[3] City Without Walls was New Jersey's oldest not-for-profit alternative art space, in continuous operation since 1975 with a "two-fold mission offers career development opportunities to new and emerging artists, while providing the public a chance to understand and enjoy challenging contemporary art."

The alternative art space relied on members to curate their on-site and off-site gallery spaces, cWOW, which stands for City Without Walls, had an estimated 6-10 exhibitions per year.

[4] It also ran three educational programs called City Murals,[5] Newark New Media,[6] and ArtReach.

[7] cWOW operated a gallery in the atrium of One Newark Center.

Both spaces were on the citywide Open Doors Studio Tour.