OUR HISTORY

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NAVEL began as a collective experiment in 2014 when a group of friends initiated the renovation of our loft warehouse space in Downtown Los Angeles. We started with a shared resource and a guiding question: “How can we make studio, exhibition, programming, and coworking space accessible to working artists while exploring new and sustainable ways of thinking, being, organizing and making?” 

Since 2018, NAVEL has directly invested more than $450,000 on artists, cultural workers, and performers. 

Through our initiatives like ASSEMBLIES and NAVEL PRESENTS, we’ve produced hundreds of public programs and events, providing free or subsidized space for independent artists and art collectives seeking to mount exhibitions, direct learning and research groups, and facilitate dialogues about equity and social justice in the arts. Our network spans more than 20,000 community members who participate via in-person and online programs. 

You can explore our archive of past events and programs here


NAVEL’s working space at 1611 S Hope Street was designed and built by Kristoffer Josefsson, Jonas Wendelin Kesseler, and Caspar Boehme between 2014 through 2017, with support from many friends and visiting artists.

 

LOOKING BACK

We are grateful for the contributions of all of the artists, organizers, activists, writers, performers, and cultural workers below who have brought NAVEL to life.