Over 30 regional craft artists impacted by Helene will receive a $10,000 grant, participate in a group exhibition, and join a 6-month cohort experience that supports rebuilding their artistic practice and extends mutual aid through a peer-to-peer network.
The Center for Craft is also supporting regional craft organizations' recovery through the Craft Futures Fund - WNC Recovery grant.
Photo Credit: David Huff Creative
Grant goals
Help regional craft artists stabilize and rebuild their practice
Invest in the critical community function of craft; support craft artists as they enrich the health, well-being, and resilience of the communities where they live and work
Develop and strengthen networks of regional craft artists through peer-to-peer learning and mutual aid
WNC Craft Futures Cohort consists of approximately 30 regional craft artists who will receive a $10,000 grant, participate in a group exhibition at the Center for Craft, and join a 6-month cohort experience that supports rebuilding their artistic practice and extends mutual aid through a peer-to-peer network.
Applicants must be:
Applicants cannot be:
For this grant, the Center for Craft understands craft to include 3D work produced primarily by hand.
Craft is commonly recognized as being made of clay, glass, fiber, metal, and wood. We also welcome craft made from other materials, such as concrete, plastic, gourds, shells, bones, leather, natural, and recycled materials, among others. We look for works in which the artist transformed the materials into something new.
Examples of craft include but are not limited to jewelry, ceramics, basket making, furniture, wood carving, sculpture, weaving, tapestry, knitting, sewing, bookmaking, paper-making, blacksmithing, knife-making, glass blowing, casting, and mask-making, among others.
The Center for Craft prohibits discrimination, harassment, and retaliation based on sex, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability or perceived disability, age, marital status, gender identity, veteran status, or any other protected category. The Center encourages applications from historically underrepresented populations. Applying does not constitute a promise or guarantee of being awarded a grant.
Cohort Requirements
Residency Requirements
Four (4) regional craft artists in the Cohort will also receive six (6) months of free studio space in the Center’s Ideation Lab. Artists who lost their studio space during Helene will be given priority for the residency space.
Center for Craft will provide residents with workspace and a Cowork pass in the Center for Craft's National Craft Innovation Hub.
In addition to the Cohort Requirements, Resident Artists will:
Recipients of the WNC Craft Futures Cohort grant will be published on the Center for Craft’s website and announced through social media and electronic newsletters. We plan to share statistics representing Helene's impact, how these funds were distributed, and quotes pulled from applications.
All applicants will be automatically enrolled to receive the Center for Craft’s newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Alumni Network
Recipients of this grant will be eligible for membership in the Center’s forthcoming Alumni Network.
The adjudication process will take place virtually and in person. Applications will be reviewed by the Center for Craft staff for completeness and eligibility, then evaluated by a selection panel through the SlideRoom online application review portal. The panel will consist of 3-4 individuals recognized as craft-informed experts and community members working across sectors, such as educators, artists, arts administrators, curators, and business owners, to provide insight into the grant-making process.
Panelists free of any conflict of interest will evaluate the applications based on the following criteria:
Considerations in Final Selection:
The Center for Craft respects, values, and celebrates the unique attributes, characteristics, and perspectives that make each person who they are. We foster open communication of diverse perspectives and bring a broad range of individuals together to enrich and support programming.
Ultimately, we will ask the Selection Panel to compose a set of recipients prioritizing diversity, representing a range of geographies, career stages, materials, practices, and types of craft artists. Priority will be given to applicants who have not previously received a grant from the Center for Craft.
For the four (4) residency spaces, artists who lost their studio space during Helene will be given priority.
Applicants must apply using the online application program SlideRoom at the link here.Applicants will not be required to pay an application fee. Please review the sample application below before beginning your application.
All applicants should create a login to be able to partially complete the form and return to finish it at a later date. Before submitting your application, you will be directed to a confirmation page where you can review your form and return to edit or delete your uploaded files as needed. Your application can not be accessed once submitted. Applicants will receive a confirmation email once the application form has been successfully submitted. A virtual application information session will be held on December 13, 2024 at 2pm ET.
DEADLINE:
Applications must be submitted via SlideRoom no later than 11:59 pm ET on January 13, 2025. Notification of awards will be sent in February 2025.
NOTIFICATION:
Recipients will be notified of funding at the e-mail address listed on the application form. Please be sure that it is a valid account that you check regularly.
SAMPLE APPLICATION
Cover Sheet
Eligibility
Which of the following have you experienced as a result of Hurricane Helene? (Select all that apply)
The Center for Craft is offering four (4) regional craft artists six (6) months of free studio space in the Center’s Ideation Lab for the duration of the cohort (March-August 2025).
Are you interested in being considered for the residency opportunity? (Y/N)
Please note: Artists who lost their studio space during Helene will be given priority for the residency space.
Application Questions
Media and Uploads
Allowed Media Types:
You have the option of uploading any combination of images or video links (from hosting sites such as Vimeo, Flickr, or YouTube.) Only the first 2 minutes of each video sample will be shown during the review process, so please edit your materials accordingly. Images should be in a JPEG format no larger than 1600 pixels or only size @72 dpi. Name each jpeg file with “LastNameImageTitleNumber.jpg” Each uploaded image or video link must be accompanied by a corresponding image description (up to 50 words). Please include title, date, medium, size, and a short description of each uploaded image or media file.
Demographic Survey
Please note that the demographic survey data will only be used anonymously. Your participation in this survey helps us and our local and national funders understand who the Center for Craft is reaching so that we can continue to develop equitable and accessible programming. Completion of this survey will in no way affect your application. We require all applicants to complete this form; however, you may answer each question with the “ I prefer not to answer” option. Thank you.
If I am awarded, will I have to pay taxes on my award?
Grant awards are considered taxable income. Please consult a tax expert for questions and clarifications.
I just moved to Western North Carolina, can I apply for the residency?
No, all applicants must be a resident of Western North Carolina for at least 1 year before Helene and during the duration of the residency.
What are the reporting requirements?
Grantees will be asked to complete an evaluation survey and exit interview after the end of the Grant Period.
How can I use the funds?
This is an unrestricted grant. Grantees should put the funds toward their area of greatest immediate need.
What if I used to live in WNC but am now displaced - am I still eligible?
We recognize that many residents of Western North Carolina are currently displaced. However, the cohort-based format requires participants to be able to attend in-person gatherings up to two times per month during the Grant Period. Therefore, recipients must reside in Western North Carolina for the duration of the Grant Period.
May I mail a hard copy of my application materials to the Center for Craft’s office?
Hard-copy submissions will not be accepted. The application must be completed and submitted through SlideRoom.
Can I work on my application and return to complete it at a later date?
Yes, creating a login account will enable you to complete the form in several online sessions.
I just submitted my application, but I want to return to it and make an edit. Is this possible?
No, once your application is submitted you cannot return to the form or change any submitted information.
Are art collectives or collaboratives eligible to apply?
No, partnerships, collaboratives, and collectives are not eligible to apply. Members of such groups are encouraged to apply individually.
I have a question that wasn’t answered. How can I reach the Center for Craft?
If you have any further questions, please contact grants@centerforcraft.org, or call 828-785-1357.
We are profoundly grateful for the overwhelming support from 229 contributors, who have graciously donated in excess of $359,000 to the fund, with a remarkable 84% being first-time donors to the Center for Craft.
And a heartfelt thank you to our six foundation partners for their substantial contributions totaling $825,000 to the fund, including the Windgate Foundation, The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation, Craft Emergency Relief Fund, The Bresler Foundation, and Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts.
If you would like to help direct critical resources to the affected artists, please consider making a gift to the Craft Futures Fund.
Donate Now →
Process photo of assembly of Y-axis conveyor belt.
Rose Buttress
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$10,000
Rose Buttress is a self-trained machinist and programmer. Buttress’s research titled “FULL,” uses a novel design of fabric cutters to prefigure small batch garment fabrication efficiency with the goal of generating a new philosophy of inclusive design. Her research attempts to renegotiate the constraints on the industry through a methodology of developing new equipment that places the leading industrial mass production techniques and processes within small workspaces.
Learn morePhoto credit: Sean Carroll
Alexis Rosa Caldero
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$10,000
Alexis Rosa Caldero is a first generation Ecuadorian-American and Puerto Rican disentangling from the inherited experience of forced assimilation. Informed by experience with wood, education, and art direction, Caldero’s craft strives to evoke beauty, unearth story, and build connection. Their research, titled “Beyond Ergonomics: Furnishing Healing,” asks what studio furniture can learn from anti-racist, fat positive, body-centered activism. It proposes a hands-on analysis of how everyday furniture can play a role in one’s healing journey through somatic study and community building.
Learn morePhoto credit: Mary Kang
Dana Davenport
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$10,000
Dana Davenport is an interdisciplinary artist, who shifts between installation, sculpture, video, and performance. Within her practice, Davenport addresses the complexities that surround interminority racism as a foundation for envisioning her own and the collective futurity of Black and Asian peoples. Davenport's research titled “Dana's Beauty Supply: Research,” examines Black hair and hair care as a material that binds Black Americans and Korean Americans through the beauty supply industry, an industry that is overwhelmingly Korean-owned with a primarily Black customer base.
Learn morePhoto credit: Benjamin Weinberg
Emily Robison
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$10,000
Emily Robison is a textile artist whose work incorporates place and cultural experience. Building upon their work with byssus fiber, a textile fiber produced by clams and traditionally used throughout the Mediterranean, Robison will research 18th and 19th century published descriptions of byssus production and the feasibility of adapting these techniques to North American pen clams.
Learn morePhotographed by David Hunter Hale
Nastassja Swift
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$10,000
Nastassja Swift is a sculptural fiber artist, whose work exists figuratively in full or often fragmented forms that speak to geographical histories, womanhood, language and community. Swift’s needle felted portraits incorporate quilting, beading and other traditional and non-traditional materials morph into a form of storytelling that references the above themes. Swift’s research title “Hooded Figures: A History of Fashion and Power,”examines hoods across centuries, closely identifying the social and racial associations of the garment and how its symbolism has shifted over time. Using felting, quilting and beading, this research project will produce re-imagined images of Black subjects adorned in a hood.
Learn more