Washington, DC

Founded in 1976, Touchstone Gallery is located in a custom-built street-level space at 901 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC. Since the beginning, Touchstone’s mission has remained unaltered: to enrich the lives of the community through diverse contemporary art exhibitions; to promote a rich variety of art talent in the DC region; to showcase national and international artists whenever possible; and to foster continuing artistic and career growth of its 50 member artists through encouragement and support. The gallery is centrally located in Washington, DC, between the White House and the United States Capitol. Close to the CityCenterDC development, the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, this venue is easily accessible by public transportation and a perfect modern backdrop for contemporary art. As a member owned and managed gallery, Touchstone artists enjoy the right to guide gallery policies and control their solo exhibitions. The support and camaraderie of the membership is an important benefit. From the start, Touchstone has been involved with the DC community and with philanthropic outreach in and beyond DC region. The gallery is part of local, national and international art scene, balancing its members’ shows with ongoing art […]

WPA supports artist-driven projects, advocacy, and dialogue so that artists can live, work and flourish.  WPA invites artists to conceive of programs that showcase the work or ideas of other artists (or creative thinkers, scholars, activists, etc.) and then supports them with money, introductions/connections, idea-development, planning & production, communications, marketing and promotion. In our view, artist-driven programming combines the best of two existing models—“artist-run” and “artist-centered”. It is closer in intent to the former than the latter because artists are curating everything—exhibitions, performances, talks, workshops, screenings, platforms, etc. Yet it provides a degree of professional support and organizational stability that an “artist-run” organization might not.