Ball and Socket Arts
Ball & Socket Arts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit transforming a former Cheshire factory campus into a multidisciplinary arts and cultural destination for central Connecticut. The five-building site is being developed into contemporary exhibition galleries, performance venues, a history museum, education spaces, and outdoor gathering areas.
About
Ball and Socket Arts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation transforming an abandoned industrial campus in Cheshire, Connecticut into an innovative arts destination for the central Connecticut region. The site is the former Ball and Socket Manufacturing Company, which operated from the mid-1800s through the early 1990s producing buttons and snap fasteners. Historically, this included fasteners for Union Army uniforms.
The five-building campus is being developed in phases into curated contemporary art exhibitions, performance venues, an interactive history museum, artist studio space, educational programs, and outdoor gathering areas with trail and transit access. Gallery programming, residencies, commissioned sculptural installations, and partnerships with other arts organizations anchor the public-facing work.
Ball and Socket also serves as the physical home of Artsplace, the Town of Cheshire’s art school, on the second floor of Building 2. The organization emphasizes sustainability and historic preservation as core values of the campus redevelopment.