Mission:
CEPA's mission is to present contemporary photo-related art, to support working artists and to promote a greater understanding of photography and its associated aesthetic and cultural issues.
CEPA is a not-for-profit arts center founded in 1974 as a resource for photographic creation, education and presentation. CEPA provides a context for understanding the aesthetic, cultural, and political intersections of photo-related art as it is produced in our diverse society. The gallery supports, encourages, and funds the projects of both established and emergent visual artists, and is committed to supporting artists from groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in cultural spaces. CEPA also functions as a research and education center for the exploration of new technologies in the photographic arts. Programs include exhibitions; a guest lecture series which invites artists, critics and curators to discuss their work; an artist project program which presents installations and publishes artist books; a darkroom and computer imaging facility; a public art program which features exhibitions in public transit vehicles and stations; an independent film forum; artist residencies and grant support for artists. CEPA's scope is international, providing a forum for artists and curators throughout the world. At the same time, CEPA supports and exhibits the work of artists in the Western New York region, which we define as Allegheny, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming counties and the territories of the Tuscarora and Seneca Nations.
