MISSION
To challenge dominant pedagogies and curricula found throughout higher and continuing education and develop a truly liberal arts space where freedom is explored through critical discourse and camaraderie, fully developing an equitable, open and democratic society for all.
VISION
Build radical community education focused on studio art practice and build ethical and sustainable models both internally in our workspaces and externally throughout our communities.
ABOUT
studioELL LLC is an artist-run social enterprise based in Eastern Connecticut. As a hybrid learning space, we offer courses and residencies — both in-person and online — dedicated to studio art practice. Part critique and part studio visit, we intentionally blend elements of higher education and continuing education to reimagine possibilities within learning and support found in community education.
In April 2021, we became fiscally sponsored by Fractured Atlas, enabling expanded grant research and funding opportunities and ensuring greater financial sustainability.
Since our inception in August 2015, we have been a vibrant cultural hub for artists, fostering creativity and collaboration across the globe. Through more than 45 courses and numerous events, we have supported over 300 talented individuals, providing opportunities to deepen their studio practices and engage with a dynamic community of artists and instructors.
With a commitment to equity and accessibility, we have awarded over $20,000 in scholarships and program funding, ensuring financial barriers do not hinder artistic growth. Our collaborations span continents, connecting artists and instructors from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, and building a network that thrives on shared knowledge and mutual support.
Looking ahead, we remain dedicated to expanding our reach by partnering with community organizations and creating new opportunities for artists to access resources and engage in meaningful dialogue. We continue to champion the transformative power of art, building a more inclusive and sustainable creative community.
WHO WE ARE
We encourage critical thinking and civic action through art. We challenge students, artists, academic institutions, galleries and museums to question how art is made, taught and disseminated for the benefit of all. We are a growing, evolving entity, looking to each other and our communities to challenge ideas. We blur the lines between fine art and the everyday inundation of cultural content omnipresent in the visual experiences around us.
We are artists and everyday citizens. We believe art belongs to all, not a select few. We understand that participating in a meaningful democracy means being informed and active in the processes that shape daily life. We contribute to an active and lively cultural identity that is free from corporate sponsorship or funding restraints.
WHAT WE DO
We radicalize learning and build support networks within studio practices by challenging institutional ways of thinking, adopting and subverting traditional educational frameworks, and constructing new communal spaces for critique and development. By creating systems of mutual support centered around art practice, we foster environments where creativity thrives.
Operating out of Eastern Connecticut, our reach is both national and international, with a focus on local solutions and community-building in the places where enrolled artists and professors live and work. While New England is our base of activity, our professors and student-artists act as stewards, extending our influence through programming and connections to artistic communities worldwide. This organic expansion is multilayered and evolves synchronistically.
Asynchronous studio classrooms provide flexibility, and our residency-style approach keeps artists engaged in critical discourse while remaining connected to their everyday lives. We create sustainable systems that support growth both inside and outside the studio.
Our impact is threefold:
- Artistic: Supporting unique practices in a nurturing environment to cultivate new ideas.
- Communal: Connecting individuals from diverse backgrounds and fostering meaningful dialogue.
- Civic and Social: Shifting pedagogical ideologies within academic and institutional spaces and bringing these sensibilities to democratic spaces like libraries and community centers.
With sustainable options in education limited, the rising cost of higher education and ongoing reductions in arts funding, we provide a vital support structure. For nine years, we have bridged continents, utilizing a hybrid digital-physical platform to reimagine lifelong learning in the fine arts.
HISTORY
studioELL was founded in the summer of 2015 in London, UK, as part of galleryELL — a transient gallery established in 2008 in Brooklyn, New York, by artist, curator and professor John Ros. galleryELL was created to offer something new and vital for disenfranchised and marginalized artists in New York City, operating within the existing art culture while challenging its conventions. When galleryELL concluded its programming in 2016, studioELL shifted the focus toward education, building on the gallery’s ethos to challenge dominant pedagogies and create new models for community-based studio education.
In 2021, studioELL became a registered LLC, and in 2024, we relocated our offices to Eastern Connecticut, further anchoring our mission of fostering equitable and accessible art education. That same year, we became a registered trademark with the USPTO, solidifying our identity as a leader in innovative, artist-run education.
The name “ell” holds special significance. In architecture, an ell is an extension or addition to an existing building at a right angle — distinct yet connected to the original structure. Historically, “ell” also refers to a self-reliant measurement of length using the breadth of one’s arms, emphasizing autonomy and resourcefulness. These meanings resonate deeply with our mission, symbolizing our commitment to building upon existing structures while fostering independence, adaptability and resilience in the arts.