The Fund for Women Artists (FWA) is an arts service organization dedicated to helping women artists get the resources they need to do their creative work. Created in 1994 by Martha Richards, the organization has raised over $4 million and created a Web site that provides free networking, fundraising and advocacy services to over 500,000 visitors a year. FWA was based in Northampton, Massachusetts from 1994 to 2007, and moved to San Francisco in August 2007.

Many studies have shown that women are under-represented and underpaid in every art form. Women directed only 6 percent of the top 250 Hollywood films last year, and no woman has ever won an Oscar for Best Director. In theatre, women only direct about 16 percent of the 2,000 plays produced in the U.S. every year, and only 17 percent of those plays are written by women. Women artists are also absent from the podiums of major symphonies, the walls of most museums and the shelves of many libraries. The lack of women in powerful creative roles is directly linked to the problem of pervasive sexual stereotypes in our society. Studies indicate that Americans watch over seven hours of television a day, and in prime time, male characters outnumber females by almost two to one (60 percent males, 40 percent females). Female characters are younger than their male counterparts, and overwhelmingly white.

FWA believes the most effective way to combat these stereotypes is to empower women artists struggling to create alternative art embodying the full diversity and complexity of women’s lives. All of FWA’s programs are designed to help these women artists get the resources they need to do this crucial work. Through their online directory of women artists, FWA discovered there are thousands of talented women artists around the world who are seldom recognized by the mainstream media. FWA knew they would be a powerful force if they could mobilize them for a group action.