2019

Winter

In January of 2019 CTF (though it didn’t have a name yet!) was introduced to the Youth Arts Organization YAYA, located in New Orleans, LA. During the first meeting it was established that a fundraiser would be held to send two YAYA artists to Penland School of Craft.

YAYA’s mission is to empower creative young people to become successful adults. We provide educational experiences in the arts and entrepreneurship to New Orleans-area children and youth, fostering and supporting their individual ambitions.

Spring

During Spring Concentration in 2019 at Penland School of Craft, a group of about 15-20 like-minded artists got together for weekly meetings and planned the formation of Crafting the Future. It began with a kickstarter campaign that would raise the funds to bring 2 YAYA artists to Penland School of Craft.

Eternal thanks to the incredible group of people who made this happen:

Meghan Martin, Sarah Rose Lejeune, Daniel T. Beck, L. Gnadinger, Ian Henderson, Shae Bishop, Ellie Richards, Cristina Cordova, Annie Evelyn, Kento Saisho, Cat Bates, Emily Parkinson, Corey Pemberton, Erica Shuetz, Morgan Hill, Andrew Meers, Kat Toler, Yolanda Sommer, and Sarah Parkinson.

Summer

Tyrik Conaler and Shanti Broom traveled from New Orleans, LA to Penland School of Craft for 2-week workshops. Tyrik took Painted Identities with Michael Dixon and Shanti learned to forge iron Shawn Lovell’s gate making class.

Check out this Penland Blog Post to learn more!

Fall

In November of 2019 Penland reached out to us and proposed a matching scholarships. This partnership set the bar for our future collaborations. We are so thankful for the early support Penland gave us and so thankful they believed in us and our mission.