Center for Photography at Woodstock

The Center for Photography at Woodstock was founded in 1977 by photographers Howard Greenberg and Michael Feinberg in a coffeehouse once frequented by Bob Dylan. Nestled in Woodstock, home to one of the nation’s longest-running artist colonies, the organization was intended as a gathering place for local photographers. Initially called the Catskill Center for Photography, it opened with workshops and an exhibition of photographs by Walker Evans and Paul Strand.

Over the next four decades, CPW established a distinguished record as an vital regional hub for dialog and discovery in photography and related media. It connected photographers with engaging exhibitions, learning and printing facilities, lectures and panels, and a photography library and collection. Programming that is community-based, artist-centered, and collaborative remains at the heart of its mission.

Woodstock AIR, CPW's nationally recognized artist-in-residence program established in 1999, provides direct support to artists of color working with photography. To date, more than 150 photographers have participated, including LaToya Ruby Frazier, Deana Lawson, Tommy Kha, and Paul Mpagi Sepuya.

The Center today

After forty-five years in Woodstock, CPW moved in 2021 to a storefront space on Broadway in Kingston, NY, a budding and diverse artist community with like-minded cultural institutions. In February 2023, CPW purchased the historic Van Slyke & Horton cigar factory in the heart of the Midtown Arts District of Kingston. Built in 1907, this four-story, 40,000-square-foot industrial building features a red-brick exterior, open floor plans, sixteen-foot ceilings, and windows on all four sides, with unobstructed views of the Catskills. Once renovated, this majestic space will be used for exhibition galleries, digital media lab, classrooms, photography studios and darkrooms, community meeting rooms, staff offices, a film screening theater, and a state- of-the-art collection storage facility and study center.

With this move, the Center is expanding its capacity to provide tools and opportunities for artists, creative workers, and the general public, including its artist residency, access to equipment and workspace, exhibition opportunities, and public conversation around critical issues related to photography and social justice.

The core of CPW's educational programs are the Woodstock Photography Workshops, which allow artists to explore and focus on specific topics in an intimate and personal setting.[1] Beginning in 1978, the workshops range on topics, skills, and age level, from learning about antiquated photographic processes to expanding ones smartphone photography. There are select workshops where instructors will also give a lecture that is open to the public.[2]

Throughout its history CPW has brought in many notable artists and educators to lead workshops including most recently Sam Abell, Craig J Barber, Dawoud Bey, Elinor Carucci, Ron Haviv, Christopher James, Ed Kashi, Bobbi Lane, Mary Ellen Mark, along with many others.[3]

The Artist in Residency program was established in 1999, and has provided services for nearly 100 artists and is named one of the top 20 artist residencies the country by Artinfo.[4] The Woodstock A-I-R Program was created to support artists of color working in photography.[5] The program provides full use of CPW's facilities, support, and time. Participants receive honorarium, housing, food and travel stipend, and significantly reduced rates on materials.[4]

• William Cordova
• LaToya Ruby Frazier[6]
• Nikita Gale
• Nydia Blas
• Tommy Kha
• Alma Leiva
• Xaviera Simmons
• Deana Lawson
• Keisha Scarville

• Emilie Boone
• Nicole Caruth
• Liz Park
• crystal a.m. nelson

Beginning in 1980, CPW has collected over 1,750 prints, videos, and photo-based works. Artists include participants in CPW's programs such as Woodstock A-I-R and Exhibitions. Many of the works have been donated by artists and private donors. In addition, CPW has purchased a work by an artist featured in its annual Photography Now exhibition since 2001.[7] Recipients of CPW's Photographer's Fellowship Fund and WOODSTOCK A-I-R are required to contribute a sample of their completed work to the collection which serves as an archive of CPW's program activities.[5]

• Elinor Carucci
• Larry Fink
• David Maisel
• Mary Ellen Mark
• Andrea Modica
• Stephen Shore
• Aaron Siskind
• W. Eugene Smith
• Edward Weston
• Minor White
• Gaede/ Striebel Archive[8][9]

The permanent print collection has been on held on extended loan at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (SDMA) since 1995.[10] The SDMA has been opened since 2000 and is one of the largest art museums within the SUNY system, with over 17,000 square feet. SDMA is a vital resource to the community in showing historical and contemporary art and has their own permanent collection including over 5,000 works.[11] The museum periodically mounts exhibitions culled from CPW's collection including:

• All Hot and Bothered curated by Ariel Shanberg and Brian Wallace (June 27 – September 28, 2008)[12]
• Thoughts of Home curated by Wayne Lempka (January 26 – March 18, 2011)[13]
• Race, Love, and Labor curated by Sarah Lewis (August 27 – December 14, 2014)[14][15]

The Fellowship fund began in 1980 and has given over $77,000 to 87 regional artists. When the fund began it was initially awarded to two artists who received $1,000 each.[17] It evolved into a single award to one artist a year, who receives $2,500. The awarded fellow is required to donate a work to CPW's Permanent Print Collection.[3] The Fellowship fund is no longer active.

• Craig J. Barber
• Lucinda Devlin
• Isaac Diggs
• Kenro Izu
• Tanya Marcuse
• Andrea Modica
• Neil C. Trager

CPW has a Digital Media Lab that The Center for Photography at Woodstock is equipped with state of the art digital lab, darkroom, and library.[3]

The Darkroom is equipped for black-and-white film processing and printing. Staff provide support and mentors users.[18]

The Library includes over 1,500 monographs, exhibition catalogs, texts, and periodicals and is open to the public.[3] This library is one of the most extensive photographic collections in the region including monographs, exhibition catalogs, critical texts, and publications including Aperture, Art Papers, Nueva Luz, PQ and Blindspot.

Recent additions have been made such as, Brian Ulrich's Is This Place Great or What?, Robert Adams’ The Place We Live, Michal Chelbi's The Black Eye, and Diego Uchitel's Polaroids.

The photographers’ Salon is a critic group that meets once a month and is run by Richard Edelman and Carlos Loret de Mola.[19] The Salon was previously run by Lilo Raymond and Dan McCormack in the 70's and 80's and then led by Harriet Tannin and Levi Cruz in the 90's. The Salon allows artists to gain new and insightful perspective from other artists in the area and gives them a chance to give and receive useful feedback.[18]

There are several levels of membership at CPW: basic, advanced, student, senior, friend/family, and patron. Memberships provide support for the organization, and each is given specific benefits.