by Bernadette Finnerty
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Craft Marketing Project Goes Global
by Bernadette Finnerty |
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(Below) Learning about craft fairs, in the Folk Art Center conference room (left to right) Hal Stevens, Dinara Chochunbaeva, Marisa Fick-Jordaan, and Margarita Manosalvas. Photos courtesy Handmade in America
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Aid To Artisans (ATA) has teamed up with Handmade in America (HIA) to bring the topic of global craft marketing to craft organization leaders from foreign countries. The two organizations have combined their considerable resources in providing assistance to artisans worldwide and here in the United States.
Both nonprofits, ATA works around the world to foster craft traditions, cultural vitality and community, while HIA works primarily in the Appalachian Region in North Carolina to foster economic growth through craft and cultural tourism.
PRESENTERS |
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-- Aid To Artisans -- Handmade In America -- Consultant -- George Little Management -- The Crafts Center -- Merchandising Consultant -- Ohio Designer Craftsmen Enterprises, Inc. -- John Campbell Folk School |
Leaders from seven different foreign craft organizations met in July with a group of craft organization leaders from the United States for an intense two-week training program called the Craft Organization Leaders Exchange (COLE), designed to assist participants with organizational development.
The goal is for each of these leaders to exchange information, discuss educational and marketing strategies, and to eventually present similar seminars and programs to their respective memberships. Topics included sustainable economic development, cultural heritage tourism, craft retail store and fair management, organizational and leadership development, market-driven product development and marketing crafts.
Through this initiative, organizers hope the exchange of ideas will enhance art administrators' ability to promote crafts in their countries. In the short term at least, participants returned to their respective countries armed with new information and a new international forum for exchanging ideas.
In the long term, craft organization members around the world will be better trained to sell their products to a global market. For example, in Haiti, which has been wracked with political instability and violence, the tourist-driven economy has all but dried up. "Traditionally, craft marketing in Haiti has been closely tied to the development of tourism, an industry that has decreased dramatically in the country during the past 15 years," explains Lissa Jeannot Talleyrand of The Foundation "Le Mabouya," a craft marketing organization that works with Haitian artisans. "Since the decline, the artisans have been producing items that used to sell well in the past but have not come up with new ideas, and thus have been unable to adapt to the rapidly changing international demand."
FOR MORE INFORMATION |
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Contact Handmade in America at (828) 252-0121 |
COUNTRIES REPRESENTED |
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While there is a need for new creations from these artisans, Jeannot Talleyrand also understands the challenges of getting the work to market. "By participating in the COLE Program I had hoped to gain further knowledge in areas such as quality control and production management."
Jeannot Talleyrand says she benefited from the in-depth market knowledge of the hosts and participants, and has already applied what she learned through COLE to a new product line that better suits the requirements of the American craft market.
Some American exchange participants will work with international leaders in their home countries this month. An electronic newsletter will be published in November, and by December, a compilation of the program's achievements and next steps for action will be complete.
Bernadette Finnerty is editor of The Crafts Report.
OCTOBER 1999:
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