ABOUT THE FINE ARTS WORK CENTER
IN PROVINCETOWN
The Fellowship Program
The Fine Arts Work Center was founded in 1968 by a now illustrious group of artists, writers and patrons, including Fritz Bultman, Salvatore and Josephine Del Deo, Alan Dugan, Stanley Kunitz, Robert Motherwell, Myron Stout, Jack Tworkov, and Hudson D. Walker. The founders envisioned a place in Provincetown, the country's oldest continuous arts colony, where young artists and writers could live and work together in the early phase of their careers. The founders believed that the freedom to pursue creative work within a community of peers was the best catalyst for artistic growth. The Work Center has dedicated itself to this mission for nearly 40 years.
Today the Work Center is the leading long-term
residency program in the country for emerging artists and writers. Each
year the Visual Arts and Writing Committees, comprised of internationally
recognized artists and writers, select twenty Fellows (ten visual artists
and ten writers) from some 1,000 applications from around the world. The
selection process is rigorous, and the Fellows are accepted entirely on
the basis of work submitted.
For the seven-month period of October 1 to May 1, the selected painters, sculptors, installation artists, photographers, fiction writers and poets leave behind routine distraction and obligations to work on the tip of Cape Cod in our Fellowship program. The Fellows receive living and studio space and a modest stipend; the only requisite is that they focus on their work while they are at the Center. Each year, writing Fellows have the opportunity to read from their work to the community and to publish their work in the Center's Shankpainter literary magazine. Visual artists are invited to exhibit their work at the Center's Hudson D. Walker Gallery.
Since the Work Center's founding, more than 800 Fellowships have been awarded. Fellows have made an enormous impact on American arts and letters, publishing hundreds of books of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, and exhibiting sculptures and paintings in countless museums and galleries worldwide. Former Fellows include Pulitzer Prize winners Michael Cunningham, Yusef Komunyakaa, Jhumpa Lahiri, Franz Wright and Louise Glück. Visual artists include Ellen Gallagher, Paul Bowen, Ellen Driscoll, Richard Baker, Yun-fei Ji, Lisa Yuskavage and Sam Messer. Past Fellows have won virtually every major national award in their respective fields including, in addition to the Pulitzer, the MacArthur, Whiting, Pollock-Krasner, Tiffany, Prix de Rome, Guggenheim and NEA.
Other Programs at The Fine Arts Work Center
In addition to the long-term residency Fellowships, the Work Center sponsors a variety of other programs that have made it the source of creative inspiration for so many.
The Summer Workshop Program
The faculty and location have established the Work Center's summer courses in creative writing and visual arts as among the nation's finest and most attractive. The faculty includes some of the most respected and renowned artists and writers working today, and the program's location in America's oldest continuous arts colony is ideal. Each summer more than 700 adults seize the opportunity to study with a faculty of master artists and writers such as Cornelius Eady, Michael Cunningham, Amy Arbus, Julia Glass, Michael Mazur, Carl Phillips, Gregory Amenoff, Sonia Sanchez, John Yau and Major Jackson. The Summer Workshop Program has been accredited by American University, Lesley University and Maine College of Art in Portland. Revenues from this popular workshop program help support the Fellowship Residency Program.
Other Residency Programs
A number of limited-residency programs have been inspired by the Work Center's mission to bring artists and writers to the Outer Cape. For example, ten weeks are set aside each year for former Fellows to return, at a modest cost, to focus on their work. In addition, the Work Center has secured several living units for former Fellows to stay in Provincetown for up to three years at below-market rents. The Work Center also collaborates with the Maryland Institute, Copley Society of Boston, Ohio State Arts Council and other organizations to allow them to place artists and writers in residence at the Work Center for one to two months at a time each year.
The Visiting Artists and Writers Series
Since 1968 the Fine Arts Work Center has brought nationally recognized artists and writers to Provincetown for public lectures, readings and exhibitions. Each year more than 10,000 people enjoy these presentations, which are free to the public. Recent visiting artists and writers include Grace Paley, Galway Kinnell, Marge Piercy, Mark Doty, Paula Vogel, Robert Pinsky, Oscar Hijuelos, Norman Mailer, Jonathan Franzen, Richard Prince, Ha Jin, Marilynne Robinson, Denis Johnson, Mark Strand, Bill Jensen and many, many others.
MFA in Visual Arts
Beginning September 2005 the Massachusetts College of Art ("MassArt") has collaborated with the Fine Arts Work Center to offer a low-residency Masters of Fine Arts program in Provincetown. Candidates selected by the Boston-based MassArt study and work in Provincetown at the Center during four 24-day residencies in September and May over the course of the two-year program. They are taught and evaluated by a faculty of prominent resident and visiting artists. During the periods between the Provincetown residencies, the students, many of whom are already pursuing careers in the arts, return home to work under the guidance of approved mentors who visit their studios once a month. On-line history and academic courses support an understanding of the historical and cultural context of contemporary work, including their own. At the conclusion of the program, candidates return to the Work Center for a final two-week residency in September to present their thesis shows, participate in thesis reviews and submit their written theses.
Community Outreach
The Work Center has initiated a partnership with Lower and Outer Cape public schools in a new "Fellows in the Schools Program" in which resident Fellows teach visual art and creative writing workshops in the local schools. More than 280 students participated in the first year of this program. Cape Cod educators also benefit from special scholarships offered through the Work Center to local teachers who attend week-long workshops in creative writing and the visual arts in the Summer Workshop Program.
The Location
The location of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown provides an environment renowned for its beauty and artistic heritage. Surrounded by dunes and beaches now protected by the Cape Cod National Seashore, Provincetown was the Pilgrims' first port of landing in 1620 and developed into a colorful Portuguese fishing community and the nation's most enduring art colony. The Work Center is a complex of nine buildings situated on Pearl Street near the commercial center of Provincetown on the site of the historic Days Lumberyard, where studios have been offered since 1914 to the likes of Charles Hawthorne, Ross Moffett, Hans Hofmann, Robert Motherwell, and Helen Frankenthaler.
Work Center facilities include 24 living units, 15 work studios, a state-of-the-art print shop, a woodworking shop, a darkroom, a student lounge, a computer center, an auditorium, an art gallery and administrative offices.
The first and second stages of the physical expansion of the Work Center were completed in 2005. Renovation of the main Days Lumberyard building is the centerpiece of the third and final phase of our Building for the Future capital campaign.
Through year-round events that involve local residents and attract thousands of visitors to Provincetown, the Fine Arts Work Center actively supports and participates in the cultural and economic development and growth of the community.
The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Inc. is a Massachusetts charitable corporation, exempt from taxation under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. In addition to a modest endowment and revenue-producing, mission-related programs, its $1 million annual budget is supported by governmental agencies such as the National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Ohio State Arts Council, Barnstable County Economic Development Commission and the Town of Provincetown. Numerous private foundations and individuals also support the Work Center. To learn more about the Center, please visit FAWC.org.
August 2007
