Latest HIVE News
July 2025
Senatorial Certificate of Special Recognition Given to The HIVE

Renowned pianist Frederic Chiu and his wife, artist Jeanine Esposito, were honored this weekend by Sen. Richard Blumenthal for their work in establishing a Norwalk-based arts organization, The HIVE.
The couple, who previously hosted elaborate gatherings at their historic Westport home known as Beechwood, recently sold the property.
They are now collaborating with arts groups across Fairfield County to bring community conversations into arts events.
Their goal is to unite people from different backgrounds through shared cultural experiences. "They're using arts to build community at a time of discord and division. They are showing that the arts can be a unifier emotionally as well as politically," Blumenthal said in a video with the couple.
May 2025
The HIVE Facilitates Bridgeport’s First BATR

The HIVE was honored to help design and facilitate the first-ever Bridgeport Art Trail Roundtable (BATR), held at The Knowlton. The goal of the meeting was to facilitate the collaboration, dialogue and exchange of ideas between 3 sets of stakeholders responsible for sustaining and growing a vibrant cultural and economic ecosystem for Bridgeport. The event involved collaborative input from 24 attendees representing Directors of Arts Organizations, Property Development Owners/Managers and City and State Planning Departments. The collaborative session allowed all stakeholders to work together to identify opportunities and kicked off an initiative to host ongoing collaborative BAT Roundtables. Go to The HIVE Instagram and Facebook Pages to see photos of the event! Thank you to Suzanne Kachmar for trusting The HIVE to facilitate this event!
June 2024
Our First Media Appearance!

We were delighted to be invited by Erika Wesley, the Executive Director of Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County (CAFC) to join her as guests on her Spotlight on Arts & Culture Podcast at WPKN. We had an interesting discussion about collaboration, connection, community and how The HIVE plans to help foster it across the county.
Thank you, Erika! Listen
Building The HIVE!
Our Timeline
2024-2025
Feb-April 2024
Creating The HIVE Identity
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We worked hard to articulate and create our identity, complete with a new HIVE Logo, Values, Vision, Mission and Website, which has evolved to include The HIVE Partner Network.
May-Sept 2024
May-Jul 2024
Launched The Golden Honey Donor Club Program
We launched The Golden Honey Donor Club to give supporters of The HIVE an opportunity to support the early efforts of building The HIVE. All donors at any level had their name placed on The HIVE's donor wall in perpetuity. Funding from The Golden Honey Donor Club helped fund critical outreach activities with organizations and audiences from May to October.
A second opportunity to join THe Golden Honey Donor Club was opened for December 29, 2024 to April 1, 2025 to help support the launch of The HIVE full season.
We held a Thank You Concert for Queen Bee Donors of The HIVE
May-Sept 2024
Building The HIVE Partner Network
Creating Partnerships with other Community-driven organizations is core to everything The HIVE will do. In our outreach over the course of 6 months we met with over 65 leaders in close to 50 Community Organizations across Fairfield County, sharing the Vision and Mission of The HIVE and getting extensive feedback to shape how The HIVE will work with The HIVE Partner Network (HPN) to engage communities across the county.
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We initially hosted 5 Pollinator Gathering Dinners for 30 organizations to allow EDs to experience The HIVE Conversations and discuss their interest and the value they saw in The HIVE for their communities. Following the dinners, we met with 20 other organizations, either one-on-one or through Arts Commissions and Councils.
In this outreach, we learned what individual organizations were looking for, what they needed to join the HPN and what value doing so would bring to their organizations and communities. ​​
Through The HIVE Outreach From May – Oct 2024
48 Arts, Culture & Community Organizations Across 11 Towns Attended a HIVE Gathering or Presentation, And a Large Majority Expressed Interest in Joining/Partnering
June 2024
Tested The First 2 HIVE Conversations and Theme-fueled Programs, Hosted By Our Long-Time Collaborator, The Wonderful Westport Library!
​June 9: Pollinator Gathering #1: The HIVE Artist Storyshare​
16 Artists showed their work and 6 bravely told personal and inspiring stories from the stage. The theme was “Unexpected Human Pollination,” about an unexpected and possibly unwelcome meeting, but which ended with a positive impact. A facilitated HIVE Conversation followed, turning the audience toward each other as they shared their own thoughts and experiences on the theme, creating more connection for all.
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CLICK HERE to hear the stories and the conversation​
CLICK HERE to see and purchase the artwork
June 23: Pollinator Gathering #2: Frederic Chiu's LID Sessions
The HIVE invited accomplished but non-professional pianists to share their "passion practice" by playing piano to a live audience on stage. The seven participants (ranging in age from 12-94!) were met with an enthusiastic and supportive audience! After the performances, we facilitated a lively HIVE Conversation with audience and performers around the feelings created in both groups followed by a sharing about other "passion practices" the audience engaged in, creating even more connections.
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CLICK HERE to watch the performances and hear the conversation
Aug-DeC 2024
Young Connecticut Creatives
Aug and Nov 2024
Specific Audiences: Young Adults
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In addition to HIVE Conversations with Directors for building The HIVE Partner Network, we hosted 3 HIVE Pollinator Gatherings with groups of young adults, including young artists as well as a group of graduate students in Arts Management. We also hosted a HIVE Connect Conversation at Carnegie Mellon University. This cohort of 20- and 30-somethings, whose participation in and consumption of the arts is significantly different than the recent generations before them, responded enthusiastically to The HIVE's in-person, meaningful dialogue, and we are planning to do more to help partners understand how best to program for this group.
Oct 30 2024
The First HIVE Partner Network Conference!
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Executive Directors and staff attended our first-ever HIVE Partner Network Conference on Oct 30, generously hosted at the beautiful Carriage Barn Arts Center in New Canaan. The collaborative conference allowed organizations to work together for important input and details as to how they want to work with The HIVE.
Nov 2024-Feb 2025: We focused on analyzing the results of the Conference and worked toward the final design of exactly how The HIVE and The HIVE Partner Network will work together collaboratively to engage their communities through Arts, Culture and Learning Programs paired with meaningful HIVE Conversations. ​​​
​​March-June 2025: The HIVE is ready to launch!
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March 30: Frederic played a thank-you concert for our Queen Bee Donors who donated $250 or more
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March 25-26: We presented 4 share-out sessions with EDs and provided incentives for organizations to join The HIVE Partner Network that will run from April to June 2025
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Look for HIVE-fueled events across Fairfield County this Spring!