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‘Free Keys Project’ Comes to Guilford

Summer on the Guilford Green is already postcard-perfect, but now the experience of summer days downtown is going to come with a little music, too. Through the Free Keys Project, a community group is placing two pianos in visible areas of downtown Guilford for residents to come and play.

The project came before the Guilford Board of Selectmen (BOS) on June 18. Shoreline residents Carly Callahan and Greg Nobile started the project as a private initiative to place pianos in public spaces in the towns of Madison, Branford, and Guilford.

Callahan said the project has collected eight pianos that are being painted by local artists before being set out to the respective towns. The plan is to place all of the pianos in the towns this Thursday, June 21 to correspond with Connecticut Make Music Day across the state.

“Our timeline is that these would be picked up at 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening and delivered to their new homes for the duration of the summer tourist season, ending in the beginning of September, and in September, the pianos will be donated to schools, community organizations, or whomever else might be interested in having one of them in residence,” she said.

The plan is to place one piano in front of the Guilford Free Library and the other on the far side of the Green at the corner of Whitfield and Boston streets.

“We are going to have a selection of sheet music in all of the piano benches and create a lending library so that people can bring music with them and take some home if they like,” she said. “We also have an intern who is dedicated to this project and will be checking the pianos for vandalism and we will fix that if it becomes an issues and our tuner will also be monitoring those.”

Callahan said the pianos have been coated with a sealant in the case of bad weather, but noted that each piano will come with a cover attached to the back of the instrument and she’s hopeful that residents passing by will take the initiative.

“This is a community piano, so we are asking people when it starts to rain to kindly cover the piano up, but we understand that is not necessarily going to happen all of the time so we have sealed the pianos and used a type of paint that will allow for as much vitality in an outdoor condition as possible,” she said.

First Selectman Matt Hoey said the library is thrilled with the idea and the Guilford Green Committee has approved the project.

“I think it is a terrific idea,” he said. “I had a conversation with [First Selectman] Tom Banisch in Madison and he is wholeheartedly endorsing this as well. The only concerns we had were indemnity and liability, which you have taken care of.”

Callahan confirmed that the project comes at no cost to the town and that the project carries its own insurance. Economic Development Coordinator Brian McGlone said he supports the project and thinks it will be a nice addition to summers on the Green.

“Ironically after [Callahan] came in a presented this, that next Sunday morning I was watching CBS and New York was talking about how they have over 200 pianos scattered throughout New York, conceptually the same idea, and it is something that a lot of the merchants around the green have been asking for casual music just to add to the ambiance and the atmosphere,” he said. “So when this came along, we thought it really supported that initiative.”

The pianos will be available for anyone to use. Guilford Police Chief Jeff Hutchinson, who attendanded the BOS meeting, jokingly pointed out one potential problem.

“I will say with regard to those pianos, you might see an increase in noise complaints if people like me decided to play,” he said.