Pen + Brush Vision
Pen + Brush is a 130-year-old publicly supported not-for-profit fighting for gender equity in the arts. P+B provides a platform to showcase the work of women, non-binary and female-identified transgender artists and writers to a broader audience with the ultimate goal of effecting real change within the marketplace. We encourage and mentor emerging professionals and aim to expose the stereotypes and misconceptions that perpetuate gender-based exclusion, lack of recognition and the devaluation of skill that is still experienced by women in the arts. All art work is for sale, 75% of all sales go directly to the artist and 25% comes back in to feed the organization’s work.
Advocacy
We at Pen and Brush strongly support the premise that art and literature are vital aspects of the human experience. We also believe that art and literature created by women deserves to be recognized and valued on its merit. We recognize that gender-based inequality in the arts has a much larger historic societal context, but we also recognize that, by concentrating our resources within our sphere of influence, P+B has the greatest chance of effecting real change for women in the arts by advocating for the merit of their work through our platform while moving them forward into their professional fields.
Our Space
In 2015, Pen + Brush moved from its original location in Greenwich Village and re-launched its program in an expanded location at 29 East 22nd Street. To continue to grow our advocacy into the 21st century, we specifically designed our new facilities to accommodate the exhibition and presentation of all forms of work by women artists and to foster the community for our writers.
Programming
Our program exhibition and publishing programs provide support and mentoring as well as access to our colleagues in the field working outside of P+B. We believe this strategy can have a tangible and positive impact on the careers of professional female artists and writers and, ultimately, secure a more comprehensive inclusion of women’s voices in the canons of art and literature.
For 130 Years
For 130 years Pen + Brush has supported the work of women in the literary and visual arts. Today, P+B provides a platform to showcase the work of professional emerging and mid-career female artists and writers to a broader audience with the ultimate goal of effecting real change within the marketplace. At Pen + Brush, we believe that art and literature created by women deserves to be recognized and valued on its merit – not judged by the gender of the maker.
Learn more about our history and the organization’s extraordinary artists, writers, and advocates through our historic timeline.
