After Progress
Adam Viens at Real Art Ways

May 15, 2025 - December 13, 2025

Real Art Ways presents After Progress, a solo exhibition by Adam Viens Viens is a mixed-media artist whose work delves into concepts of time, perception, memory, and philosophy. As a physical representation of intellectual and emotional processes, Viens’ work presents a combination of frantic, improvisational technique and slow, interpretive contemplation.  The result is admittedly abstract however, frequently edging in and out of vague spatial representation.  After Progress is predicated on personal interpretation, explains Viens, “The work is not didactic, it is not… Find out more

September 18, 2025 - December 13, 2025

Real Art Ways presents It’s Going to Rain, a solo exhibition by Real Art Award winner Tielin DingBefore a storm comes,  swirling vortices of air bring leaves floating and in motion.  Brooms, fans, umbrellas; gathering, murmuring; It’s a party with flickering lights. Yes, it‘s going to rain. It’s Going to Rain is a multimedia exhibition that reflects on the relationships between objects, environments, and their shared states of uncertainty. John Cage asked, “When a truck passes by a music school or a factory, which is more… Find out more

November 21, 2025 - November 26, 2025

“It’s a movie that sneaks up on you like great fiction, blending theme and character in a way that allows it to live in your mind after you see it, rolling around what it means to both the people in it and your own life.” – RogerEbert.com“It’s hardly a guilty pleasure movie, though its sheer pleasantness comes with a certain pang of conscience: should cinema this intelligent be this much fun to watch?” – Daily Telegraph (UK)“Sentimental Value is about… Find out more

November 23, 2025 - November 23, 2025

Experience music imagined and created in real-time. This series runs from September 2025 to May 2026. Check out the full schedule here!November 23 Performance:    Rob Brown-alto saxophone, flute   Anna Webber-tenor saxophone, flute   Matthew Rousseau-drums Joe Morris-bass, compositions Find out more

November 30, 2025 - November 30, 2025

 In recognition of World AIDS Day, you’re invited to a community screening of Derek Jarman’s final feature film, BLUE. A single field of radiant blue fills the screen while Jarman, facing AIDS in the final month of his life, speaks of illness, intimacy, and eternity. With only voice and color, BLUE becomes a meditation on presence and absence, on the body in decline, and the spirit in defiant bloom.The 2:00 pm screening will take place at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum… Find out more

December 1, 2025 - December 1, 2025

 Real Art Ways is proud to partner with Visual AIDS for Day With(out) Art 2025 by presenting Meet Us Where We’re At, a program of six videos that forefront the experiences of drug users and harm reduction practices as they intersect with the ongoing HIV crisis.This is screening for one day only, on Monday, December 1, in our video gallery. The videos will loop between 1-9 pm. Meet Us Where We’re At features newly commissioned videos by Kenneth Idongesit Usoro (Nigeria), Hoàng… Find out more

December 6, 2025 - December 6, 2025

Saturday, December 6, at 7 pm – Real Art Ways welcomes trombonist, composer and arranger Papo Vázquez back to Hartford for our annual concert and holiday parranda. Bring an instrument and get in free! Otherwise, general admission is $10.Please note, the venue for this event will be Black Eyed Sally’s at 350 Asylum Street in Hartford.Parranda de aguinaldo (Christmas folk music), is an Afro-Indigenous musical form played during the holidays in various Caribbean and Latin American countries including Puerto Rico,… Find out more

December 10, 2025 - December 10, 2025

 The series takes place in person on the second Wednesday of the month from September 2025 through May 2026. Each night begins with an open mic featuring readers with one poem (one page) and continues with a poetry reading featuring regionally or nationally known poets.Riverwood Poetry Series @ Real Art Ways will host Jeffrey Harrison and Charles Douthat on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, at 7 pm at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor Street, Hartford, Connecticut. There will be an open… Find out more

December 14, 2025 - December 14, 2025

Experience music imagined and created in real-time. This series runs from September 2025 to May 2026. Check out the full schedule here!December 14 Performance:     Brad Barrett-cello   Beth Ann Jones–bassr Joe Morris-guitar Find out more

December 30, 2116 - December 30, 2116

I want to tell you something remarkable. Something you probably aren’t aware of. You may already know that Real Art Ways is pretty good at what we do. But did you know Real Art Ways has presented the work of (drum roll, please)… 48…(!) MacArthur Genius Grant Awardees? We’re going to share a bit about them in coming weeks. – Will K. Wilkins KEN VANDERMARK Ken Vandermark has performed at Real Art Ways in 2013, 2014, and most recently last… Find out more