From UConn Today
By Merly Downey
Each year, the Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Community-Engaged Scholarship (PAECES) recognize the outstanding contributions of faculty, staff, students, teams, and community partners who collaboratively address critical societal challenges through the creative and reciprocal exchange of knowledge and resources.
As a cornerstone of a land-grant university’s mission, Community-Engaged Scholarship enriches research, teaching, and learning; fosters inclusive and transformative educational experiences; prepares engaged citizens; and promotes social justice, civic responsibility, and the public good.
We are proud to honor those who exemplify these values. Please join us in congratulating the 2025 PAECES award recipients:
Community Partner Award: Hartbeat Ensemble
Founded in 2001, HartBeat Ensemble creates a theater that bridges the divide of race, gender, class, and geography. Led by artist-activists, HartBeat develops and presents original, socially conscious productions inspired by critical civic issues. Their performances invite audiences into transformative experiences, often followed by guided community conversations. HartBeat nurtures the next generation of change-makers through its Youth Play Institute, providing young people with meaningful training and leadership opportunities that integrate the arts into civic life.
Artistic Director Godfrey Simmons, Jr. facilitated the partnership between HartBeat Ensemble and the University of Connecticut, hired in 2019 as an adjunct professor to teach an introductory acting class at the University’s regional campus in Hartford. Simmons also served as the program’s diversity and inclusion specialist and began working with the Human Rights Institute through their Democracy & Dialogues Initiative in October 2020. He brought HartBeat Ensemble to UConn for the first time in the spring of 2021 to perform their original play, Stuck in the Tape, at the annual Anti-Racism, Education, and Community Symposium at UConn Hartford. HartBeat Ensemble, led by Godfrey Simmons, Jeanika Browne-Springer, and Rhoda Cerritelli, has actively partnered with various UConn programs and colleges, including the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) and the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources (CAHNR). HartBeat Ensemble has also collaborated closely with Professor Jason Chang, creating internship opportunities for students at the HartBeat Ensemble’s Youth Play Institute.
HartBeat Ensemble has significantly impacted the UConn community by generating engagement from students, faculty, staff, and administrators on issues affecting them and society. Their original play, Stuck in the Tape, based on UConn students’ experiences, has fostered critical thinking, social awareness, and empathy among participants. HartBeat’s initiative led to workshops in 2024 to collaboratively author a diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice statement for CAHNR. They also partnered with Hartford Healthcare to train actors for the OBGYN department through the Center for Education, Simulation, and Innovation (CESI), enhancing communication skills through interactive scenarios.
HartBeat is part of a National Endowment for the Arts Our Town grant from UConn Hartford. This grant will allow HartBeat to create and perform Story Circles throughout Hartford, accessible to as many neighborhoods as possible. HartBeat Ensemble is a hub for contemporary, inclusive artmaking, supporting Connecticut artists and beyond through shared space, innovative programming, and a commitment to art as a catalyst for social change. The HartBeat Ensemble exemplifies a true transformative community partner.
