Chenlu Hou, "A long-haired figure diving into the water to grasp the reflection of the moon,” 2023, terracotta, underglaze, zip-ties, high-temp wire hooks. 28 x 16 x 16.5 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
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A six-month cohort experience supports their development as artists and educators, expands their professional networks, and enhances their ability to create an enriching impact on the communities they engage.
Grant goals
To provide craft artists opportunities and resources that help sustain a generative practice
To support craft artists in creating an enriching impact on the communities they engage through teaching
To develop and strengthen networks of teaching artists through peer-to peer learning and connection
Thirty mid-career craft artists who teach will receive $10,000 grants and join a 6-month cohort experience that supports their artistic and teaching career development with programs, mentorship, and peer-to-peer learning creating an enriching impact on the communities they engage, developing a network of teaching craft artists.
ELIGIBILITY
Proposals are welcome from mid-career craft artists who teach. For the purpose of this grant the Center defines a teaching artist as a practicing craft artist and/or maker who utilizes their skill sets and sensibilities to integrate their work and perspectives into a wide range of settings.
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.
Proposals must be timely, meaning applicants are in a prime position to benefit from this opportunity. Applicants should demonstrate evidence of a continued practice within the craft field, including a practice as a craft artist and educator.
Artists working in tenured or tenure-track positions may not apply. Funding for the Teaching Artist Cohort is geared toward artists and/ or makers whose practice includes community engagement, experience as adjunct faculty, workshop facilitator/instructors, visiting artists, museum education, community college instructors, and/ or lecturers.
Applicants must be:
Applicants cannot be:
Priority will be given to applicants who have not been previously awarded a Center for Craft grant or fellowship.
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.
TEACHING ARTIST COHORT
A leading component of the Teaching Artist Cohort is to support a diverse cohort of mid-career artists with varying practices and career aspirations. Ideally, awards will be given to a dynamic group of craft artists whose practice includes working as teaching artists in the schools or community, non-tenured or non-academic educators, adjunct instructors, visiting artists, museum educators, and community and workshop instructors.
REQUIREMENTS OF TEACHING ARTIST COHORT
CRITERIA/REVIEW PROCESS
The adjudication process will take place virtually. Applications will be reviewed by staff of the Center for Craft for completeness and then evaluated by a selection panel through the SlideRoom online application review portal. The panel will consist of 3-4 people recognized as craft-informed experts working across sectors, such as writers, educators, artists, curators, and creative catalysts, in order to provide great 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, materials, practices, and types of artist-educators. Priority will be given to applicants who received a Center for Craft grant.
HOW TO APPLY
Applicants must apply using the online application program SlideRoom at https://centerforcraft.slideroom.com/#/permalink/program/82763 no later than 11:59 ET on March 17, 2025.
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.
Notification
Notification of application status will be sent via email in May 2025. The email address listed on the application form will be used to send out notifications. Please be sure it is a valid email address that you check regularly.
Sample Application
Cover Sheet:
Application Questions:
Allowed Media Types:
External media from YouTube, Vimeo, and SoundCloud
You have the option of uploading any combination of images or video links (from hosting sites such as Vimeo, Flickr, or YouTube.) During the review process, only the first 2 minutes of each video sample, so please edit your materials accordingly. Images should be in a JPEG format no larger than 1600 pixels on only side @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.
FAQs
If I receive a grant will I need to pay taxes on my award?
Yes, all cash funding is taxable income.
May I mail a hard copy of my application materials to the Center for Crafts office?
No, 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 and edit. Is this possible?
No, once your application is submitted, you will not be able to return to the form or change any submitted information.
I have previously received a Center for Craft grant but did not complete the project or am still in the process of completing the project - am I eligible to apply?
No
I received a 2023 or 2024 Teaching Artist Cohort Grant. Am I eligible to apply?
No
I am a student, am I eligible to apply?
Yes
Are art collectives eligible to apply?
No
Who can I contact with questions?
Program Manager-Community Vitality, Anna Helgeson, ahelgeson@centerforcraft.org, 828.785.1357 x 105
recipients
Makda Amdetsyon
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Makda Amdetsyon is an educator, researcher, and maker. She currently is the education coordinator at Art21, where she leads professional development programs for K–12 teachers. Makda has a background in facilitating reflective and inquiry-driven museum visits and art-making classes for students and teachers at the Brooklyn Museum. In addition to her work as an educator, Makda is experienced in artist engagement and communication. During her time at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, she co-produced public programs for the annual Folklife Festival. Makda’s work as a researcher focuses on craft, bridging her art practice and academic studies on American craft and material culture.
Makda is also a textile artist and sewist. She has spent the past several years honing her craft in weaving, dyeing, and sewing at craft schools across the country. She holds a BA in Communications from University of Maryland, College Park, and an MA in Art, Education, and Community Practice from New York University.
Photo credit: Tinashe Chidarikire
Demetri Broxton
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Demetri Broxton is a Bay Area artist, independent curator, and the executive director of Root Division in San Francisco. Born and raised in Oakland, he earned a BFA at UC Berkeley with an emphasis in painting and an MA in Museum Studies from San Francisco State University. Broxton was a 2024 Teaching Artist Cohort awardee. His artwork has been exhibited internationally and most recently at For-Site, Art Gallery of Alberta, de Young Museum, Crocker Art Museum, Kala Art Institute, and the Norton Museum of Art. Broxton’s artwork is held in several private and public collections, including the Monterey Art Museum, de Young Museum, and Crocker Art Museum. He is represented by Patricia Sweetow Gallery in Los Angeles.
Jennifer Ling Datchuk
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Trained in ceramics, multidisciplinary artist Jennifer Ling Datchuk works with porcelain and other materials often associated with traditional women’s work, such as textiles and hair, to discuss fragility, beauty, femininity, intersectionality, identity, and personal history. Her work is an exploration of her layered identity—as a woman, a Chinese woman, as an “American,” as a third culture kid.
Datchuk holds an MFA in Artisanry from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and a BFA in Crafts from Kent State University. She has participated in residencies at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin; Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China; European Ceramic Work Center in The Netherlands; Artpace in San Antonio; and the John Michael Kohler Arts/Industry Residency in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. In 2017, she received the Emerging Voices Award from the American Craft Council and in 2020 was named a United States Artist Fellow in Craft. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, San Antonio Museum of Art, Ogden Museum of Art in New Orleans, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She is an Assistant Professor of Ceramics at Arizona State University in Tempe and lives and maintains a studio in Phoenix.
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