The Center for Emerging Visual Artists was founded in 1984 as Creative Artists Network (CAN) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by Felicity R. "Bebe" Benoliel in an apartment at the Barclay Hotel on Rittenhouse Square. The non-profit organization serves emerging artists who live and work within 100 miles of Philadelphia, an area that includes the cities of Baltimore, MD and New York, NY, and the entire states of Delaware and New Jersey. The Center for Emerging Visual Artists provides a two-year career development program to artists accepted by the organization's board of artistic advisors.