mission | goals | 10 things | programs | artists/performers

Mission:

Real Art Ways is an alternative multidisciplinary arts organization that presents and supports contemporary artists and their work, facilitates the creation of new work, and creatively engages, builds, and informs audiences and communities.

Goals:

Present Contemporary Arts
Real Art Ways presents culturally diverse contemporary work that builds and serves a culturally, economically and generationally broad audience;

Support Artists
Real Art Ways supports emerging and established artists and provides unique social and intellectual opportunities for a broader creative community;

Build Community
Real Art Ways integrates artists and innovation into creative development of communities.

Encourage Dialogue
Real Art Ways facilitates dialogue and engages its public in exploring esthetic, cultural, and social issues.

Be an Alternative Space
Real Art Ways is a space where alternative and challenging artistic points of view are supported and where audiences are valued and included.

Sustain Capacity
Real Art Ways builds sustainable capacity through effective funding, prudent financial management, and with development and training of staff and board.

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What is Real Art Ways?

10 Things You Should Know About Real Art Ways
(in no particular order)

1. We're unique
Real Art Ways is a welcoming environment for the convergence of people, art and ideas. It is a place where city and suburb meet, a comfortable place for people from different backgrounds.We have a national and international reputation for programming excellence.

2. We were founded in 1975
Real Art Ways is one of the United States' seminal multi-disciplinary alternative spaces. Started in the 1970s during the boom of "alternativity" (eg. alternative newspapers, schools, food coops, health care), Real Art Ways has continued to grow and evolve because of the support of our contributors and a steady mission to present contemporary art in Hartford. [Full history]

3. We work with living artists
It is in our mission to support living artists. We often serve as a venue for emerging artists at a critical point in their careers. The artists we present come from a variety of stages — local, regional, national and international.

4. We rely on our members
The support of our members is crucial to Real Art Ways' mission of bringing new, innovative art of all forms to you. Members receive discounts to all our events as well as really good karma. Visit the secure pledge page and become a member today!

5. We do more than one thing
Exhibitions, movies, concerts, readings, educational programs, openings, lectures, workshops, spoken word, performance... Put it this way: check out our calendar and chances are something going on this month will interest you.

6. This used to be a typewriter factory
Like many of the industrial buildings in Hartford's Parkville neighborhood, 56 Arbor Street was formerly a factory. Since 1995 renovations have totaled $1.8 million. Resources include: a 155-seat cinema/theater; 5,000 sq. ft. of beautifully renovated exhibition space; the Real Room, a 900 sq. ft. exhibition and performance space; and the Loading Dock Lounge.

7. We like it when you hang out here
We opened the Loading Dock Lounge in 2002 to create a place for you to hang out — whether it be for discussing the art in the galleries or debating the merits of the film you just saw. The lounge is open until 10 during the week and midnight on Friday and Saturday. And we have free wi-fi. So come early or stay late.

8. We're not done yet
Since moving into 56 Arbor Street, we've undergone a steady stream of renovations to build the arts center. What's next, you ask? Well, for starters, we have designs on building more cinema screens and a 350-seat concert hall. Stay tuned for the next phase.

9. We're good neighbors
Since Real Art Ways moved to Parkville in 1989, we have maintained a strong, healthy relationship with the neighborhood. Through various public art projects, our summer program in the park across the street and involvement in neighborhood planning committees, Real Art Ways will be a presence in Parkville for years to come.

10. And, well, you can drink beer and wine in our movie theater
Not to mention we're the only area theater that makes fresh popcorn with real butter every night.

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Programs:

FILM & VIDEO: Featuring first-run independent films from all over the world and the most comfortable seats you'll find, Real Art Ways Cinema has been showing the best of indie cinema since 1996.

VISUAL ARTS: The Visual Arts Program consists of exhibitions, installations, artist talks and educational workshops. We support the investigation of new ideas and foster the creation and presentation of innovative work of all kinds. Programs are designed to be of interest to the established art world while being open and accessible to everyone.

LIVE ARTS: We present concerts, workshops, and discussions and commission new work. Solo performance, interdisciplinary explorations, and small ensemble pieces all have a home at Real Art Ways. We present readings by a wide range of authors and larger community-oriented events.

PUBLIC ART: Since 1997, Real Art Ways has commissioned over 20 public art projects in Hartford communities. From Pepón Osorio's Barbershop, to Mel Chin's Ghost, to Verandah Porche's Listening Out Loud: A Hundred Days in Parkville, our public art porgram makes Hartford the setting and the subject.

EVENTS: Third Thursday's Creative Cocktail Hours, gallery openings, and private functions make Real Art Ways a space where people can connect. The annual Real pARTy fundraiser has become the highlight of Hartford's social calendar.

FAMILY AND EDUCATION: Three thousand students per year come to Real Art Ways for our Film Fieldtrips porgram. We teach youth the ins and outs of working with video and sound in our Neighborhood Studios and Digital Skills Programs. Right across the street we offer ParkArt, a summer arts program for kids in the Parkville neighborhood. All year long we offer programming for youngsters and their families on the third weekend of the month as part of our Family Fest.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: Real Art Ways is an active participant in community affairs. We have sponsored a design competition for neighborhood gateways, helped draft a strategic plan for Parkville, and participated in a re-design of the neighborhood streetscape.

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Artists/ Performers:

Former RAW Specifics artists include Mel Chin, Group Material, Mark Dion, Pepón Osorio, Ellen Driscoll, Karin Giusti, James Luna, Jessica Diamond, Jay Critchley, Lillian Hsu-Flanders, Josely Carvalho, Richard Baim, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Liz Miller, Harrell Fletcher and Nikki S. Lee.

Exhibitions have included work by The Atlas Group, Aziz + Cucher, Yinka Shonibare, Sam Taylor-Wood, Cornelia Parker, Shirazeh Houshiary, Hanne Darboven, Cindy Sherman, Robert Longo, Mark Bradford, Panamarenko, Sue Williams, Sol Lewitt, David Salle, Charles LeDray, Kehinde Wiley, Jeanne Dunning, Mel Bochner, Tolland Grinnell, Tom Sachs, Shellburne Thurber, Olafur Eliasson, Josiah McElheny, Janine Antoni, Jocelyn Taylor, Joe Amrhein, Micah Lexier, Spencer Finch, Ana Mendieta, Carolee Schneeman, Mel Edwards, Ida Applebroog, Jenny Holzer, David Salle, Cindy Sherman, Bill Viola, Christo, Lorna Simpson, Nicole Eisenman, Louise Bourgeois, William Wegman, Nan Goldin, Ashley Bickerton, Mike Kelley, Grahame Weinbren, Jessica Stockholder, Fred Wilson, Terry Atkins, Carrie Mae Weems and many more.

Real Art Ways' live arts program has presented John Cage, Phillip Glass, William Hooker, Allen Ginsberg, John Kelly, Eric Bogosian, Ornette Coleman, Laurie Anderson, Steve Reich, Mark Dresser, Leroy Jenkins, Waldemar Bastos, David Cale, Blulips, Josh Kornbluth, Trilok Gurtu, The Text of Light Group, Gary Lucas, Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache Band, Ben Marcus, Lisa Kron, Adam Haslett, Annie Sprinkle, Lee Ranaldo, Bob Ostertag, Elizabeth Hess, Faust, Dan Zanes, Cristina Branco, Bonga, Omar Sosa, Kepa Junkera, Amiri Baraka, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Martin Espada, Eliot Carter, Spalding Gray, Ethyl Eichelberger, Danny Hoch, Holly Hughes, Manny Oquendo y Libre, John Fleck, Dael Orlandersmith, Henry Threadgill, Meredith Monk, Terry Riley, John Zorn, Sonia Sanchez, Marc Ribot, Jimmy Santiago Baca, David Murray and many more.

More information on some of these artists and performers can be found in the Archives.

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