artconnexDC is a collective of diverse women-identifying and non-binary visual arts professionals. We are dedicated to fostering kinship and enhancing the vibrant DC metro arts ecosystem. artconnexDC offers a network to share information, encourage dialogue, and provide multigenerational opportunities for collaboration and mentorship.
The Prescription is HOME: A Manifesto
artconnexDC is proud to announce our next gallery event, this time at Mason Exhibitions Arlington!
Artist and social practitioner Mēlani N. Douglass will welcome us to her immersive exhibition, The Prescription is HOME: A Manifesto, on the evening of Thursday, February 26. Mēlani will provide an overview of her practice and the exhibition. Light refreshments will be provided.
Blending visual art, participatory installation, and community-centered programming, the exhibition reimagines the home as a site of healing, cultural preservation, and collective transformation. The exhibition draws inspiration from revolutionary domestic spaces, kitchen-table movements, and ancestral practices that have long sustained communities through care and connection. Visitors are invited to contribute personal artifacts, stories, and reflections, transforming the exhibition into an evolving communal environment. It allows audiences to step into a sacred, participatory space and reconsider the profound role home plays in shaping how we heal, gather, and imagine a more connected future.
Mason Exhibitions Arlington
3601 Fairfax Dr, Arlington, VA 22201
Metro stop: Virginia Square/GMU Orange/Silver(the gallery is just across the street from the metro)
Date: Thursday, February 26
Time: 6-8pm
Socially engaged artist Mēlani N. Douglass is the founder of the award-winning Family Arts Museum - a migratory institution focused on the celebration of family as fine art, home as curated space, and community as gallery. Inspired by the birth of her daughter, Mēlani started her own museum, reimagined her studio practice, and refined her innovative approach to community engagement, audience development, and exhibition design.
Mēlani currently serves as a consultant on numerous projects. She is the East of the River Artist in Residence, A DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities fellow as well as a Humanities DC Fellow Her work has been highlighted by the New York Times, Atlas Obscura, Shondaland, Bmore Art, American Museum Alliance Magazine, Baltimore Magazine, Artnet, and National Geographic.
artconnexDC thanks you for your support during the past two years as we continue to grow and develop the group. We are launching new programming categories, as described below, and look forward to seeing you soon!
Focus
Focus events offer participants special access to current area exhibitions, public art installations and artists’ studios for a presentation and conversation with curators, artists, and other visual arts professionals.
Pathways
Pathways is a career development series that brings local arts professionals into conversation with the artconnexDC community. Each session features a guest speaker—from emerging practitioners to established leaders—who shares candid stories about their path, the challenges they’ve faced, and the opportunities that have shaped their work. Designed to be interactive, Pathways invites questions, discussion, and connection among arts workers at every stage of their careers.
Circle
Circle is an informal social gathering that gives the artconnexDC community space to meet, connect, and converse without a formal program agenda. Hosted in flexible venues—such as bars, restaurants, galleries, or other community spaces—Circle events include light refreshments and snacks.
Pop-Ups and Opportunities
Hosted on What’s App
What’s App Guidelines: This is a space for sharing information and creating opportunities to connect, network, and build community through informal gatherings and career support. Please avoid promotional and marketing messages.
Pop-Ups – Would you like to invite members to meet together informally to attend an exhibition, talk or opening? Post here and gather your peeps for a get-together.
Opportunities – The space is also available for posts if you are seeking or hiring for a position in the visual arts.
