PNCA and Etsy Join Forces to Support and Advocate for the DIY|Craft Movement in Pacific Northwest
February 04, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2010
CONTACT:
Ann Hudner, VP Communications + Public Programs, PNCA
ahudner@pnca.edu 503.821.8894
Leslie Miller, External Relations Specialist, PNCA
lmiller@pnca.edu 503.821.8959
Vanessa Bertozzi, Etsy vanessa@etsy.com
Pacific Northwest College of Art and Etsy Join Forces to Support and Advocate for the DIY|Craft Movement in the Pacific Northwest
PORTLAND, OR – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) and Etsy.com today announce their intentions to develop an ongoing relationship to foster opportunities and offer support for the local Do-It-Yourself craft community. This new relationship — the first ongoing commitment for Etsy with a school of art and design — seems appropriate in Portland, Oregon, nationally recognized as the hub of American DIY youth culture enriched by PNCA’s vibrant student body and alumni community.
Serving as a home base for Etsy in support of their local efforts, PNCA will host Etsy Craft Labs this spring. These events are an open invitation to the Portland community-at-large for a day of making, to celebrate the excitement of creativity and craft. Etsy Labs programming brings to life Etsy.com’s mission to connect local communities through hands-on learning.
Etsy and PNCA will also work directly with a group of local artists — the Portland Etsy Team — to host bi-monthly meetings at the College’s Museum of Contemporary Craft. These sessions will provide a regular series of discussions culled from the vast collection of online Etsy professional development tutorials, augmented by the expertise of local artists, designers, crafters and entrepreneurs. This roundtable series will be developed by the Portland Etsy Team, in collaboration with Etsy and PNCA to foster entrepreneurial skills in the local makers’ community.
To kick-off this new relationship, Etsy, PNCA and the Portland Etsy Team will host an “I Heart Art” meet and greet at PNCA on Friday, February 26. This public event brings together the PNCA student body, the Portland Etsy Team, members of the Guild Council Program from the Museum of Contemporary Craft, and the thriving local arts and crafts community of Portland.
I Heart Art: Portland – Friday, February 26th @ 6:30 pm
Hosted by Etsy.com, Portland Etsy Team, Pacific Northwest College of Art & Museum of Contemporary Craft
Connecting Portland’s Vibrant Community of Makers
Swigert Commons
Pacific Northwest College of Art
1241 Northwest Johnson Street
Free and open to the public
About PNCA
Since its founding in 1909, Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) has become a leader in innovative educational programming that connects students to a global perspective in the visual arts. The College offers Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Communication Design, Illustration, Intermedia, General Fine Arts, Painting, Photography, Printmaking and Sculpture. In addition, the College offers a mentor-based MFA in Visual Studies and a new joint MFA in Applied Craft and Design with Oregon
College of Art and Craft. PNCA has the oldest continuously running community arts education program in the Northwest. PNCA is actively involved in Portland’s cultural programming through exhibitions and a vibrant public program of lectures and visiting artists from around the world in conjunction with its Ford Institute for Visual Education (FIVE).
About Etsy
Etsy is the world’s most vibrant handmade marketplace. Currently, there are 5 million items for sale on Etsy from 250,000 sellers. As of January, 2010, Etsy had 675 million page views per month and 4 million members worldwide. We connect consumers with independent creators and designers to find the very best in handmade goods, while providing these artists with the technology and information they need to start and grow their own businesses. Etsy’s community members actively support one another in the shared goal of offering alternatives to mass-produced objects. We work to highlight the true value of handmade goods and their creators and encourage awareness of the social and environmental implications of production and consumption. We created Etsy to reconnect producer and consumer, and swing the pendulum back to a time when we bought our bread from the baker, food from the farmer, and shoes from the cobbler.
I Heart Art: Portland is a pilot program that Etsy hopes to replicate in other communities, connecting local Etsy Teams and members with art schools, museums, and other like-minded organizations and individuals.