NXTHVN was founded in 2016 by artist Titus Kaphar and entrepreneur Jason Price as a new model for arts education and professional development. Now in its third Fellowship cycle, NXTHVN has continued to establish itself as a premiere artist and curatorial residency program.

NXTHVN’s rigorous selection criterion for Fellows emphasizes the demonstration of an artistic ability to contextualize contemporary art within the stories and experiences of people of color. Immersed in the area’s rich intersection of art, academia, and history, NXTHVN’s exhibition space, black box theater, and co-working space further create an atmosphere of collaboration, inclusion, and social engagement.

NXTHVN is committed to cultivating cultural entrepreneurship and social innovation in Dixwell and beyond through our proprietary curriculum, signature programs, co-working space, and business incubator. Our public program of exhibitions and events deepens and strengthens the connections between our local community and our Fellows’ creative research, building on Dixwell’s potential while honoring its cultural past.

Demographically, New Haven is the United States’ most representative city. There is space for everyone here. New Haven thrived during the industrial revolution, and inspired a new generation of creatives, immigrants, and intellectuals to lay down roots and seek opportunity. As artists, creativity is our most valuable resource. I do not believe that art can solve all of the world’s problems, but I do know that creativity is the wellspring of innovative solutions. We established NXTHVN to incubate the professional careers of artists, curators, and fellow creatives from New Haven and abroad, and to provide opportunity to the next generation  of creatives through our high school apprenticeship program. It’s only through creativity and imagination that we will redefine the future. 

—Titus Kaphar Founder, President

NXTHVN was founded by Titus Kaphar and Jason Price, both deeply committed to leveraging the human and economic potential in New Haven to drive the organization’s mission. Their core aims are to build an alternative model of art mentorship and career advising through a specially designed curriculum, simultaneously set into motion significant opportunities for emerging artists, and impact economic development in ways that authentically benefit the community and region.

Titus and Jason’s respective professional backgrounds and their shared commitment to NXTHVN’s mission is a powerful combination that has been critical to the organization’s success at the nexus of art and business.

NXTHVN is rooted in the Dixwell neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut. We opened our first artist studio wing in 2019 and will be fully operational as a multi-use arts and creative center starting Summer 2021.

Dixwell is adjacent to New Haven’s downtown area and is bordered to the south by the Yale University campus. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the neighborhood was a vibrant and diverse worker’s community with a vibrant jazz scene and prosperous local economy. Traversed by the Farmington Canal, which was once a canal and later a railway connecting the New Haven Harbor with the Connecticut River, Dixwell was home to small-scale manufacturing interspersed with working-class residential living.

Now predominantly an African American neighborhood with ongoing economic challenges common to postindustrial regions, the area stands in contrast to its university neighbor. NXTHVN is committed to cultivating cultural entrepreneurship and social innovation in Dixwell and beyond through our signature programs, co-working space, and business incubator. Our public program of exhibitions and events deepens and strengthens the connections between local concerns and our Fellows’ creative research, building on Dixwell’s potential while honoring its cultural past.

Deborah Berke Partners redesigned, connected, and expanded a former laboratory supplies manufacturing plant with the neighboring defunct ice cream factory to construct a contemporary multi-use space that is particularly suited for innovative, creative work and community building. Preserving the humble, functional characteristics of the original buildings, they infused the site with light, to adapt focused working spaces for flexible forms of public, accessible use.

In addition to NXTHVN’s state-of-the-art co-working space, black box theater, art gallery, and cafe, all opening over the course of 2021, NXTHVN’s campus include 14 artist studios, business incubation offices, artist-in-residency tower, and reception spaces.