Inside Our Room

About Our Foundation

“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write.”
–Virginia Woolf

A Room of Her Own Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization formed in 2000 to provide innovative arts patronage for women writers and artists. The Foundation began spontaneously with the desire of one woman, Darlene Chandler Bassett, to help women in their artistic pursuits. Now, Bassett and dozens of other men and women are working to advance the vision of Virginia Woolf and bridge the often fatal gap between a woman’s economic reality and her artistic creation. Even in this millennium, many women artists lack the privacy and financial stability essential to artistic output.

Poetry and art aren’t luxuries. They are integral to any culture’s evolution. A Room of Her Own Foundation (AROHO) has a unique arts program that will impact the development of our culture. We know that our future can be changed by the perspectives of women.

Our passion is for helping woman writers and artists go the full journey from inspiration, creative production and out into the marketplace.

Here is what AROHO provides:

In alternating years, the foundation gives the annual Gift of Freedom Award to a female writer (fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry or playwriting) or female visual artists (painting, sculpture or photography). The award is up to $50,000 over two years, the largest grant of its kind to women in the U.S.

The award comes with a “moral contract” that requires the grant winner to commit to a specific goal that will result in a finished work. Many applicants—even those who were not selected—have thanked AROHO for forcing them to think about the relationship between the art and business worlds.

AROHO also provides each chosen women writer or artist with a network of professionals to help turn her creative vision into marketable work. A mentor, as well as a variety of professionals who work in her field, are available for her to consult with regarding creative and business advice.

AROHO also works to educate the community about the work of female writers and artists through its unique retreat experiences. Each summer, we host a week-long creative retreat where women writers and artists gather with nationally known experts. The week includes workshops and intense dialogue to promote creative work, collaboration, networking and mentorship. The retreats are held at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, the high-desert home of painter Georgia O’Keeffe.