About
ARTISTS BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH COLLABORATION, EXPERIMENTATION, AND ADVOCACY
Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) is a nonprofit incubator for artist-organized projects.
Artists curate all of our programming—as an extension of their own research and experimentation.
CORE BELIEF
A thriving arts community is essential to the enduring health of our society.
Vision
We envision our nation’s capital as a place that welcomes, values, and respects the presence and contributions of contemporary artists.
Mission
WPA supports artist-driven projects, advocacy, and dialogue so that artists can live, work, and flourish.
Values
Collaboration — We believe there is strength in people working together in partnership.
Inclusion — We believe in the power of critical thinking and a diversity of viewpoints.
Experimentation — We believe in the courage to experiment, innovate, and face the unfamiliar.
ABOUT OUR PROGRAMS
Our program model provides artists with the opportunity to expand their practices and experiment without absorbing additional financial burdens or capacity barriers. We provide resources to create critical connections and long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships that build artistic communities around knowledge-sharing.
Our programs are organized across four different areas:
- Project Residencies that support collaborative research, experimentation, and public presentations of artist-organized projects.
- Publications highlighting discoveries that emerge from select project residencies, providing context for further research and experimentation.
- Wherewithal Grants, a funding source exclusive to artists in the region—to support research and self-produced presentations. Generously funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts as part of its Regional Regranting Program.
- Open Call, our annual call for events organized by DC-area artists, taking place in and around DC and produced by WPA.
.
.ARTISTS SUPPORTING ARTISTS
Additionally we organize opportunities for regional artists through two major annual special events:
- Hickok Cole Art Night, an annual benefit taking place each fall and organized in collaboration with architecture firm Hickok Cole, which supports sales of artwork.
- Collectors’ Night, WPA’s annual auction taking place each spring, which also supports sales of artwork.
All proceeds are split evenly between artists and WPA, annually raising over $300k in direct sales.
W.A.G.E. CERTIFIED
Our commitment to artist compensation is why WPA is the first arts organization between New York and Miami to be honored with W.A.G.E. certification.
In the past decade alone WPA has paid more than $200,000 in honorariums to artists and $1,000,000 in sales commissions to artists. We’ve put even more money into artists’ pockets by hiring them on staff, or on a contract basis for art handling and transport, fabrication, graphic design, installation, and photography.
We value artists. We pay artists.
HISTORY
WPA was founded in 1975 by the art impresario Alice Denney, organizer of the legendary NOW Festival in 1966. Over the past four decades, WPA has presented more than 500 exhibitions; 1,000 performances; 700 lectures, workshops, and symposia; 250 screenings; and 58 public art projects. Nearly every major visual artist in the District between 1975 and today has had some connection with WPA. Many have sat on WPA’s Board of Directors, including William Christenberry, Gene Davis, Sherman Fleming, Sam Gilliam, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, and Maida Withers. Walter Hopps, the legendary curator, was also a board member.
WPA has brought hundreds of extraordinary artists and curators from outside the area to DC over the years. They include Robert Ashley, Alice Aycock, Eric Bogosian, Chris Burden, John Cage, Ullises Carrion, CoLab, Lucinda Childs, Simone Forti, Hollis Frampton, Group Material, Doug Hall, Deborah Hay, Jenny Holzer, David Ireland, Danny Lyon, Meredith Monk, Antonio Muntadas, Steve Paxton, Howardena Pindell, Adrian Piper, Nancy Rubins, Allison Saar, Jacolby Satterwhite, Carolee Schneemann, Joyce Scott, Alan Sekula, Nancy Spero, Haim Stainbach, Alan Suicide, Saya Woolfalk, Robert Wilson, Zanele Muholi, Alisha B. Wormsley, among many others.
Washington Project for the Arts is today perhaps most familiar to those outside of DC for its role in modeling a resistance to censorship during the 90s culture wars when Robert Mapplethorpe’s exhibition The Perfect Moment was canceled at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1989 (due to the Corcoran’s fears of losing their NEA funding on the basis of visual obscenity). WPA stepped up within less than 24 hours to present the exhibition. In 2019, Tiona Nekkia McClodden was invited to revisit this historic event in WPA’s history with the exhibition There Are No Shadows Here: The Perfect Moment at 30. In the decades since the Mapplethorpe exhibition, WPA has remained a dynamic hub for presenting work by DC artists and providing resources for supporting the local creative community. After renewing its mission in 2018, WPA has carved out a new identity with a national and international scope, while simultaneously uplifting values of collaboration, experimentation, and inclusivity in all of its programmatic and operational activities.
The WPA staff includes artists, curators, and arts workers.
Theo Blacklock
WPA’s board of directors is comprised of artists, arts patrons, and arts professionals with a shared commitment to supporting contemporary artists as intellectuals, and advancing their art and thought through collaboration and experimentation.
Deirdre Ehlen MacWilliams
Michael Hickok FAIA
Noel Carson
Gordon C. F. Chin
Brendan J. Graham
Michelle Isabelle-Stark
Madeline Locke
Jonathan Monaghan
Steve Museles
Debbie Tang
Kim Tignor
Frederick P. Ognibene, M.D.
William C. Paley
Washington Project for the Arts is supported by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Hickok Cole; National Endowment for the Arts; The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; William S. Paley Foundation; MetLife, Venable LLP, ArentFox Schiff, Carl M. Freeman Foundation, Foulger Pratt, Soho House, UBS, Allianz, De Novo Projects, Emmy Squared Pizza, Shulman Rogers, Rubenstein Communications, Capital One, DAVIS Construction, HapstakDemetriou+, Occasions, Outright, HITT Contracting, and many other generous foundations, corporations, and individuals.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Position Summary:
The Executive Director shepherds the organization’s projects, dialogue, and advocacy
efforts to ensure artists can live, work, and thrive. The Executive Director is committed to
WPA’s mission and vision and leads the development and implementation of programming
in alignment with those values. This role is responsible for organizational leadership,
fundraising, strategic planning, financial oversight, daily operations, artist and community
engagement, and is public facing.
Key responsibilities include identifying and securing funding, including cultivating new
donors and strengthening relationships with current and past supporters; partnering with
artists to develop and present innovative programming; expanding earned revenue
opportunities; coordinating and overseeing major organizational events such as Art Night
and the annual gala; managing staff and organizational operations; and positioning WPA as
a leading voice for contemporary art within Washington, DC and beyond.
The Executive Director works in close partnership with WPA’s Board of Directors, artists,
staff, funders, and leaders across local, national, and international arts, business,
philanthropic, and educational communities to support and sustain a vibrant visual arts
ecosystem.
Responsibilities:
- Fundraise through building and sustaining relationships with individual and corporate donors; conduct targeted donor cultivation and solicitations; identify grant opportunities; and manage fundraising campaigns, sponsorship initiatives, and special events.
- Cultivate meaningful relationships with new and existing patrons, sponsors, and artists to deepen engagement, expand support, and advance WPA’s mission.
- Represent the interests of the Greater Washington arts community while elevating WPA’s profile locally, regionally, and beyond.
- Serve as a positive, visible, and credible representative of WPA and the DC arts community.
- Create and manage complex annual budgets and organizational financial planning processes.
- Design and execute high-quality programming in accordance with WPA’s vision and
goals. - Develop and manage contemporary art exhibitions, public programs, performances, community-based events, and donor-facing cultural experiences.
- Network within local and regional philanthropic, cultural, and funding communities.
- Demonstrate enduring commitment to artists and to advancing public appreciation and understanding of contemporary art.
- Collaborate with board members, artists, donors and community figures to advance WPA’s programming.
- Build credibility within the DC community through dynamic public speaking, relationship-building, donor cultivation, and advocacy abilities.
- Balance artistic vision with organizational sustainability and operational leadership.
Qualifications:
- 8+ year’s experience in an arts or community focused organization
- Prior leadership experience strongly preferred.
- Superb organizational skills
- Experience building a team and utilizing consultants.
- Be deeply connected to and respected within the DC arts and cultural community,
with demonstrated long-standing local ties and relationships. - Must be aligned with WPA’s vision and have a demonstrated passion for art, artists, and the DMV artist community.
- Bring a thoughtful, informed point of view about WPA’s role in supporting, advocating for, and elevating artists, while building the organization’s artist-centered
mission, history, and strengths.
To Apply:
Please send a cover letter, CV, and three references (name, affiliation, and contact
information) via email to andy@front-row-consulting.com and admin@wpa.org with
“EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR” in the subject line.
The position is located in Washington, DC and offers generous leave and health insurance
benefits. WPA is committed to building a diverse workplace and is proud to be an equal
opportunity employer.
(Full Job Description Here: WPA ED Job Description_7.7.26)