In the heart of Trenton, Hanover Creative Gallery is redefining what an arts space can be. Located at 219 East Hanover Street, the gallery serves as far more than an exhibition venue; it is a vibrant studio space, collaborative workspace, and community hub dedicated to supporting artists, arts enthusiasts, and creative entrepreneurs throughout Central New Jersey and beyond. Through gallery programming, professional creative services, and flexible studio & office spaces, Hanover Creative Gallery has established itself as a growing center for artistic innovation and community engagement.

To learn more about the vision behind the space and its impact on Trenton's creative landscape, Downtown Connect writer Hayley Sanders sat down with Áine Mickey, Curator and Program Manager of Hanover Creative Gallery.

H: Can you tell me the story behind Hanover Creative Gallery and how it first came to life?

A: Yes, so our space, Hanover Creative Gallery, is the entire building that was redeveloped and completely gutted. It was a very long process by our two owners, Elijah Dixon and Kristen Nicole Brown. They collaborated on the project along with Roland Pott. It was a really difficult renovation, but the goal was that it would be small office spaces that are not coworking space. We have a base camp in Trenton but we don’t have flex spaces where small businesses can kind of get their footing together without having to pay a huge overhead. All of the floors have offices in addition to studio spaces.
When the building was reenvisioned for redevelopment, it was important that we maintain that gallery space, but we also wanted to include office spaces, small businesses, community programming & engagement, and of course artists. It was a very large undertaking and a long road.

H: What inspired you personally to become involved in this kind of creative and community centered work?

A: Honestly, it was a lot of things but it was also a happy accident. I kind of fell into this, just through being present in certain spaces. I started off by organizing community events, and then I kept receiving calls from people saying “Oh okay well she knows how to do this, lets call her for that.” I kept collecting all of these different learning experiences, and you know most of the jobs I’ve ever gotten have been people calling me, it’s been very organic, natural, and also a bit accidental.

H: What gap do you feel, if any, existed in the local creative community that the gallery helps fill?

A: Oh I love this question. So from my perspective, we had a lot of art spaces close down in Trenton, or they stopped showing work, or the people running them got so burnt out that they moved on, so on & so forth. There used to be a very vibrant First Friday art scene in Trenton, which I was a part of. I ran the exhibitions at Trenton Social for almost 4 years, and we had people that would do that circuit because there were enough spaces where it made sense to go get a drink there, go look at the work here, go meet a friend over there for some appetizers. And it was really this economic driver, but also a driver of the arts. We do just need more spaces that are open that people can go to at night to have a third space and see their friends and network, as well as exhibit their work.
The other thing though, that’s specifically for Hanover Creative Gallery, and this is really my vision as a curator and manager, is that I wanted an art space where it is more focused on highly conceptual, very polished exhibitions. So even if you are an early career artist, I wanted to provide a space for creatives where the exhibit itself looks like you are at an advanced stage in your career. Another thing I’m doing for this space is bringing in artists from other areas of New Jersey, like Newark, Camden, even outside of New Jersey such as NYC, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Philadelphia. It’s not a space that’s being gatekept, it’s a space that is offset from the other types of venues that we have, and that is open to helping people get to that next level.

H: I think that’s really important, because Trenton is this unique kind of pinnacle intercross of all these major cities which have such huge and established art scenes, and we do have such incredible local artists, but to really put them side by side and have them interact, have their art interact, is kind of groundbreaking, I haven’t seen that before.

A: Thank you, and it’s also a delicate thing to do. Because I want to say to artists if you feel like you’re not getting anywhere, or if you feel stagnated in your career and you feel like you have to get out of Trenton, there are ways we can solve that problem without people having to leave us and go other places, which has happened a lot in the arts community recently. We can pull people here and make it more exciting and invigorating.

H: I can definitely see how that can be a challenge for a lot of artists, because you have to learn not just how to be a great artist but how to represent yourself as a person, as a business. There’s a very technical side of it. You mentioned community, what would you say community means to you in the context of the gallery?

A: So I’m the curator and programming manager, so I have two heads. One of them is the exhibitions, which is clearly also community programming where we have regular weekly hours. I’m always trying to get people in the building. But then the other part of my job is creating events, weekly meetups, creating things that people can go to, that they are seeking that don’t exist yet.
We have yoga at the gallery once a month, we’re also doing cultural workshops like salsa dancing, bachata, and then also productivity meets, which is like independent co-working. We are also consistently having artist talks, lectures, community informed discussions. We are definitely a space that is meant for the public, and the public is what really leads what we’re moving to and shifting towards.

H: Why do you think spaces like this matter for the future of Trenton?

A: I think they give the community ownership. They become these hubs of where people go, and they represent the community itself. I think it’s really, really important to continue to keep investing in Trenton right now, because there’s going to be a lot of people who are going to turn around in 5,10, years and they’re going to say “oh now it’s time to invest, now it’s time to make everything really pretty and fix all the streets” and I think it’s important that we stand up and say no, we have to actually care about the people who are here right now and support them so that they can continue to grow with the city, and not just put all our money in when it’s an immediate economic success or instant return on investment. This community matters now, these people matter now.

H: Trenton has often faced some negative public perception. How do you think creative spaces help reshape that narrative?

A: I think it’s so important that people experience places for themselves. You can walk past people who are different from you and you’re not going to explode. It’s not even just that it’s good for Trenton, I think it’s really important for everybody to go into places, whether its a foreign country or a neighborhood, obviously within reason and safety, but it’s so important to realize that you aren’t going to burst into flames if you do something out of your comfort zone. It’s vital to have those dialogues about our own internalized issues and what it is we need to do to face that. And isn’t that what art is? It’s viewing through the eyes of someone else and relating it back to yourself

H: If you could say one thing to someone who still underestimates Trenton's creative community, what would it be?

‍A: I would say that you have to participate. I think it’s really easy to have a recollection of a newspaper article you read seven years ago and be like “oh well it’s scary there” and just maintain that. I would say that anyone with that perspective clearly hasn’t attended anything. Because if you do make the effort and you do attend some local events or visit, you’ll see and you can tell that there’s something here that people are driving for, there is value here. There’s people that want to be a part of it, they want to witness it, they want to be able to say “I went there”. And if you’re not putting in the effort, if you’re not attending, you aren’t going to know. Everyone is going to have their own opinion, but it’s one of those things that a lot of people need to see with their own eyes. You have to show up.