The Executive Director's Cut: Summer 2012

I hope that you are enjoying the beginning of a beautiful summer season and are having many opportunities to connect with craft and the craft community. Here at the Council, we have successfully completed our first three craft shows of the season, continued the evolution of American Craft magazine, completed the first phase of our website revitalization, and begun the exciting task of implementing ACC’s new strategic plan.  With your support, we have reenergized the craft community’s engagement with the Council. Our entire board of trustees and staff could not be more pleased with our progress, and we are gratified to receive so many positive responses to our efforts!

Here are a few highlights of our work so far this year:

• In Baltimore, Atlanta, and St. Paul we generated new interest in the shows and artists’ work with our Style Makers campaign. In each community, engaging graphics and exceptional coverage by the local media successfully highlighted craft and the amazing work of the artists. We were very pleased with the audience that we were able to attract to the preview parties and shows and with their enthusiastic response to the artists’ work.

• We have significantly expanded the educational offerings at our craft shows and at the ACC Library. Our staff has video recorded each program and has made them available on ACC’s new website. It is extremely exciting to see the public’s response to the new programming and have them engage and learn from artists and experts in the craft community.

• American Craft magazine has continued to wow ACC members, artists, and everyone who has the opportunity to read it.  Articles on recognized master and emerging artists, exhibits, books, and happenings in the craft community make every issue a must read. American Craft is now available digitally through Apple Newsstand, Google Newsstand, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, and other digital magazine platforms. I hope that you are enjoying every new issue of the magazine.

• ACC’s new website has garnered acclaim as people have been accessing new and enhanced information about ACC and the craft community. We have significantly increased traffic on the site, and users are spending more time using the site to broaden their understanding of contemporary American craft.

Late last year ACC’s board of trustees approved a new strategic plan for the organization that will guide our work over the next five years. This plan was developed based on the feedback that we received from our national listening sessions and member surveys, and it focuses on priorities that ACC is uniquely positioned to accomplish for the craft community. While we are building on our 70-year history as a leader in craft, we are proposing new work based on the needs of artists, galleries, collectors, and advocates of contemporary American craft. We are also expanding our current programs to attract and broaden the audience for craft. 

We believe that now is the time to build the public’s understanding of the benefits of craft. Craft and our community of creative people are dynamic and provide significant economic, social, and educational benefit to our communities. While the strength of craft lies in the skillful transformation of materials into beautiful objects, craft is woven into the fabric of local communities, economies and educational systems.  The impact of the craft community has not been fully communicated or understood in American culture and we can change this. Objects that are clever, thoughtful, and skillful in their execution enhance the experience of daily and necessary tasks of individuals and play an important role in our local communities. We have a story to tell and we hope you will help us.

Click here to download a PDF summary of ACC’s new strategic plan. We have highlighted our new priorities and strategies and included stories of our work in action. I hope that you will see the benefits of this work now and into the future and will continue to support our efforts to champion craft. We cannot do this work without you!

Best wishes for a wonderful summer,

Christopher H. Amundsen
Executive Director