This three weekend event includes a main hub exhibition featuring a representative work by each participating artist at Artspace's gallery on Orange Street; a weekend devoted to the studios at Erector Square, site of what was once the factory making Erector Sets; a private gallery weekend complete with bike tours and guided bus tours; and, finally, the unique factor that makes CWOS stand apart from all open studios festivals, the Alternative Space weekend. At the “AltSpace,” artists without access to a studio as well as artists from elsewhere in Connecticut show their work in a vacant historic properties that Artspace adapts into exhibition spaces, aiding in their redevelopment. Past spaces have included the Olin Metals Research Laboratory, the Pirelli Building, and the former Hamden Middle School. Through the Alternative Space project, CWOS connects artists and the public with different neighborhoods of New Haven every year. The site for 2010's CWOS was a vacant downtown strip mall and mid-century office building, currently being redeveloped by the COOP Center for Creativity. Since then, Alternative Space locations have included the former New Haven Register building (2012), and the Goffe Street Amory (2013-2017). In October 2018, Alternative Space weekend will take place at Yale West Campus.