Wednesday, November 18, 2009

In the Spotlight: Fine Arts Work Center


Destination Provincetown, twenty-five minutes down Route 6 and the Fine Arts Work Center. FAWC was founded 40 years ago by a group of artists and writers, including Stanley Kunitz and Robert Motherwell, who had conceived of a community where young talent could be nurtured in a place that had long been an arts colony. The FAWC is tucked away down a side street off Bradford, not far from the bustle of Provincetown. After a three-year fund-raising campaign, the old Day’s lumber yard building is undergoing a complete renovation, scheduled to end in late March. Besides the writers and artists in the seven-month resident program October to May, every summer the FAWC offers ten weeks of courses in the visual arts and literature. I almost took a seminar with Margot Livsey last June but unfortunately could not accept my wait-listed spot due to prior engagements for Chez Sven. I mention this to indicate space-limited really does mean space limited. The 2010 catalog will go online in January. Exhibits and readings take place all year long and feature writers like Elizabeth Strout, who won a Pulitzer in 2009 and read from her collection, Olive Kitteridge, October 9.

The Fine Arts Work Center provides the space, time, and leisure to create. One of my favorite writers was able to take advantage of a winter fellowship: Elizabeth McCracken, author of The Giant’s House: A Romance, which takes place on Cape Cod. Today I was asked to guest-blog at A Traveler's Library and chose to write about this novel. Scoot on over and discover Vera Marie Badertsche's great blog for travelers who like to read about where they are going prior to departure. (Anyone attending a FAWC course in May or June, 2010, contact me for a discount on Chez Sven's Green Room!)