Studio doors across New Haven's Erector Square complex swing open Saturday and Sunday for a free, two-day showcase of 120 artists, designers and craftspeople, the latest edition of an event that grew out of a scrappy artist-led effort to save a beloved New Haven tradition. The event runs from noon to 6 p.m. each day at 315 Peck St. in the Fair Haven neighborhood, with studios, galleries, food trucks and family activities packed into the sprawling former factory complex.
This is the fourth artist-led Open Studios weekend at Erector Square, organized by Eric March, Niko Scharer and a group of fellow Erector Square artists, according to Patch. Scharer, an artist at Erector Square Pottery and Ceramics, stepped up this year as a primary organizer, as reported by the Hartford Courant. “It feels like a party,” Scharer said, describing the atmosphere organizers have worked to build.
The weekend features dozens of guest artists, family art-making, live entertainment, interactive events and the popular ESOS scavenger hunt, Patch reports. Attendees can take part in that scavenger hunt across Erector Square's eight buildings. Erector Square's new gallery, Color Local, which opened in March, will hold a special Open Studios group show, per the same Patch report.
Music, Food and an Instrument Petting Zoo
Music Haven, a youth-powered organization, will provide a wellness concert featuring movement and sound healing along with an instrument petting zoo and classical performances. Local food trucks will also be on site, and most participating studios ask visitors to make an appointment, according to Erector Square Studios.
The Erector Square weekend runs on a modest budget of roughly $8,000, funded by artist fees, individual donations and small fundraising events, the Courant notes. Artists pay $25 to participate, while guest artists pay $60 — fees that go toward vendor payments and collaborator compensation.
From Artspace's Closure to an Artist-Led Revival
The event traces its roots to a much larger institution. From 2005 to 2020, the now-defunct Artspace New Haven ran a month-long festival called City-Wide Open Studios, which once stretched from Erector Square to the Goffe Street Armory to studios in the Mill River District and Westville, the Courant reports. In 2021, under a new executive director, Artspace rebranded the event as the Open Source Festival.
Artspace closed its downtown New Haven storefront in early 2023, and a group of artists at Erector Square began working together to reimagine the festival, keeping it alive without the nonprofit behind it. Some of those artists reportedly bought old City-Wide Open Studios banners at Artspace's closing sale, a detail noted in the Courant's account. In October 2023, the first artist-led Open Studios event launched at Erector Square.
Attendance figures from that first artist-led weekend vary by account: the Courant reported that more than 150 artists welcomed visitors and that roughly 1,500 people attended over the two days, a figure attributed to organizer Eric March, while Patch's earlier coverage put the number at more than a hundred artists participating. This year, organizers coordinated 65 open studios and 42 guest artists for Erector Square alone, the Courant reports.
Open Studios New Haven Spreads Across the Month
The Erector Square weekend is just one stop in a larger, monthlong celebration. Open Studios New Haven runs from Oct. 1 through Nov. 1 across more than two dozen locations in New Haven, Westville and West Haven, according to Open Studios New Haven, and all of its events are free and open to everyone. The celebration continues next weekend with open studios spreading into Westville and Hamden's Highwood Square, the Courant notes.
That next weekend will also bring events to West Haven, where artist Jenna González will present a group show with about a dozen artists, according to the Courant. González, who spearheaded the now-dissolved Shoreline Artist Collective and was named West Haven's artist-in-residence by ArtsWest CT in 2024, has described the arts community as something that has repeatedly helped save her life, per the Courant's reporting.
The monthlong program also includes a two-weekend preview of Revolutionary Haven: Myths of America, a performance from A Broken Umbrella Theatre Company exploring the American Revolution, set to open at Elm City Montessori School on Blake Street, the Courant reports. Elsewhere, Quilt Club New Haven plans to make commemorative woodblock prints with visitors as part of its Quilts in the Covered Bridge installation near the Eli Whitney Museum & Workshop.
