Founders Shon ‘Chance’ Miller and Marc Cary had been commissioned to do a musical accompaniment to the 'Energy and Experimentation' Exhibit at the Studio Museum in Harlem.  This one song quickly turned into an entire album as the artists found themselves so inspired by the concept and the imagery.  The lead song of this record was the Langston Hughes Poem ‘Harlem’ (aka A Dream Deferred) set to music.  Shon ‘Chance’ Miller also shot and edited an experimental video piece for the song which became a part of the exhibit.  During this time Chance had been looking at several studio spaces each day for the musicians/entrepreneurs to house their budding production company.  While driving across 125th street listening to their newly mixed “A Dream Deferred”, they received a call from a broker they had been in contact with stating “I’ve got a place you have to see”.  Although the building was in complete disrepair and the two had limited funding resources to put towards renovation, they knew they could not pass up this opportunity.  Within a matter of weeks the restoration had begun.  Motema music founder Jana Herzen was brought into the house as both a benefactor and a strategic partner to make the house a self-contained production, performance and distribution center.  Nine months later on February 1st 2007, the Hughes House opened its doors to an eager public corresponding with the commencement of Black History Month and the birth date of the late Langston Hughes.  Today the Hughes House is quickly extending its presence in the Harlem community while staying true to its mission by offering a diversity of music and art related programs and events.