The Fine Arts Work Center is a non-profit enterprise that supports emerging visual artists and writers in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
The Work Center was founded in 1968 by a group of American artists and writers to support promising individuals in the early stages of their creative careers.
The Fine Arts Work Center was founded in 1968 by artists, writers, and patrons, including Fritz Bultman, Salvatore and Josephine Del Deo, Alan Dugan, Stanley Kunitz, Philip Malicoat, Robert Motherwell, Myron Stout, Jack Tworkov, and Hudson D.
Notable former fellows include writers Michael Cunningham, Alice Fulton, Louise Glück, Denis Johnson, Yusef Komunyakaa, Jhumpa Lahiri, Susan Mitchell and Franz Wright; and visual artists Yun-Fei Ji, Madhvi Parekh, Sam Messer and Lisa Yuskavage.
In 2010, the Center was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Access to Artistic Excellence grant to support the Winter Fellowship program.
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.
Hundreds of students study with a faculty of master artists and writers; the workshops are week-long, extending over ten weeks from mid-June through late August.
Since 1968 the Fine Arts Work Center has brought nationally recognized artists and writers to Provincetown for public lectures, readings and exhibitions.