This summer, AWP will move it offices from Virginia to Maryland, from George Mason University (GMU) to the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP).

“AWP enjoyed many successes at GMU. Outgrowing our office space is a result of AWP’s success and rapid growth” said AWP Board of Trustees Chair David Haynes. “This move has been a long time coming. Since 2012, the board carefully explored many options for new offices. We are certain this is the best one. Over the long term, the new location will help AWP provide the best services to our membership.”

AWP outgrew two office spaces while it was housed at GMU, at Tallwood House and then at Carty House. Since its inception in 1967, AWP has been affiliated with a college or university. AWP was founded at Brown University. Since then, Washington College, Old Dominion University, and George Mason University each served as a home base for AWP. Each move of the organization was prompted by a growth in the association’s projects, services, and staff.

AWP arrived on the campus of GMU in 1994. Since that time, AWP’s institutional membership doubled. Individual membership tripled. AWP created a new category of membership for writers’ conferences and centers. While membership grew, AWP’s projects grew in complexity and scope. AWP’s website, a modest site of a few pages when it launched in 1996, would undergo many iterations until it came to include its present guide to writing programs; job listings and career advice; a calendar of opportunities in publishing, grants, and awards; literary news; and more than a thousand articles and recordings on the art of writing. AWP’s flagship magazine, the Writer’s Chronicle, doubled the number of pages and essays in each issue. The association’s annual conference grew by 1,200%. AWP served 16,000 stakeholders in 1994. It serves 50,000 today.

This summer, AWP will move from Carty House to a modern office building in the research park of UMCP.

After investigating many options over the past few years, the AWP Board of Trustees selected the research park of UMCP as the best location for AWP’s new headquarters because it provided the following advantages:

Proximity to Washington, DC. This was desirable because the board wished to retain as many of the current AWP staff as possible, and many staffers have roots within the greater Washington, DC area. Preserving continuity in staffing was the chief goal. Grateful for the staff’s exceptional work, the board limited the search to prospective universities with graduate creative writing programs in the greater Washington, DC area.

A Highly Educated Local Workforce. DC has one of the largest and most highly educated workforces in the country. It is also home to thousands of national nonprofit organizations and associations. It is a great location for the long-term recruitment of staff members with expertise in literature and in association or nonprofit management.

Modern Facilities. Through most of its five decades of operations, AWP used former family homes as office space—the homes that universities often buy on the fringes of their campuses for future expansion or for visiting faculty. From time to time, the typical problems of aging houses disrupted the work of AWP staff. The staff needed more professional, modern, problem-free workspaces to help them do their best work, especially as all AWP projects had grown more demanding.

More Space. AWP could not add more staff at Carty House because there was no room left to install another workstation to accommodate them. The new offices will enable AWP to hire additional staff, as the budget allows. It will also enable AWP to provide learning opportunities for students who wish to learn about publishing and editing, nonprofit arts management, and association management. AWP wishes to help cultivate the next generation of arts administrators, publishers, and editors.

Affordability. Office space on the eastern side of the DC tended to be more affordable in newer buildings, compared to office space in downtown DC or on the western side of the city.

A Strong University. UMCP is a Big Ten university with 38,000 students. It will be the biggest and most resourceful university with which AWP has been affiliated to date. AWP has relied on current and former MFA students and business students as staff members. AWP will be a unit of UMCP’s Department of English. The university has a strong creative writing program and business programs. It supports STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) and not just STEM.

An Excellent University Foundation. AWP has relied on university foundations for the management of its investments. AWP has five small endowments that fund our literary prizes and services. The University System of Maryland Foundation has an endowment pool of $963 million. The foundation will provide a base for the prudent investing and the growth of AWP’s currently modest endowments.

A Good Center for Advocacy. Proximity to the nation’s capital will allow AWP to build upon its role as an advocate for writers and teachers in national policies and in public funding of the arts and arts education.

An Extensive Mass Transit System. UMCP has one of the largest campus bus system in the country. It is also served by the Green Line of the DC Metro system. The planned Purple Line, in five years, will connect the communities to the north of Washington, DC, from New Carrolton to Bethesda, with five stops on the UMCP campus. Access to an extensive system of mass transit will help AWP recruit and retain future staff.

Community Development. UMCP, Prince George’s County, and the State of Maryland have been collaborating to improve residential housing, student housing, the university’s research park, hotels, and marketplaces. Improvements to the quality of life in the area will also help AWP attract and retain the best possible future staff.

“A strong association is only as good as its staff, its board, and its membership” said David Haynes. “There are many features of College Park that will help AWP build upon its great staff, who provide the services we rely upon. The University of Maryland will be a great home for AWP as we keep improving upon our services to writers, teachers, and students. We look forward to becoming part of the College Park community.”

Photo caption: The Campus of the University of Maryland, College Park
Photo credit: John T. Consoli/University of Maryland