STEWARDING SINGULAR PLACES, TOGETHER

ABEN is a national peer network for the stewardship of artist-built environments. 

We connect site stewards, share field knowledge, and build the collective capacity these irreplaceable places need — to thrive, and to honor the artists' legacies they carry.



About the Artist-Built Environment Network


ABEN is a national peer network of artist-built environment site stewards, co-created in 2020, becoming an independent 501c3 non-profit organization in 2025.

ABEN is working to establish systems and strategies that enable effective resource and idea sharing across the Network so that these sites and their communities can thrive, and that the artists’ legacies are honored for years to come.

  • We promote dialogue and collaboration between artist-built environments that are, or aim to be, open to the public for the purposes of education, study, and enjoyment.
  • We assist established, emerging, and endangered artist-built environments in developing reasonable strategies for stewardship, conservation, interpretation, and educational and outreach programming that are informed by the artist's unique creative legacy.
  • We connect artist-built environments and work in collaboration to advocate for, and communicate the value of, artist-built environments to national and international audiences.
  • We empower artists/creators and their communities to develop unique organizational strategies to serve public audiences.
  • Like many artists who build these art environments, we believe in challenging structures and practices that don’t align with or honor the artist’s intention or seek to strip sites of their individuality.