Over the past ten years, CWOS has drawn thousands of visitors to explore New Haven’s neighborhoods while discovering artists, revamping perceptions of the city.
Over three weekends, visitors can observe painters at work in Erector Square, hop on a bike tour around Individual Studios, and see site specific installations created for the Alternative Space. A month-long central exhibition at Artspace features one work by every participant.
Complete details and an official Map of the Arts with all locations are available at Artspace and in the New Haven Advocate in October.
City-Wide Open Studios is a 20-day celebration of contemporary art in all its myriad forms, and is undoubtedly Connecticut's leading visual arts festival. Art dealers and curators from the region have used CWOS as a resource to discover new artists, plan upcoming shows, and buy art. One of the largest Open Studios programs in the country, CWOS unites hundreds of local artists with the Greater New Haven community.
New Haven hosts the only Open Studios program in the country offering an alternative studio space for artists to display their art. Artists without access to a studio and artists from elsewhere in Connecticut show their work in the Alternative Space – vacant historic properties that Artspace adapts into exhibition spaces, aiding in their redevelopment.
Past spaces have included the Olin Metals Research Laboratory, the Pirelli Building, and the former Hamden Middle School. Through the Alternative Space project, CWOS connects artists and the public with different neighborhoods of New Haven every year. This year's site is Prescott Bush, a New Haven Housing Authority elderly housing complex at 220-230 County Street, between Dixwell Ave. and Hillhouse High, in the Newhallville neighborhood.
City-Wide Open Studios is a program of Artspace, a Connecticut non-profit organization whose mission is to catalyze artistic efforts, to connect artists, audiences and resources, and to redefine "art spaces."
City Wide Open Studios is proud to receive support for its 10th year anniversary from the National Endowment from the Arts. In addition, Artspace receives operating support form the Andy Warhol Foundation, Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, City of New Haven Office of Economic Development, Corporate Sponsors, and Individual Fiends of Artspace.
City Wide Open Studios
October 9 - 28, 2007