Old Saybrook — Revealing he once aspired to be an actor, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., visited the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center on Friday, celebrating another southeastern Connecticut recipient of a federal aid program aimed at rescuing cultural institutions hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Blumenthal noted The Kate, as the nonprofit theater is known, received a $691,000 Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, which was the amount it sought to help it recover from financial losses incurred during a 15-month shutdown, retain staff and restart programs.

Robin Andreoli, the theater's director of development and community relations, said the grant also covered the cost of contracts that had to be broken and an upgrade of the theater’s HVAC system, a necessity in the age of coronavirus.

Blumenthal had paid a similar visit to the Garde Arts Center in New London three weeks earlier, marking that venue’s award of an $830,000 grant. Steve Sigel, the Garde’s executive director, joined Blumenthal and Andreoli in speaking Friday outside The Kate, as did Alan Mann, artistic director of the Clinton-based Opera Theater of Connecticut, which received a $24,000 grant.

“This is truly a moving moment for me,” said Blumenthal, who took a personal interest in the grant program, which he said all members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation helped champion.

“I wanted it to be named ‘Save Our Stages,’ but in typical Washington bureaucrat-ese, it got changed,” he said, joking. “And then shortened ... to SVOG.” 

Blumenthal said The Kate, the Garde and their ilk play an important role in bringing communities together and in driving local economies. Even those who are agnostic about the arts, he said, can recognize the economic impact cultural institutions have on restaurants, shops and other small businesses.

“Theaters are places where dreams are made,” Blumenthal said. “We need actors, playwrights, musicians, singers ...”

Carl Fortuna, the Old Saybrook first selectman, said he never realized how important the arts were to the community until he took office.

“When I come out of a night meeting and see The Kate full, and the parking lots full ...,” he said. “It’s critical the theater stays open and well funded.”

In the spring, the federal government announced more than $16.2 billion was being set aside for the SVOG program via the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act and the American Rescue Plan Act. In the first round, nearly 16,000 applications were submitted requesting $12.3 billion. On Wednesday, the U.S. Small Business Administration, which is administering the grants, said the program has so far awarded $8.4 billion to more than 10,800 institutions. And, it announced it was accepting applications from SVOG recipients seeking supplemental grants.

Supplemental grants of up to 50% of the original award amount, up to a total of $10 million per recipient, will be disbursed, the SBA said.

More than a dozen southeastern Connecticut institutions received initial grants in amounts ranging from a high of nearly $6.1 million for Mystic Aquarium to a low of $7,139 for the New London Maritime Society. Mystic Seaport Museum received nearly $4 million and the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford got nearly $2 million. The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center was awarded $511,629.  

Susan Tamulevich, executive director of the New London Maritime Society, said the museum, which was closed for 63 weeks during the pandemic, continues to provide educational programs for students and preserves four historic structures. She said the society's grant, which was reduced by the amount of other federal pandemic-related aid it received, will help cover the cost of utilities and other operating expenses.

“We did a survey of organizations to find out how many were going to apply and to make sure they were eligible,” said Wendy Bury, executive director of the Southeastern Connecticut Cultural Coalition. “Everybody who applied received what they asked for. It came to about $17 million for 17 organizations (in the area the coalition serves). Now, they’ve announced a second round."

"The guidance we’ve gotten is that if you got a first award, you’ll get a second,” she said.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com