5 DAYS LEFT TO SUBMIT TO OUR OPEN CALL - Guest Curator Larry Ossei-Mensah!

5 DAYS LEFT TO SUBMIT

Share your work with us!

When you submit to this open call your work will be considered for:

A group exhibition juried by Larry Ossei-Mensah
Solo and group shows
Digital exhibitions and social media features

Open to artists across disciplines. Cost to apply is $35, however no one is turned away for lack of funds, please email info@elycenter.org for fee waiver information before you apply.

DEADLINE MARCH 22.

Apply at elycenter.org/open-call-2026

“What excites me most about this open call is the spirit of possibility it creates. Artists working across disciplines are invited to share their vision, and that openness is where new ideas, voices, and creative futures begin to emerge.”

The Ely Center has long been a space where experimentation and community intersect. I’m eager to see submissions from artists who are pushing boundaries, taking risks, and using their work to reflect the complexity of the world around us.”

-Larry Ossei-Mensah

FRIDAY

ON VIEW

opening reception for RESIST/THE URGE

Exhibitions on view through April 12, 2026
Intervals
small tears, cuts and scribbles
Ensconced
What Remains Tied, Bound in Belonging
RESIST/THE URGE

Thank you for everyone who made it out to the opening reception of our new Project Space gallery for RESIST/THE URGE!

Founded in New Haven in March 2024, the Planned Parenthood Support Squad began as a grassroots effort to demonstrate community support for bodily autonomy and access to healthcare, while raising funds to help sustain healthcare providers such as Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. The group gathers weekly outside clinics to counter anti-abortion demonstrators who seek to shame patients and spread misinformation. Their approach is one of joyful resistance: dancing, music, handmade signs, and collective presence.

RESIST/THE URGE presents a visual timeline of the group’s growth and activism. The exhibition includes protest signs, artwork created for fundraisers, digital media used to spread awareness, and photographs documenting the Support Squad in action. Together, these materials reflect the creativity and energy that has fueled the group’s expanding community.

This exhibition marks the first presentation in the Ely Center’s Project Space Gallery, a new initiative inviting artists and curators to submit exhibition proposals for consideration by the Ely Center’s Curatorial Advisory Committee. The space is intended to support experimentation, collaboration, and timely artistic responses to contemporary issues.

HOURS

Gallery Hours: We, Th, Su 12-5pm or by appointment- to book an off hours visit please email aburg@elycenter.org

SUPPORT ECOCA

M I S S I O N

The Ely Center of Contemporary Art’s mission is to present contemporary art exhibitions and events—challenging, conceptual, and provocative—that are inclusive, diverse and promote dialogue around global and community issues. Our work reaffirms Grace Ely’s testamentary wishes for an art center where artists, arts organizations, and the public assemble, exchange, learn, and engage through exhibitions, performances, and emerging contemporary practice

ECOCA receives support from the City of New Haven, Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, Connecticut Office of the Arts, Connecticut Humanities, New Alliance Foundation, Wells Fargo and Friends of the John Slade Ely House of Contemporary Art.