Center for Craft

In november 2022, The Center announced a new strategic plan entitled Craft matters (2023-2027), at The heart of which envisions a culture where communities celebrate and embrace The centrality of Craft in everyday life. Through this realigned mission to resource, catalyze, and amplify how and why Craft matters, The Center is committed to increasing access to Craft by empowering artists, organizations, and communities through grants, fellowships, and programs that bring people together. The Center for Craft's grant programs are keystones in developing The national Craft ecosystem, supporting emerging and established Craft artists, scholars, educators, organizations, and communities of practice across The country. In fy23, The Center received a total of 1,587 grant applications and made 48 awards, providing a total of 494,720 in grants. Now permanently endowed, The Center for Craft's windgate-lamar fellowship has awarded 2.5 million to 170 emerging Craft artists with exemplary skills in Craft since The program's inception. Grantmaking to artists has expanded to include piloting The teaching artist cohort, which provides unrestricted funding and a cohort experience with mentorship and peer-to-peer learning, designed with mid-career Craft artists who teach in mind. In fy23, The Center also launched an on-site artist residency program in partnership with The Virginia a. groot foundation, offering resident sculptors an honorarium and time to develop their work, access to new materials, professional development, and networking opportunities. The Center continues to support innovative and evocative research and scholarship in Craft by resourcing thought leadership through The Craft research fund and Craft archive fellowship. A visionary program dedicated to supporting scholarly Craft research in The united states, The Craft research fund is The Center's longest-running grant program. In fy23, The Center received 178 grant applications and awarded 14 recipients a total of 119,720. The Craft archive fellowship, which supports archival research on underrepresented and non-dominant Craft histories in The united states, received 141 applications and awarded 5 grants, distributing a total of 30,000 this year. The Center for Craft has become a vital community resource in western north carolina, serving thousands of visitors annually through top-notch programming, including exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and community programs. Free to The public, our galleries offer exhibitions and an engagement studio, where visitors are invited to explore Craft publications and other hands-on activities that catalyze discovery and learning about Craft for all ages, backgrounds, and interest levels. This past year, we implemented a new approach to The visitor experience by relocating The front desk to create a more intentional welcome area. We also lengthened our exhibitions to invest in interpretations that deepen audience engagement. In fy23, The Center welcomed 14,671 gallery visitors, exhibited 56 artists, and received 882 virtual program attendees. The Center for Craft's historic 1912 facility offers over 10,000 square feet to host programs, meetings, and events in classroom, conference, and coworking spaces ("cowork") and The galleries. The Center for Craft is a creative destination and resource for international visitors and The local community by fulfilling The cultural sector's need for space to administer programs and networking opportunities and communal office space for like- minded organizations, small businesses, and creative professionals. With The help of generous funders and donors, The Center continues to build its endowed funds to remain a beacon of support for The makers, scholars, and Craft community. To learn more about our programs and how you can support The Center, please visit www.centerforcraft.org.