Learn about the history of the Ely Center of Contemporary Art (formally known as the John Slade Ely Center of Contemporary Art) at 51 Trumbull Street in New Haven. Situated within an English Elizabethan style house built in 1901 by S.G. Taylor, the Ely Center was home to John Slade Ely (1860-1906) and Grace Taylor Ely, who came to New Haven in 1897. Now it is one of New Haven’s premier contemporary art spaces, with a constant rotation of thought provoking and innovative art from New Haven’s vibrant arts community and beyond. This tour will explore both the home and the art center and view the exhibits on display throughout nine galleries.
Visit the Ely Center at the Historic John Slade Ely House
Ely Center of Contemporary Art
The Ely Center is New Haven’s oldest contemporary arts venue, located in a historic house on Trumbull Street that once belonged to John Slade and Grace T Ely that recently we were able to purchase as our long term home. We are embarking on a two year strategy to focus our cultural programming to notions of home. This initiative invites artists to contemplate questions of safety, sanctuary, displacement, affordability, houselessness, housing policy, redlining and the legacies of racialized systems of inequity, architecture in the age of climate emergency, the role of porches, stoops, and gardens in community, the hearth, the food, and childhood memories/nostalgia as just a small sampling of what comes to mind when we think about home Our goal is to enlist artists and curators in deepening our understanding of the complex issues around housing as a basic human need and right.