NEWPORT ART HOUSE: ABOUT US
THE NAH BOARD CONSISTS OF A GROUP OF COMMITTED LOCAL ARTISTS aND COMMUNITY PARTNERS
OUR MISSION
WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO
Newport Art House is a 501 1 (c) 3 non-profit organization.
Our mission is to Nurture, Showcase, and Promote the Contemporary Arts of Newport County, and we fulfill this mission through our programming and dedicated events.
SIGN THE SANCTUARY II PETITION!
OUR ORG IN A NUT SHELL
WHAT EVEN ARE WE
The current Newport Art House Board consists of the dedicated artists pictured above. Our leadership tends to be a group of actively practicing artists, performers, and arts advocates. We create fun events that remind you that Newport is a world-class arts destination, but we also have casual meetings and surveys and information gathering campaigns that allows us to advocate for the rights of artists in our towns.
The NAH Board is:
Tara Gragg, Board Chair | Dancer and Choreographer at IMC
Catherine Druken, At Large | Proprietor of Lovici Creative
Jane Bailey, At Large | Proprietor of Bailey Art Gallery
Diane Conlon, At Large | Fine Arts Instructor
Angel Jonsson-Laboy, At Large | Proprietor of 8-Bit Platypus + co-founder of Drone Dolores Collaborative
Tracy Jonsson-Laboy, Founding Director | Co-founder of Drone Dolores Collaborative and proprietor of Tracy Jonsson Designs
We are all practicing artists, gallerists, and advocates with a connection to Newport.
WHERE ARE WE?
THE ORG THAT LIVES IN THE ETHER
NAH is a pop-up based org that prides itself on hosting programming throughout various locations in Newport, RI. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on facebook to stay in the know about future events and their details.
Our mailing address is at the NAH run Tarducci Studios at Innovate Newport, formally 513 Broadway, Suite 203 Newport RI 02840.
That said, we are known to do pop-ups throughout town and for utilizing the rich architectural heritage of Newport as a canvas and back-drop for some of our most talked about contemporary art experiences.
We have collaborated with The Newport Historical Society, Innovate Newport, Empire Tea and Coffee, the Elks Club, The Newport Opera House, Newport Yoga, Salve Regina, Maison DNA, Parlor Bar and Kitchen, Salvation Cafe, Fifth Element, Bike Newport, The Newport Art Museum, Bellevue House, the Newport Congregational church, Emmanuel Church, and many more. It is often the case that we are approached about creating programming in spaces.
If you want a contemporary art event in your space and you’re willing to donate it to a non-profit, feel free to contact info@newportarthouse.org to start the convo.
NAH HISTORY
WE'RE YOUNG AND WE'RE FREE
NAH was founded in 2015 by Tracy Jonsson.
Before she started the nonprofit organization Newport Art House, Jonsson hosted art exhibits, poetry readings, writing groups, and musical shows in her home. She invited people to check out and learn more about the local art scene and to contribute to it.
Jonsson came away from those nights with three insights: Newport needs a space where artists can get together and create; and this area has an abundant supply of local artists and art appreciators that could build Newport into a major arts city. It also needed an organizing body that focused on the issues facing todays Newport Artists.
She incorporated NAH in 2015 with the help of Ben Ellcome, Nick Logler, and Helena Touhey. Since then the org gained its 501 (c)3 status.
NAH has created over fifteen different programs and projects in Newport, engaging hundreds of artists, and directly paying, and advocating for, just wages throughout. You can read about the intention and impact of each program in our Annual Reports, below.
Newport Art House’s former board members are:
Ben Shaw, Musician
Ben Ellcome (Chair)
Nick Logler, Fab Newport
Helena Touhey, Independent Reporter
Christian Belden, Church Community Housing (Chair)
Gabriella Rassi, Musician
Tom Pirrotti, Musician
To the left is an early brainstorm spider chart from our nascent days. It was recorded from an early board-cocktail-brainstorm on the meaning of our mission, and how we relate our programming to it. We came up with a lot of awesome programming idease which you can read more about in our annual reports.
NAH vISITING VINYL GURU IN 2017:
A STORE ON BROADWAY ^^^^^
FISAL REPORTS BY YEAR:
NAH ANNUAL REPORTS
FIND OUT WHAT WE'VE ACCOMPLISHED IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS!
Want to know about all off our programing to date? NAH has been actively engaging with the Newport arts community in the years since its founding in 2015. Some of our programs have been:
Project Beta
NAH Maker-series a FabNewport
Craft night at Gather Tea
Fun A Day: Art Openings
BAFL Market
Street Access Galleries
NewPorch Live
The Newport Arboretum Art of the Arbor Exhibit
The Rewind
Artists Support Group
Residency 2020/Sanctuary II
Multiple artist and community surveys on the topics of art, development, access, equity, and representation.
Take a read through our annual reports for more information on most of our initiatives.
HOW TO HELP US HELP YOU
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
Newport Art House has always depended on the community for brainstorming the best ideas and solutions for our community of artists. There are many ways you can help NAH help artists thrive in Newport, RI.
- Donate to Newport Art House’s general fund directly, through membership, or by purchasing art from us.
- Sponsor one of our Programs (NAH Tarducci Studios, The Sanctuary II Petition, etc.).
- Join our Board of Directors and help us determine the future of our organization!
- Join one of our Committees and impact the direction of our programming, events, fundraising, and marketing discussions!
Email info@newportarthouse.org to get in touch with our board-chair Tara about your interests.
The most effective way to help is to donate to our organizational budget: to date, 100% of our funds raised through events and donations have gone directly back to the arts community through direct payments to artists or through programming that falls within the mission of our organization. In 2020 we have started paying our director a symbolic wage. We hope to make this a more sustainable position, and your donation would help enormously towards this end!We’d love to hear how you may contribute to our success!
YOU'RE AWESOME: DONATE TO NAH!
ALL THE AWESOME PEOPLE DO!
You’re an important part of what we do whether you’re throwing us a $20 bill or endowing us with your 15 acre estate (pleased to meet you!). Donations to NAH can be made out to “Newport Art House” and sent via snail-mail to the following address:
Newport Art House, 513 Broadway, Suite 203, Newport, RI 02840.
If you’re donating to a particular program please indicate this in the memo section of your check. If you need help locating our IEN Number or have any questions feel free to contact info@newportarthouse.org.
DONATE ELECTRONICALLY:
Thank you!
This website was a collaborative project that started in 2019 by the Website and Marketing Committee consisting of Catherine Druken, Angel Laboy, and Tracy Jonsson.
Catherine Druken, of Loviciii Designs created the NAH Brand Identity guide, informing the overall look of the website. She designed our logo, developed our color-scheme, fonts, and provided style-guidelines for our organization’s overall brand identity.
Angel Laboy, independent web-designer and software engineer operating as 8-Bit Platypus Inc. created the infrastructure to make our crazy, non-standard web-ideas come to life (as they say, you have to know the rules to break the rules!). He wrote the framework and optimized our front-and back end to facilitate the hosting of our entire operation on the website server.
Tracy Jonsson, founding and creative director, populated the website with content, and provided all photography and graphics unless otherwise credited. Cute aside: Angel and Tracy got married in the middle of this web-project so it’s got great happy vibes. They started the new media art company Drone Dolores Collaborative together in 2020.
