Bringing provocative art, performance & creative mischief to a small town at the river’s edge.

Frenchtown, New Jersey pairs world-class arts programming with charming streets, independent shops, and a community that prizes creativity over convention.

Stage Door is KEIGWIN + COMPANY’s (K+C) community-enhanced show inspired by the artist’s life on the other side of the stage door, featuring professional performers and community members alike.

Experience the captivating history of Black Cowboys and the roots of American music through an innovative concert experience by Dom Flemons, The American Songster and co-founder and original member of the GRAMMY-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Two-time Latin Grammy-winning artist Ella Bric brings her electrifying fusion of Afro-Venezuelan rhythms, live improvisation, and electronic experimentation to the stage in a powerful live performance that blurs the boundaries between concert and sonic exploration.

HUG is the new collaborative project from Gyan Riley, Devendra Banhart & Noah Georgeson, three independent artists who also happen to be childhood friends.

ArtYard Center opened in the spring of 2021 with four distinct exhibition spaces, a state-of-the-art theater, an outdoor courtyard, backstage and art handling space, and staff offices. The building site at 13 Front Street was formerly Kerr’s Chickeries. Architects Ed Robinson and William Welch designed the new building on the site of the old hatchery, inspired by historical photographs of Frenchtown’s industrial roots. Third-generation family business W.S. Cumby served as the general contractor.

The upper level gallery at ArtYard's main building is 2,632 square feet. Its large west-facing windows overlook the Delaware River and the clerestory overhead admits natural light.

The lower-level gallery is 1850 square feet, with a small 206 square foot adjacent room, allowing limited natural light.

The McDonnell Theater is home to our live performance and film programs, where we present music, performance, poetry, and film screenings, in addition to artist talks and symposia. Named after Stephen McDonnell, the 162-seat theater McDonnell Theater has state-of-the-art projection, lighting, and surround sound as well as upcycled seating, curtains, and a chandelier made from water bottles by artist Willie Cole. McDonnell is an ArtYard board member, Applegate Farms founder, and Jill Kearney’s husband.

Creekside Residency is a five-bedroom home that sleeps up to 12 people. It is situated on a peninsula bordered on three sides by the Delaware River and two branches of the Nishisakawick Creek, which form a popular local swimming hole in the warmer months. Creekside’s gracious riverfront setting serves as the “yard” of ArtYard, a place for art installation, communal festivities under a summertime circus tent, and a cob oven for occasional feasts and picnics.

Bridge Street Residency is a five-unit Italianate Villa house with a storied history. It was built in 1864 by a merchant whose retail efforts eventually went bust. The house passed to the Apgar family who operated a boarding house through much of the 1900s. In 1985, it became a bed and breakfast and then apartment complex until ArtYard purchased it in 2020 to house visiting artists.

The original site of ArtYard from its inception until the completion of the new building at 13 Front Street, serving as the testing ground for ArtYard's identity and vision.