About CEPA

Located in Buffalo’s historic Market Arcade Complex, CEPA Gallery is a contemporary photography and visual arts center with impact in both local and national communities. With three galleries of changing exhibits and events, multimedia public art installations, arts education programs, and an open-access darkroom and digital photo lab, CEPA creates a vibrant presence in the heart of downtown Buffalo.

Originally incorporated as the Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts to serve as a community darkroom and exhibition space, CEPA Gallery was founded during the Alternative Space Movement in May 1974 by recent graduates of the University of Buffalo.

The Staff at CEPA

Teaching Artists

Board of Directors

The CEPA Funders

Big Orbit Project Space - CEPA Gallery - Buffalo NY

Big Orbit Project Space

Since its inception in 1991, Big Orbit Project Space has been an artist-run arts center dedicated to transcultural, multidisciplinary explorations of contemporary art issues, with its primary focus being the promotion of the art and artists of Western New York.

Big Orbit Project Space provides unique opportunities for artists connected to the region with site-specific installations and performances. In late 2013, Big Orbit Gallery and their programs officially merged with CEPA Gallery. This strategic initiative safeguarded the mission and history of Big Orbit, while ensuring the continued growth of the region’s only program dedicated to the art and artists of Western New York.

Big Orbit Project Space relocated to CEPA Gallery’s venue in the Market Arcade building, located at 617 Main Street, in the Fall of 2020. The move to consolidate locations was driven in large part by the impact of COVID-19. CEPA Gallery successfully navigated the COVID-19 pandemic through expense mitigation and adaptive programming, but like many other small businesses and nonprofits, the organization still faces the continued uncertainty of the global pandemic.

The CEPA Artist Facilities

Book time in either our black-and-white darkroom or our state-of-the-art digital photo lab, both located at CEPA Gallery in downtown Buffalo, NY.