uploaded over time and in the end will compose an exhibit and symposium at the library.