The Fabric Workshop and Museum

The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) is an internationally recognized art museum with an active studio and artist-in-residence program. Research, construction, and fabrication occur on site in studios that are open to the public. Founded in 1977, FWM initially invited visual artists to Philadelphia to experiment with fabric in its workshops, and it later expanded tools to accommodate a wide range of innovative materials and media. Resident artists over the years have included Laurie Anderson, Mark Bradford, Louise Bourgeois, Glenn Ligon, Ed Ruscha, Yinka Shonibare, Sarah Sze, and dozens of others. Projects supported by the Center include Ally, a performance-exhibition hybrid created by artist Janine Antoni in collaboration with choreographers Anna Halprin and Stephen Petronio; and habitus, which commissioned artist Ann Hamilton to create a multi-site work that explored the experience of fabrics in daily life. A 2018 grant supported a discovery project to investigate best practices in sharing the process of art-making with contemporary audiences. In 2019, FWM received a Project grant to produce Blood Moon, an immersive installation of filmed performances by Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley contemplating the impact of climate change. In 2020, FWM received a Project grant for Jayson Musson: His History of Art, a two-year residency during which Black artist Jayson Musson will interrogate how our present-day cultural consciousness is constrained by a narrow understanding of art history. In 2021, FWM received a Re:imagining Recovery grant to bolster the earning potential of both the museum and the artists it works with through an initiative supported by consultants with expertise in retail, e-commerce, and web design strategies, as well as a new staff position that will coordinate commercial studio endeavors.