Frequently Asked Questions

HOAST2026 (The Harlem Open Artist Studio Tour) is a free, self-guided walking tour of Harlem’s private artist studios, galleries, and creative spaces. For one weekend, Harlem becomes an open-air arts festival — connecting artists, neighbors, and visitors from around the world.

The annual Harlem Open Artist Studio Tour (H.O.A.S.T.) celebrates the neighborhood’s artistic vitality with a two-day, self-guided tour of studios, galleries, and cultural spaces across historic Harlem.

Free and open to the public, HOAST invites visitors to explore Harlem’s thriving arts scene on Saturday, October 18, and Sunday, October 19, 12–6 PM.

October 10-11, 2026, from 12-6pm.

HOAST is in private and public artist studios across Harlem. If you live or work in Harlem, make art, and want to show and sell directly from your studio space, HOAST is for you. We’ll include your studio on our map and help visitors with images and information about your artwork. 

artHARLEM,Inc., founded in 2005, organizes the Harlem Open Artist Studio Tour (HOAST).  artHARLEM, Inc. is an artist-run community arts organization dedicated to fostering creativity and strengthening our community through the transformative power of art. Reuben Sinha, an artist living locally in Harlem, runs the organization.

Yes, visit our website for a list of artists who participated last year. You can download our map from there as well. The free Harlem Open Artist Studio Tour App can be downloaded from your apple app store or android app store. Its a good way to see how visitors experienced HOAST last year. You can also contact us with your questions via email anytime. 

 The HOAST Visitor’s App, available on both Apple and Android, uses an interactive Google map to present visitors with in-depth profiles for each artist including artworks, bios, artist statements, website and social media links, and studio locations. Visitors will be able to notify artists in real time about their interest in stopping by the artist spaces. The app also allows visitors to reach artists they missed during HOAST and visit them privately at a later date. Additionally, the app allows artists to communicate with each other, thus creating a shared network infrastructure for communication and support. 

To participate in HOAST you must have a studio in Harlem, and you must have an online artist portfolio, either as a website or through your social media account where you consistently post your artwork. To participate, visit our website artHARLEM.org, and click on the link for artist application. There is a $50 participation fee.

Yes, believe it or not. Most studios in Harlem are part of the artist's home. For the occasion, the kitchen may look less like a kitchen and more like a studio,  my experience has been visitors enjoy seeing the connections between an artist's personal life and their work as is apparent in your lived-in space/studio.

Yes, in the past we have looked for and rented alternative spaces where artists can exhibit for HOAST. This year we haven’t been as successful. However, if you know of a space where we can show a few artists, please let us know about it. We also are looking for volunteers to help with writing grants that would help fund these spaces.

HOAST is for one weekend in October. The most successful artists are those with (1) a strong online portfolio (their website or Instagram account), and (2) those who send out their own invitations. 

artHARLEM will send out invites and advertise as on social media, with local newspapers & magazines and art publications. However, year after year our experience has shown the most successful participants are those who also use their own lists and resources. 

On HOAST weekend, it’s a good idea to have a friend or family member help you with visitors. Most artists clean up and organize their studio to display as much recent work as possible. Artists have also kept their computer close by to share work that they couldn’t display, or run a video of them working. Open studio tours are about sharing the process of how you make your artwork, explain your art, your process and your vision.

Create a warm and welcoming environment, make room for visitors to  sit and relax with a beverage, it always goes a long way. 

HOAST works when you open your working-space/studio/apartment to the public for one weekend, HOAST weekend, October 10-11, 2026, from 12-6pm. Visitors receive a HOAST map, visit our website to research the artists in Harlem, and see your work on our HOAST app. Our event is advertised on mainstream media, arts media and social media.  

Visitors come to your studio, and you talk to them about your work, what it means, how you make it, who you are and how your work addresses issues that are personal-important.  You have a sign-in book, build a clientele, make connections with curators, collectors and other artists, and sell. 

Volunteer help is a large part of what makes artHARLEM and HOAST a success. We need help (1) advertising the event, (2) distributing maps around the city,  (3) getting local businesses to advertise on our map, (4) getting funds from local businesses and (5) writing grants (6) donate funds. If you’d like to help in any of these, please contact Reuben Sinha: harlemartsresidency@gmail.com.