Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture

New York, NY

Founded in 1946 by artists for artists, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture is a nine-week intensive program that convenes sixty-five emerging artists and eleven faculty on a 350-acre campus in Madison, Maine. With a focus on process, experimentation, and artist-to-artist exchange, the program offers an immersive environment beyond the norms of academia or market-driven production. The campus features more than 90 buildings, including studios, fabrication shops, a media lab, and the Looker Family Fresco Studio—part of a fresco program dating to the 1940s.Rooted in a history of inclusivity and innovation, Skowhegan fosters a deeply collaborative and self-directed experience that has shaped generations of contemporary artists, among them Kara Walker, Richard Serra, Nancy Graves, and Nayland Blake.

A 2025 FCI Scoping Grant supported the development of a Sustainability Action Plan for Skowhegan's campus, providing the foundation for the current Heat Resilient Design project, an effort to adapt Skowhegan's rural campus to function successfully during periods of extreme heat.

A 2026 FCI Technical Assistance Grant will help develop passive solutions and energy-efficient systems to lower ambient temperatures in workspaces and create a cooling center in the Robert Lehman Library to accommodate at least 40 people, approximately half the community.