Free and open to the public.

First Saturday Poetry is curated and presented by award-winning poet Vasiliki Katsarou.

After our virtual Hatch-in-place in 2020, we are so excited to announce ArtYard’s biennial celebration of communal creativity returns in person in Frenchtown on June 25, 2022.
The Hatch features live music, performance, storytelling, and a parade of locals dressed as birds who hatch from a giant 14-foot egg to celebrate creative incubation and community.
At this year’s Hatch, the procession will be led by Ocean Avenue Stompers, a New Orleans-influenced brass band. Artist Laura Bernstein and 10 collaborators will also unfurl their Miracle Tapestry Project. Panels of 12-foot-tall,hand-sewn fabrics chronicle the first 12 months of Covid-19 in the artist’s life. Bernstein and the artists will also share a collective poem written in embrace for finding joy in the natural world despite its perilous future.
All are invited to join in the festivities as a Bird. You can make create your own bird costume, make a larger-than-life bird puppet, or gather with friends to make a flock. We are hosting a Hatch costume open studio from 10 AM to 1 PM on Saturday, May 7 where you can pick up or bring your costume and puppet designs to life.

To register as a Bird or to request to borrow one of ArtYard’s costumes, please register here so we may stay in touch with you: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdlyYlexbS…/viewform…
Registration for the open studio on May 7 to come.
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. Call 908.996.5018 or email contact@artyard.org.

What is the Hatch?
The inaugural Hatch was held on the day that Artyard first opened its doors on September 4th, 2016. The act of hatching was a nod to Frenchtown’s past as a 20th-century hub of egg incubation, and to its future as an incubator of creative artistic enterprise.
ArtYard’s community created a 14-foot-tall welded-steel egg and a flock of community and artist-constructed bird costumes and giant puppets and, perched on the edge of the derelict former egg hatchery which is now the site of ArtYard Center, emerged in a raucous celebration of creativity.
Since that day, we have continued the Hatch to commemorate our opening and underscore our commitment to art that is inclusive, democratic and subversive of expectations. The Hatch engaged people in our own community of Frenchtown, but also commingled groups from communities in Philadelphia, Camden, Brooklyn and beyond.