The Order of New Arts opens a new cultural space in the United States

ONA was co-founded by artist and curator Jabari Zuberi, also known as Jay Simple, whose work as a visual artist, cultural organizer, and publisher has been presented nationally and internationally. Zuberi is the founder of The Photographer’s Green Book, and his projects often center on expanding access and equity within the arts. His practice reflects ONA’s mission to create a living institution led by artists themselves.

Board Chair and Co-Founder, Tukufu Zuberi is a renowned scholar, filmmaker, and curator. He has been a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania for nearly four decades, and is widely known as a host of the hit PBS series History Detectives. Professor Zuberi curated Tides of Freedom: The African Presence on the Delaware River at the Independence Seaport Museum which premiered in 2013. His traveling exhibition, Black Bodies in Propaganda: The Art of the War Poster premiered at the Penn Museum in 2013. He is the lead curator of the Africa Galleries at the Penn Museum which premiered in 2019. Part of his extensive collection of art will be on display at the opening exhibition of ONA.

Guiding the curatorial vision is Professor Vanicléia Silva-Santos, inaugural Curator of ONA. Based at the University of Pennsylvania, she is a scholar of African and Afro-diasporic material culture with nearly 30 years of experience as an educator and curator. Her international projects have included advising UNESCO’s General History of Africa initiative and curating at the Museu Afro Brasil in São Paulo. Her leadership ensures ONA’s opening exhibitions frame art as a vital force for cultural memory, creativity, and global dialogue.

The space was designed in collaboration with Brazilian architect Gisele de Paula, who brings international acclaim as a designer for major exhibitions, including her work for the 2025 São Paulo Biennial. De Paula’s design for ONA emphasizes inclusivity and warmth, combining the raw textures of the historic building with bold chromatic elements that reimagine the conventional white-cube gallery model.

“The Order of New Arts is not only about presenting art. It is about reimagining what an institution can be: a place of imagination, memory, and collective care, rooted in Philadelphia but engaged with the world,” said Jabari Zuberi, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of ONA.

The Order of New Arts
1516 N 5th St, Unit 105,
Philadelphia, PA 19122
United States
Visiting hours: Wed-Sun, 11am to 6pm.

www.orderarts.org