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About The Civic
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WHAT WE DO

The Civic Standard is a new name for a project that has been developing for many years. It is a mobile cultural center that exists in various forms and places: as live performance at the local opera house; karaoke night at the Legion; a community-built carnival midway at the town fair; free soup nights run by high school volunteers; open call band practice; and much more. 


Our programming is collaborative: we connect unlikely partners in order to build events that are both common and extraordinary. This is an ongoing project of participation, mutual helpfulness, and construction that is never finished.

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Culture is made together, not packaged and delivered.

If you would like to join us, you can. It's that simple.

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If you would like to get in touch with us, stop in during open hours, or email us at: thecivicstandard@gmail.com

Click here to learn about our Safety Policy and Procedures. Click here to read our Accessibility Statement.

People want to gather with their neighbors, both the ones they know and the ones they haven’t met. But in an increasingly divided world, we are rarely in rooms with people unlike ourselves, particularly without spending money. Our mission at the Civic Standard is to provide many ways for the people of Hardwick to do just that. We believe that the very best culture is made from the inside-out, and we work with our neighbors to build cultural events that are of interest to us.

 

Examples of our past events, and events still to come, include Bingo at the Grange Hall with live jazz piano, mystery dinner theater at the Legion, Trivia at the diner, neighborhood bonfires, community meals, meetings, swaps, and old time music jams.

 

Our mission is to make events where everyone is welcome, and everyone comes. It is a simple idea but a timely one, and we believe the Civic Standard could become a blueprint for like-minded projects far and wide.

                              

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WHY IT MATTERS

WHO WE ARE

This project was founded by Rose Friedman, Tara Reese, and Erica Heilman. It is supported and sustained by a board of directors and a volunteer base of hundreds of members of our greater community.

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Our board of directors is: Lauren Antler, Lynn Delaricheliere, Mike Donofrio, Robin LaPlante, Ray Lewis, Kent Osborne, Jesse Upson, and Natashea Winters.

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Click here to view bios of our staff, board and volunteers

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