Mission
The creative process is essential to shaping society. EFA is dedicated to providing artists across all disciplines with space, tools and a cooperative forum for the development of individual practice. We are a catalyst for cultural growth, stimulating new interactions between artists, creative communities, and the public.
Programs
EFA Project Space acts as a public forum that expands beyond the activities in the studios and the workshop, and encourages a critical engagement with the world at large. The Project Space, a multi-disciplinary contemporary art venue, encourages creative expression and new interactions in the arts to generate an ongoing dialogue about the creative process.
EFA Studios are an open-submission, juried membership program for professional visual artists, providing subsidized workspace in Manhattan for up to 85 artist-members at below market rates. Open-studio events, exhibitions, professional seminars and collaborative projects with collectors and curators provide opportunities for career development.
Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop (RBPMW) is a professional and cooperative print workspace. Artist/Master Printer, Robert Blackburn founded the printmaking workshop in 1948 for the purpose of providing professional fine art printmaking facilities to any artist. Blackburn’s vision of inspiring and fostering a racially and culturally diverse artistic community that embraces technical and aesthetic collaboration is the foundation of RBPMW’s projects. RBPMW publishes the work of talented and underrepresented artists alongside established artists for the purpose of expanding the creation, understanding and collection of fine art prints.The Archive Project is under-way: cataloging the Printmaking Workshop Collection for research, exhibition and sales. The printshop is ready for you to come in and work!
Jane Stephenson, Co-Founder and Executive Director
Dathon Pilgrim, EFA Business Manager
Michelle Levy, Program Director, EFA Project Space
Sally Szwed, Program Manager, EFA Project Space
Francine Affourtit, Program Director, EFA Studios
Amelia Gibbs, Associate Director, EFA Studios
Phil Sanders, Program Director, RBPMW
Sarah Burney, Office Manager, RBPMW
Tina Maidhof, Workshop Manager, RBPMW
Board of Directors 2010
Jane Stephenson
Townsend Wolfe
Virginia Myers
Will Barnet
Samira Abbassy
John L. Moore
Matthew Deleget
History
The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts is a 501(c)(3) public charity, incorporated in New York in December of 1991. We received our initial ’seed money’ as a bequest from Elizabeth Stanley, a long-time patron of the arts. To recognize her generosity, we named the foundation after her. Due to our relatively modest initial budget, we began with a single program: GIVA, a financial grant program for individual artists. As our resources expanded, we added programs: in 1994, ISCP, an international career-development residency program for visual artists and curators. In 1996, we added the Program for Senior Artists, a financial support program for older artists (now defunct); in 1998, we opened the EFA Studio Center, by far our most ambitious undertaking. In 2001, we founded Artopolis Development, a not-for-profit real estate company developing low-cost space for artists and arts organizations. In 2002, we incorporated the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop into the foundation as an operating program; after three years of intensive fundraising, the newly constituted workshop opened its doors in September 2005. Also in 2005, we introduced an ongoing series of career development and public education workshops, lectures and seminars serving the needs of professional artists. For 2006, we are working to develop the EFA Gallery, an alternative exhibition space highlighting the work of independent curators.