Through an annual Open Call for Visual Artists Orchid Gallery showcases artworks by early-career artists of color from the Greater Haven Area. Orchid Gallery - a partnership between ConnCORP and The Building Fund (BLDG FUND), invests in marginalized creative entrepreneurs and makes art accessible to the general public.
This partnership strengthens the local arts ecosystem while amplifying the voices and visions of regional artists of color.
Featuring artworks by Kwadwo Adae, Zajah Divine, Yasmin Essafi, Rebecca Fowke, Louise Mandumbwa, and Benita Nnachortam, Liminal Landscapes explores the layered experiences of diasporic life—its distances between home and homeland, memory and reality, loss and transformation.
Through photography, painting, printmaking, and assemblage, Connecticut-based artists of African origin or descent reflect on migration, displacement, and belonging. Their works move fluidly between the personal and political, embracing liminality as a space of power, healing, and self-definition.
Landscapes is organized by Orchid Gallery’s curator-at-large, nico w. okoro.

Artists: Howard el-Yasin, Kaelynne Hernandez, Christopher Paul Jordan, Jasmine Nikole, and Jason Ting
Focused on conceptual pieces to deepen discussions around identity in contemporary art. Curated by nico w. okoro.

Artists: Syd Bell, Demeree Douglas, Clymenza Hawkins, Ebony B. Mckelvey, and Alexzandria Robin
Celebrated Black womanhood and challenged toxic beauty standards. Curated by
nico w. okoro.

Artists: Jahmane West, Sophie Harpo, Chris Jones, Vijor McCray, and Miguel Ángel Mendoza Melchor
Explored mythmaking as a tool of creation, disruption, and survival. Curated by nico w. okoro.
496 Newhall St, Hamden, CT 06517, USA
Open today | 09:00 am – 05:00 pm |
The Building Fund is an innovation platform that scales concepts into projects and projects into movements, brick by brick. Powered by New Haven’s fearless artists, entrepreneurs, and neighbors, The Building Fund is equal parts strategic consultancy and cultural engine for the mobilization of community ideas. Founded in 2020, The Building Fund boasts a growing portfolio of high-impact, cross-sector initiatives serving partners of the global majority, while connecting them to a broad range of networks, opportunities, and resources.