Presenting Partners

Since its founding in 2020, The Building Fund has worked with regional arts non-profits—including Artspace, Creative Arts Workshop, the Ely Center of Contemporary Art, and the New Britain Museum of American Art—to present timely contemporary art exhibitions, educational workshops, and public programs featuring local artists of color.

Artspace

Between 2020-2022, nico w. okoro was contracted by Artspace to design, develop, and deliver a series of professional development talks and workshops for artists. These programs were part of Artspace’s annual Open Source Festival, and focused on skills development, from how to write an artist biography and statement, to how to conduct a professional studio visit for a variety of stakeholders.

Creative Arts Workshop

In 2023, nico w. okoro was contracted by Creative Arts workshop to envision an exhibition and program series that would serve as the fourth installment of their Made Visible series, which “makes visible” work by historically underrepresented artists at CAW. Curated by okoro, Made Visible: Freedom Dreams was on view February 6 - March 18, 2023, and featured artworks by Connecticut-based artists, Y. Malik Jalal, Linda Vauters Mickens, and Jasmine Nikole, and programs hosted by Babz Rawls Ivy.  Together, these works invited meditations on what it means to work towards individual and collective liberation, while simultaneously working against forces of oppression and division. Resisting an overly utopian framework, they drew rich source materials from the everyday–the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Black American experience.

Ely Center of Contemporary Art

In 2023, nico w. okoro was contracted by The Ely Center of Contemporary Art to curate a large group show from the organization’s 2023 Open Call. Featuring fifty international artists, Embodied Knowledge explored the concept of embodied knowing, or that knowledge both resides in and can be conducted through the body. The exhibition was slated to be on view June 11 - July 30, 2023, however, was unable to move forward as envisioned due to unfortunate circumstances. Please click below to see the original exhibition in its entirety.

New Britain Museum of American Art

On the occasion of 30 Americans, the New Britain Museum of American Art contracted nico w. okoro to co-organize and co-host a daylong festival celebrating the living legacies of Black culture and creativity explored in the exhibition. Arts on the Block: Celebrating Black Culture & Creativity programs were anchored by the exhibition’s three core themes: Self-Making and Identity; Adornment and Materiality; and Signs and Wonders. The event featured New Haven artists and entrepreneurs Bamn Books, Elm City Lit Fest, Empath Vintage and Kwadwo Adae, among many others.