The Fine Arts Work Center was founded in 1968 by a group of artists, writers, and patrons including Stanley Kunitz, Robert Motherwell, Fritz and Jeanne Bultman, Josephine and Salvatore Del Deo, Alan Dugan, Jim Forsberg, Phil and Barbara Malicoat, Myron Stout, Jack Tworkov, and Hudson and Ione Walker.

The founders envisioned a place in Provincetown, the country’s most enduring artists’ community, where artists and writers could live and work together in the early stages of their creative development. They believed that the freedom to pursue creative work within a community of peers is the best catalyst for artistic growth.

The Work Center has dedicated itself to this mission for more than 50 years. 

For over five decades, the Fine Arts Work Center has provided time and space to emerging artists and writers at crucial, early phases of their careers. 

The founders also hoped that the Work Center would perpetuate Provincetown’s seminal importance for the arts in America, overcoming modest means and geographic isolation to create an institution that now enjoys international renown.

The restoration and amplification of the year-round vitality of Provincetown as an historic artists’ community lies at the heart of the Work Center’s mission. All of our programs are dedicated to enhancing this heritage.