UrbanGlass, also known as the New York Contemporary Glass Center, is a Brooklyn nonprofit that traces its origins to 1977, when it was founded as the New York Experimental Glass Workshop by Erik Erikson, Richard Yelle, and Joe Upham to give artists affordable access to glassmaking equipment. It was the first organization of its kind in the country and became a hub for the American studio glass movement, hosting early practitioners such as Dale Chihuly and Toots Zynsky. In 1991 the organization moved into the former Strand Theatre in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and took the name UrbanGlass, later completing a $62 million renovation between 2011 and 2013 that expanded its studios to about 17,000 square feet. Today it combines a working glass studio, gallery, and education program serving artists and the public.