Creating Pathways for Black Creatives to Access Transformative Craft Practice and Professional Development Workshops at Renowned Residential Craft Schools 

Residential craft schools provide intensive workshops led by prominent craftspeople covering a range of contemporary and traditional craft practices. Located across the country in dynamic urban and rural settings, they include Penland School of Craft and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts nationally, and Pittsburgh Glass Center and Touchstone Center for Crafts regionally. 

Outside of formal art, design, or craft courses in university and/or college programs, workshops at residential craft schools offer the most in-depth and high-quality learning experiences available to emerging creatives. The technical skills and field insights gained at workshops often accelerate the career trajectory and/or business growth of the participating creatives. 

Unfortunately, there are often barriers to participation for Black creatives. These barriers might include the high cost associated with attending workshops (travel, lodging, materials, and accommodation expenses), and the perception that residential craft schools exist within “white spaces” unwelcoming or unsympathetic to Black creative experiences. As a result, Black creatives can be isolated from the exceptional education value of the workshop content, as well as the restorative nature of the workshop experience.  

PROGRAM

In a shared effort to tackle these barriers and provide equitable access to opportunities, Crafting the Future (CTF) and ORIGINS collaborated to provide the Deep Craft Scholarship (Deep Craft) for Black creatives from western Pennsylvania. Deep Craft will cover all costs associated with attending a workshop at one of the residential craft schools listed in the CTF network. For the scholarship recipients, Deep Craft will (1) enhance and expand their craft practice (2) enable them to connect and network with new peers, and (3) improve their understanding of professional development and/or business growth opportunities in the national and contemporary craft landscape. 

Participating Black creatives will come from ORIGINS, an initiative of Bridgeway Capital’s Creative Business Accelerator, that supports and celebrates Black makers, designers, artists, and craftspeople starting and sustaining creative businesses. ORIGINS represent a multifaceted effort to foster personal pathways for Black creatives to maximize creative fulfillment, financial resilience, and community impact. The initiative also advances Black voices and aesthetics in the regional arts and cultural economy and ecosystem.