HARTFORD — The city has entered into a tentative agreement with a local concert promoter to create a new department focused on expanding the city’s growing arts and entertainment scene, including a two-day music festival that had its inaugural run over the summer.

The Office of Arts, Culture, and Entertainment, located at City Hall, would include Goodworks Entertainment LLC, which owns Infinity Hall on Front Street at Adriaen’s Landing. The city would also hire a director to oversee the department.

According to a resolution recently introduced by Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam, the five-year agreement would allow the company to hold its two-day Capitol Groove music festival June 28-29 on the western side of Bushnell Park. With eight bands scheduled to perform each day, the festival would include activities, food, and beverages, including alcohol.

The festival, which was held this past June, was a “huge success” despite heavy rains, Goodworks President and CEO Tyler Grill told CT Insider at the time, with more than 7,000 attendees each day.

Goodworks would pay a $62,500 licensing fee and be responsible for the cost of security, police and fire coverage, and EMT services over the five years, according to the new agreement.

The promoter has also agreed to donate a portion of ticket sales to the city on a graduated fee scale, with the city receiving $2 per ticket for the first 14,000 tickets sold for a total of $28,000, $3 per ticket for the next 6,000 tickets sold for a total of $18,000, and $4 per ticket for the next 10,000 tickets sold for a total of $40,000.

In total, the city would receive $86,000 per event over the next five years if the promoter sells 30,000 tickets each time, according to the resolution. 

The resolution did not outline who would be responsible to cover damage to the grounds of the park. During the event this past summer, flooding caused heavy damage to the lawn and Goodworks paid for the repairs.

Aside from the damage to the park, Anne Goshdigian, longtime city resident and columnist for the free weekly Hartford News, said closing off portions of Bushnell Park for a private concert goes against Horace Bushnell’s wishes when he purchased the land to create a free space for poorer city residents to enjoy the green space with their families at no cost. Blocking off sections of the park, she said, takes away from that.

Goshdigian also questioned the need for another arts agency when the city has several.

“Why do we need another one?” she said.

Resident Diane Lewis, who campaigned for Arulampalam when he was running for mayor, said she has heard over and over again from voters — especially younger ones — that they want a department committed to arts and entertainment.

“It’s something he said he’d do and he’s done it,” Lewis said of Arulampalam. “This is going bring tourism, jobs, and stimulate the economy.”

Arulampalam said in early October that Hartford’s arts scene is among the best of any mid-size city in the country, and the creation of the new office will further strengthen that.

“Hartford has so much to offer, and this new office will coordinate efforts to provide a wide range of entertainment options while enhancing the city’s vibrancy,” he said. “I’m grateful for our partnership with Goodworks Entertainment and for their continued investment in the future of Hartford’s cultural landscape.” 

Grill added that his company is proud of the relationship it has built with Arulampalam and the city, and the proposed investment in the arts community is a testament to that.

“Over the next five years, we’re committed to giving back to the community that welcomed Capitol Groove this summer and to supporting the artists whose work enriches Hartford’s cultural fabric,” he said.

City officials said the agreement has been referred to the council’s operations, management budget and government accountability committee and the public works, parks, recreation and environment committee for later this month before going to the City Council for a vote.