MMXIX has been a year of profound transition, experimentation, transformation, and becoming.
In January, NXTHVN—a new multidisciplinary arts incubator in the Dixwell neighborhood of Greater New Haven—made the transition from bold concept to lived reality. President and Founder Titus Kaphar’s exemplary vision pulled into sharp focus as NXTHVN welcomed seven artists, three curators, and four high school apprentices through its doors. Creative experimentation, critical dialogue, and tiered mentorship jolted a defunct ice cream factory and glass manufacturing plant back to life. And, six months later, the doors opened once more to welcome me in as the inaugural Executive Director.
It’s difficult to trace the many conversations that led to this cosmic convergence of people and ideas in Dixwell, but I’ll try because, in honoring this stunning exhibition at the Tilton Gallery and this successful editorial collaboration between early career artists and curators, these details feel essential.
In the summer of 2018, I received a phone call from Titus, a longtime friend, collaborator, and thought- partner on all things art and impact. I took the call from my desk at the Studio Museum in Harlem—where I proudly served as Director of Public Programs & Community Engagement—in an office only a stone’s throw from where he and I first met in 2007. Back then, Titus was an artist-in- residence bound for a prolific career, and I was a curatorial assistant finding my footing in my first full-time job.
When I think back on that time that we shared at the onset of our careers, what I remember most vividly was our lunchtime conversations around the large, oval conference table in the curatorial offices. Fellow resident artists Wardell Milan and Demetrius Oliver were there; Curators Lauren Haynes, Rujeko Hockley, Naomi Beckwith, and Christine Kim were there. And by some miracle of circumstance, I was there, bearing witness to the importance of dialogue in bringing artistic practice to life. I am forever grateful to my own mentor, Thelma Golden, for hiring me and—in doing so—empowering me to find and exercise my own professional voice in community with some of the greatest thinkers and makers of our time.
Fast-forward to that call in the summer of 2018 and the momentous change that it precipitated. In true Titus fashion, he kicked off our conversation with an existential question—what are you thinking about these days and what does the future hold for you? He caught me on a particularly good day, and I responded, “Black entrepreneurship and land ownership. Oh, and building social and cultural institutions that respond in real time to social injustice and cultural erasure.” At some point, it became clear that what Titus had been working on in New Haven alongside his fellow Founders since 2015 had been somehow, simultaneously and unknowingly, percolating in my mind as a dream, yet to be uttered aloud.
When I came to see the series of holes in the ground shrouded by construction fences that was NXTHVN, I was wearing four- inch heels because that’s how I live my life and, little did I know, Titus had welcomed me into an idea still very much in a state of becoming. The experience was reminiscent of that first open studios of the year, where an artist-in-residence welcomes you into their near-bare studio to discuss the future of a few marks punctuating an otherwise blank canvas. I was honored and likely vibrating with visible excitement as Titus talked me through his plans for filling these holes, transforming the neighborhood, and building an arts institution poised to reinvent how artists learn and lead.
I returned to Harlem reinvigorated in my own work, seeking to infuse it with a transparency similar to that shared by Titus. As a leader in the Museum’s in Harlem initiative, which takes contemporary art and artists beyond museum walls, I began to reconsider how and when to center artists in institutional processes such as exhibition-making or public programming. I was emboldened to insist—with the full support of my team, co-workers, and our newly-established Community Advisory Network—that artists be present at the earliest stage possible of an idea involving or relying on art to do the heavy lifting of engaging local community.
In the background Titus and I, as we are prone to do, kept bouncing ideas off one another. Then, roughly a year later, I made the difficult decision to leave my position at the Studio Museum to embark down this path yet paved. How often is one confronted with the opportunity to both build and live their dream?
This exhibition and catalogue manifest several essential lessons from this personal anecdote of my professional career. The first is that relationships are important, and that they must be nurtured over time. The second is that artistic ideas and art objects are made all the more powerful by their ability to reach and affect others. In pairing artists and curators early in their careers, NXTHVN instills this value and projects a vision for collaboration that reminds all involved in the art industrial complex that value is in fact created, and that we are all a part of that conversation. The third is that—while dreaming big is important, especially in these times when reality is so damn ugly—acting on these visions is what delivers us closer to impact, closer to each other, and closer to realizing the imprint we want to leave on the world.
It was a true honor to work on this exhibition and catalogue in partnership with my new, New Haven Family. Thank you, Titus, for trusting me with your vision, and for inviting me to help steer this ship alongside you. Thank you, Jason Price, Founder and Board Chair, and Founder Jonathan Brand for helping Titus to build the infrastructure upon which NXTHVN’s program has been able to evolve and flourish. Thank you Christie Neptune, Kenturah Davis, Jaclyn Conley, Merik Goma, Felipe Baeza, Alexandria Smith, and Vaughn Spann for stepping out on this limb with us and creating such exquisite new bodies of work that set the bar high for what to expect from future NXTHVN alumni.
Thank you Zalika Azim, Riham Majeed, and Ana Tuazon for your thoughtful interpretations of these works, and for similarly enriching this evolving program with your curatorial practice. Thanks to Sivan Amar, Natalie Renee, and Matthew Solomon, without whom this catalogue would literally not be possible. And lastly, thanks to Connie Rogers Tilton and the entire gallery team for so generously hosting this exhibition and supporting the production of this important editorial record of NXTHVN’s early history and growth. It is a true honor to add our Fellows to the impressive roster of artists that have exhibited at the gallery over the years.
In closing, I urge anyone reading this to keep their eyes on these ten arts professionals as they continue to make waves and shift tides through their interpretations of the world around us. I also urge you to keep your eyes on NXTHVN as we approach our grand public opening in the Spring of next year—this is only the beginning, and we’re off to a fantastic start. — Nico Wheadon Executive Director, NXTHVN