TwispWorks Foundation

Campus operations: in 2023, Twispworks operated campus and several methow valley-wide programs. Campus is a community-focused, providing space for artists, craftspeople, and small businesses, while also serving as a community gathering space and concert venue. Our campus is a placemaker for more than 35 businesses, nonprofits, artists and craftspeople. 2023 campus partners included an interpretive center for native american and natural history, manufacturing and professional services companies, the methow valley school district's welding and automotive tech programs providing youth real-life skills in the trades, an innovative-choice high school, art studios, and gallery spaces. Campus is also a community gathering space with the pavilion for events, a splash pad, public art, a signature native plant garden, and a natural dye garden. We sponsor events, celebrations, and programs engaging residents and visitors alike.

Twispworks has a long history of completing projects and coordinating programs that support a healthy economy in the methow valley. By providing resources, education, technical assistance, and access to financing, Twispworks helps foster a dynamic and accessible entrepreneurial ecosystem. Recent highlights include the coordination of the methow investment network, a peer-to-peer lending model that connects community members with financial resources to business owners and entrepreneurs seeking funding to start or grow a business. In the last five years, this program has circulated over $3.7 million in the local economy.

Methow made and methow valley goods (mvg): in 2023, the methow made program helped over 67 local producers market and sell their goods in 10 retail locations. Methow made producers are largely owner-operated businesses, the majority are women-owned. Mvg provided essential storefront retail space with regular business hours--convenient for visitors and locals alike-- to over 95 artists and makers in the methow and okanogan county, many of whom are sole proprietors with no retail space of their own. Mvg is the flagship store for the methow made brand. By increasing awareness of all things methow made, mvg helped increase market demand for locally made products.