"Travels with Tia" Visits Torrington: Inviting All Artists to Relocate Here

Tia Murphy is the AARP Connecticut volunteer state president. She launched the “Travels with Tia” blog series as part of her presidential journey. She will travel around the state to meet dedicated AARP volunteers and have them show her what makes their corner of Connecticut a special and fantastic place to live.

Torrington is not the first place I would think of to find world class professional artists living and working, but perhaps it should be. Why?  Well, turn to page 130 in AARP’s new Where We Live – Community for all Ages book (get your free e-book or free print edition by visiting AARP’s Where We Live web site) showcasing more than a 100 examples of inspiring ideas from America’s Community Leaders. Better yet, read on and check out the book later.

We visited Torrington to see for ourselves how this once thriving mill town created the innovative Artist Relocation Program to “stimulate the local economy by encouraging artists to occupy Torrington homes and commercial spaces where they can both live and work” as the article states.

So, just how is this being done? How did it get started in what seems an unlikely place?

Situated about halfway between New York City and Boston along the banks of the bucolic Naugatuck River that has been ignored and perhaps resented after a 1955 flood, Torrington represents an ideal location that is easily visited in a few hours by savvy collectors.

Like most great ideas, this one all started with one man: Ed Jaffe. A world renowned sculptor and painter, Ed was looking to relocate from Virginia to the Greater Barrington area to be closer to his children. The 82-year-old artist wanted a location to easily age in place, with his studio, at a price he could afford. So he looked at a map, spied what seemed to be the perfect spot and started looking for the perfect property, which he found. Only one problem, the old dairy farm house and barn was smack dab in the middle of a typical suburban neighborhood. Not exactly zoned for what he wanted to do.

So Ed sought out Martin Connor, Torrington’s city planner, who realized that Ed’s need was the sort of visionary idea that could help reshape, rebuild and revitalize his city. The only thing standing in the way was zoning. Martin marshaled support for the necessary changes, coining the phrase “zoning by owning” with Ed’s help. As Ed said when we visited the Five Points Gallery to meet the folks who worked together and benefited from this collaborative process, Martin really “got it!”  While Martin knew the zoning, planning and real estate side of the equation to make it all happen, Ed had the connections to the artist, collector and arts professionals, and he knew what a working artist of any ilk needed.

I was honored to visit Ed’s studio. Amazing and inspiring! We were also treated with a tour of the Five Points Gallery’s Launchpad studio areas created as an incubator program to support emerging artists through affordable studio space. Founding Executive Director Judith McElhone has now expanded this program to accommodate recent graduates of the Hartford Art School.

So, if you get a chance, take a trip up to Torrington. Savor the place at one of the unique coffee shops on Main St., catch a show at the Palace Theatre, and a meal at one of the downtown restaurants. Oh, and see the art, because as Martin says artists help “put feet on the street.”

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