Explore Our Impact Map
Photo Credit: Mark Shigenaga
At Creative West (formerly WESTAF), we build equitable systems to support and amplify creative capacity — because creativity is essential to us all.
Learn More about Creative West, the State Arts Agencies, or check out Our Latest News.
Photo Credit Jennifer Chaparro
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.
We’re a nonprofit U.S. Regional Arts Organization that serves a broad and diverse area in the western U.S., stretching from the Arctic Coast to the Desert Southwest, and from the Great Plains to the Pacific Islands.
Photo Credit Cannupa Hanska Luger
The West contains multitudes. Its people are connected and remote, practical and imaginative, and at the forefront of both cultural preservation and cultural transformation, often simultaneously. Creative West is strengthened by this complexity. It connects, challenges, and changes us — much like creativity itself.
To build the capacity of artists and arts organizations anywhere, we develop equitable technology, funding, advocacy, and policy systems for the arts — extending our impact beyond our geography.
We know that creativity is socially valuable and essential to all of us. We support the people and organizations who make it happen — in the U.S. West and beyond.
WESTAF Is Now Creative West
2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the Western States Arts Federation. A half-century of history is a lot to celebrate — and we’ve been hard at work reflecting on the past and planning for the future.
Today, we’re announcing a new, inclusive identity to reflect who we are now, five decades later: Creative West.
Reflections on the International Teaching Artist Collaborative
Written by Danica Rosengren.
Web Services powered by
CaFÉ is an online application submission system that strives to make art opportunities available to all by offering arts organizations an affordable submission platform and artists an easy way to apply.
GO Smart is an affordable grants management software that offers pre- and post-application forms, panel reviewing, and data reporting for grantmakers.
The Public Art Archive (PAA) is a free, searchable, and continually growing online database of completed public artworks throughout the U.S. and abroad, with a suite of resources and tools built for managing public art collections.
ZAPP provides art fair and festival administrators with a suite of tools to digitally collect and jury applications, manage booth payments, and communicate with applicants all in one easy-to-use digital platform. Artists can apply to hundreds of shows nationwide through a central website.
