Maine Crafts Association

4/1/08
MCA Founder Recognized at Successful Haystack Workshop

4/1/08
Article From Portland Press Herald

3/1/08
MCA Haystack Weekend open for early registration

2/21/08
MCA Receives Grant for Craft Associates Degree

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For immediate release 2/21/2008

Contact:

Tracy Michaud Stutzman
tstutzman@mainecrafts.org 207-564-0041
50 Mayo St., Dover-Foxcroft, Maine 04426

MCA Receives Grant for Craft Associates Degree

The Maine Crafts Association (MCA) recently received a $25,000 grant from the Betterment Fund to work with Eastern Maine Community College to help them develop a Traditional and Contemporary Craft Associate Degree program.

The Maine Crafts Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit cultural/arts organization dedicated to developing Maine’s rich and varied craft resources, most importantly Maine’s craft artists, local economies, and distinctive communities, helping to make Maine a national crafts destination.

Tracy Michaud Stutzman, MCA’s Executive Director states “The craft curriculum is a big step in ensuring that the talented craft artists in the state of Maine are able to build their skills and their businesses in a supported and positive way. We are grateful that EMCC and Betterment were able to see the positive benefit this new offering will have on the people living in Maine’s communities”

Eastern Maine Community College will pilot a Traditional and Contemporary Craft associate degree program starting in the fall of 2008. Eastern Maine Community College will work to give students incentives to complete the program such as tying the curriculum into practical applications with architects/interior designers/builders/repair professionals. Eastern Maine Community College will connect students to the Maine Crafts Association’s Center for Maine Craft and will offer the curriculum to other colleges within the Maine Community College System in order to make it available around the state. A research trip to the University of North Carolina’s Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design, Haywood Community College and the Kentucky School of Craft in the spring of 2007 produced a strong basis for this program.

The proposed craft curriculum is unique in that the classroom portion (basic design classes and entrepreneurial business classes) can be offered throughout the state community college system through distance learning technology. However, the bulk of the credits for the certificate (24 credits out of 36) will be gained through the creation of a portfolio during off-campus apprenticeships in wood, clay, fiber and metal. This puts the craft student into the studios of internationally renowned Maine craft institutions like Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, as well as with approved master crafts people in Maine. “This is a great example of efficiently utilizing the world-class resources already in Maine and is a unique program to the United States” States Michaud Stutzman.

To learn more please contact 207-564-0041 or info@mainecrafts.org.

The new Maine Crafts Association promotes education, understanding, and appreciation of the work of Maine craft artists and their importance in Maine's rich and varied economies and distinctive communities. MCA increases communication between artisans and sponsors programs that will assist them.