50 Years, 50 Artists:
A Celebration of the West

Creativity interrupts our patterns of understanding, startling us into a richer awareness of the world. This is essential work — and it needs to be supported and amplified in our communities. At Creative West, supporting creativity is what we do. We build equitable technology, funding, advocacy, and policy systems to generate creative capacity in the West and beyond.

Established in 1974 as a nonprofit U.S. Regional Arts Organization (USRAO), Creative West was founded on the belief that place matters to the creative process. Fifty years later, communities of place, practice, experience, and identity remain fundamental to our work, framing our understanding of how culture is creatively produced and collectively experienced.

We serve a broad and diverse region that stretches from the Arctic Coast to the Desert Southwest and from the Great Plains to the Pacific Islands. This is where we focus our efforts supporting artists, arts agencies, and arts organizations to build healthy, creative communities.