Everyday Giants Are Being Honored And Amplified At NXTHVN

NXTHVN is celebrating biological fathers, spiritual mothers, and other sources of love and protection in the community of New Haven, Connecticut with Reverence. The exhibition addresses the largess and generosity that loom in the familiar. It honors the random smiles you get on a train station platform and the comfort you feel passing a deaconess in a church pew. It features altars featuring artifacts from the lives and legacies of community members. 

“Black folks deserve to be revered, to be remembered,” Marissa Del Toro, Director of Programs & Exhibitions, told ESSENCE. “We’re proud to host this exhibition.” 

The show was curated by Arvia D. Walker. Honoring family history and community connections are ongoing elements of her work. Even the language used in the show reflects the warmness of the local language. Descriptions of the show describe her contributions as “a love offering.” 

Reverence features work from Kulimushi “Kuli” Barongozi, Sydney “Syd” Bell, Marquis Brantley Sr., Shaunda Holloway, Marsh John, Jasmine Nikole, and Mel Phillips. Artists created curated groups of large-scale paintings, intimate portraits, sweet photographs, and other items speaking to the personalities of the people being honored through their practice. 

Handwritten cards, eucalyptus branches, burned CDs, gold-edged bibles, sunflowers, playing cards, dried lavender, knitting thread, and bandanas are some of the cherished relics that tell the story of how an ordinary person can have an extraordinary impact. 

The show presents timely ideas in a world where the typical imagery associated with the idea of  “Black Excellence” is being questioned.  It declares that everyone is worthy of being remembered, even if they never make it to Golden Globes red carpets or a Grammys brunch. 

As the organizer Preston Mitchum once acknowledged on the criminally short run of Bravo’s Summer House Martha’s Vineyard, raising your kids, going to work, and coming home can be excellent too.

Guests are encouraged to interact with the concept behind the exhibition. There is a welcoming leather chair in the lobby. At the other end of the exhibition space, there is a Reverence photobooth in the hallway. It features a floral wallpaper and a dusty sage chair. Nearby is a sign urging people to snap their own selfie so that their image can be added to the #reverencearchives. 

Reverence will run through November 23, 2025. NXTHVN is hosting a closing celebration that is open to the public. Guests will hear from the artists and the family members who helped them access the artifacts in the show at the event. 

NXTHVN is the perfect setting for celebrating overlooked historical figures. The space like Newark’s Project Empty Spaces and Project Row Houses offers a launching pad for creative careers by connecting artists to resources they might not otherwise have. A large space on the first floor is open to community groups so that they can have a space to connect to each other and the work being created in their neighborhood. 

They decide on who gets a place in the program based on their potential and not how closely they were born to prestige. Some participants not only get a chance to benefit from their “proprietary curriculum and programming,” but they are also given stipends and housing.  It goes a step further by offering housing and encouraging networking through formal processes that prepare artists to learn the business behind the beauty they offer. 

“We’re really looking forward to continuing to work and collaborate with a lot of local artists and local curators to amplify their work and their stories,” added Del Toro. 

Ground-breaking art has been created at NXTHVN. It sits in dialogue with other institutions, shining a light on the developing artists growing there. 

Allana Clarke advanced her sculpture technique at the facility as a resident there. Studio fellows from NXTHVN were featured in Social Works, a celebrated exhibition curated by Antwaun Sargeant. 

“One of the main goals here is to retain professional artists and create a professional arts ecosystem,” said Jason Price, Founder & Chairman of the Board. He co-founded NXTHVN with Titus Kaphar, an accomplished painter and filmmaker. They facilitate what Price calls “creative practice as a real enterprise.” 

NXTHVN offers space that Price describes as “typically larger” than one would find in similar programs. Light-drenched rooms contain sacred textures, sardine tins, lumps of clay, and discarded items that will become collected treasures in the future, helping ensure that the ecosystem will thrive for seasons to come.

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