Event Idea: Kids Craft Event

Our participants are always looking for new ways to celebrate American Craft Week this year. Here's a great way to get your community involved...

Plan a simple, kid friendly craft. Parents can shop while the kids are crafting. These kids are the craft artists, colletors, retailers and buyers of the future. Get them excited about American Craft now!

During ACW 2012, Maddi's Gallery in Charlotte, NC had two events just for kids. In one, a local art instructor led kids in making a vase from air-dry clay over glass. They used the millifiori technique, making rolled canes of clay, then slicing them and joining the slices over the glass.

Do you have a gallery specializing in glass? How about having the kids do a "Chihuly-Inspired" melted cup project?  Then they can take home their very own colorful masterpiece!

For other ideas, check out our Kid's Craft Ideas board on Pinterest.

Event Ideas: Empty Bowl (or Mug)

Our participants are always looking for new ways to celebrate American Craft Week this year. Here's a fun idea...

ZIG ZAG Gallery in Centerville, OH holds their annual Soup for CERF+, An Empty Bowls Event during American Craft Week. For a $10 donation customers get a handmade ceramic bowl filled with soup donated by local restaurants. It's a great fundraiser that their customers look forward to every year & raises money for a great cause.

For a little something different, instead of an empty bowl event, how about having an empty mug event? This would be particularly great in a colder climate. Use crock pots or coffee urns for people to fill their purchased mugs with coffee, hot chocolate or apple cider.

Whatever charity you decide to pair up with, make sure you ask them to send an announcement to their supporters and to post it on their Facebook page. And don't forget that press release to all of your local news outlets!

Contest: American Craft Is...?

Win $250 by showing us the answer!

Send us a photo of a piece of handmade American craft. Make it a great picture, a real glamour shot. It can be your craft, or someone else's. Along with the picture send us ONE WORD to describe it. Our graphic design team will add your word to the picture, see the example below. The best ones will be posted on our website and Facebook page during ACW. The one with the very best combination of a photo and descriptive word will win the Grand Prize of $250! That's it, how easy!

Here are the rules:

Send entries to contest@americancraftweek.com

Accompany your photo with the following information:

1. Your ONE WORD description
2. Your name, address, and email
3. All entries must be submitted by Friday, September 12, 2014.

The contest is open to everyone except the ACW committee and their families.

All entries must be submitted by Friday, September 12, 2014.

All entries become the property of American Craft Week.

This contest was inspired by the 2013 photo campaign by The Laughing Dog Gallery in Vero Beach, Florida. Here is one of their postings: American craft is ...

Event Ideas: Have a Screening of Craft in America

Our participants are always looking for new ways to celebrate American Craft Week this year. Here's an easy & fun idea...

Participants of American Craft Week are invited to screen a new episode of Craft in America: Service as a free-to-the-public sneak preview event, or on continuous loop during galleries' Craft Week festivities from October 3-12, 2014.  Craft in America will be happy to provide a DVD (55 min. looped version) and promote your screening/event on the Craft in America website, Facebook and Twitter. Don't forget to send a press release to your local news organizations.

Craft in America: Service

From the origins of the Army Arts & Crafts Program and the G.I. Bill to contemporary soldiers and veterans, Craft in America continues the journey to the origins, artists and techniques of American craft, documenting the power of the handmade to inspire, motivate and heal. Service is scheduled to air nationwide on PBS November 2nd. 

To view the press release visit:   http://www.craftinamerica.org/press/story_2338.php?PHPSESSID=07b03a847e76a048cc782f3c4e0345fb

Please contact Beverly Feldman - Beverly@craftinamerica.org for more details

Sponsor Spotlight: Southern Highland Craft Guild

A participant since the beginning of American Craft Week and now a 2^nd year sponsor – the Southern Highland Craft Guild represents 6 galleries and close to 1000 artists who reside in mountain counties in the 9 state region of the Appalachian Mountains.  The Guild dates back to 1930 and is headquartered at The Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville, NC.

  

For over 80 years the Guild has been “bringing together the crafts and craftspeople of the Southern Highlands for the shared benefit of education, conservation and marketing”. This mission is fulfilled through integrated educational craft demonstrations at retail outlets and expos, free educational community events, and an extensive public library located at The Folk Art Center.

The next community events are Clay Day on June 7, Wood Day on August 9, and Heritage Weekend on September 20-21.

The Guild’s newest gallery, The Southern Highland Craft Gallery, hosted American Craft Week’s filming of our Kickstarter video! 

We are thrilled to have the Southern Highland Craft Guild back this year as a Sponsor of American Craft Week!

Sponsor Spotlight: Wholesalecrafts.com

Since the inception of American Craft Week, Wholesalecrafts.com has been a major sponsor and supporter of our event, and 2014 continues that trend.  Wholesalecrafts.com is again joining as a Major Sponsor for the 5^th consecutive year, and we are very excited to have its continued partnership in promoting and celebrating American Craft.

Wholesalecrafts.com is the premier online marketplace for retailers of American Craft and is the producer of American Craft Retailers Expo (ACRE) shows in the United States.  Its online marketplace serves the market by connecting American Craft retailers with over 1200 American and Canadian wholesaling artists in a juried, high-quality online environment.  To further support the market and add value to the relationship building between retailers and artists, ACRE produces three shows annually in Philadelphia, Las Vegas and New Jersey.  It also publishes quarterly Buyers’ Guides to round off their solid offering to the wholesale craft market.

American Craft Week thanks Wholesalecrafts.com for their long-term involvement in our movement to support, promote and celebrate the industry.  If you are interested in learning more about its trade shows and online marketplace, please visit www.wholesalecrafts.com, www.ACRELasVegas.com, www.ACREPhiladelphia.com and www.ACRENortheast.com.

Participant Spotlight: Anchorage Markets of Anchorage, Alaska

 
American Craft Week is delighted to welcome our first 2014 sign-up from Alaska. During the second weekend in October, Anchorage Markets will present a craft show of all handcrafted and certified Made in Alaska products at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center in downtown Anchorage. All 1179 permit holders of the Made in Alaska program are invited to sell locally made products. The event is a great place to bring family, friends, and visiting tourists.

The Made in Alaska program’s mission is to identify and promote products made, manufactured, or handcrafted in the state. Alaska's businesses manufacture high quality products for markets in Alaska, domestically and internationally. Made possible by Alaska’s Division of Economic Development, artisans and businesses may apply for a Made in Alaska permit for each product or product line made 51% or more in Alaska. Value-added processes of these products must be accomplished in the state, and raw materials from outside Alaska are permitted only when specific resources are not available locally. Items that meet these high standards proudly display the Made in Alaska logo of a bear and cub. “Bear Necessities” workshops and webinars offer small business support to craftspeople throughout the largest state in the nation.

If you live near or plan to visit Anchorage this fall, do not miss this grand Anchorage Markets event! Not only are you guaranteed to have fun, but you will also support the noble Made in Alaska movement. Find more information about the festivities at anchoragemarkets.com.