The Fine Arts Work Center offers a unique residency for writers and visual artists in the crucial early stages of their careers. Located in Provincetown, an area with a long history as an arts colony, the Work Center provides seven-month fellowships to twenty fellows each year in the form of living/work space and a modest monthly stipend. Residencies run from October 1 through May 1. Fellows have the opportunity to pursue their work independently in a diverse and supportive community. An historic fishing port, Provincetown is situated at the tip of Cape Cod in an area of spectacular natural beauty, surrounded by miles of dunes and National Seashore beaches.

2005-06 Visual Arts Fellow Elizabeth Zans

Program: Fellows are expected to live and work in Provincetown during the fellowship year. Optional group activities are organized both formally and informally and provide Fellows with the opportunity to meet program committee members, trustees and local artists and writers. The Stanley Kunitz Common Room is the site of frequent presentations by visiting artists and writers as well as readings by Writing Fellows. Visual Arts Fellows present shows in the Center's Hudson D. Walker Gallery. Visiting artists and writers engage in dialogue with the Fellows throughout the year. Shankpainter, a collection of prose and poetry, has been edited by the Writing Fellows since 1970. The Fine Arts Work Center also seeks to identify local and national venues for both Fellows and Former Fellows to share their work.

2004-05 Writing Fellow Tyehimba Jess

Facilities: Visual Arts Fellows are provided with apartments and separate working studios of approximately 400 square feet of floor space. Additional facilities include a basic woodshop, a print shop with etching press, and a darkroom with basic equipment. Writing Fellows are housed in two- to three-room apartments. The Stanley Kunitz Common Room is handicapped accessible, as are two living spaces and several working studios.

History: For more than a hundred years, artists and writers have found the atmosphere of Provincetown particularly inviting. In 1968, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown was founded by a group of artists, writers, and patrons including Fritz Bultman, Alan Dugan, Stanley Kunitz, Phil Malicoat, Robert Motherwell, Myron Stout, Jack Tworkov and Hudson D. Walker. They believed that the freedom to pursue creative work within a community of peers was the best catalyst for artistic growth, and the Work Center has dedicated itself to this goal for almost thirty years. In 1972, the Work Center acquired the Days Lumberyard property on Pearl Street as its permanent home. The grounds of the lumberyard had long been a haven for artists, offering studio space since 1914. Charles Hawthorne, Edwin Dickinson, Ross Moffett, Hans Hofmann and Myron Stout were among the artists associated with the site in its earlier days. The Barn, now divided into three living units for Fellows, once provided work space for Robert Motherwell.

Eligibility: Fine Arts Work Center Fellowships are open to writers and visual artists in the emerging stages of their careers. Juries of professionals make the admissions decisions. Writers may apply in fiction and poetry. In the visual arts, painters, sculptors, installation artists, printmakers and photographers are considered. The Fine Arts Work Center actively seeks applicants from diverse cultural backgrounds. The Fine Arts Work Center welcomes family members and partners of Writing and Visual Fellows during the Winter Fellowship Term.

2005-2006 Visual Arts Fellow Timothy Horn

How to Apply: Visual Arts Application and Writing Application forms may be downloaded from this site. They may also be obtained by mailing a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Fine Arts Work Center, 24 Pearl Street, Provincetown, MA 02657 (please specify "Visual Application" or "Writing Application" in your letter).

Please indicate whether you are applying for a writing or visual arts fellowship.

There is a $45 non-refundable application fee. (For complete information, see the Application Guidelines.)