Home » Spotlight on the Arts: June 2015

Spotlight on the Arts: June 2015

By Lori Meadows

Etsy Craft Entrepreneurship Training Comes to Kentucky

Kentucky artists who are interested in taking their work to the online marketplace and making it profitable may have expanded opportunities thanks to a new partnership between the Kentucky Arts Council and Etsy, the global marketplace for art and craft.

Last month, the arts council registered participants for the first series of the Etsy Craft Entrepreneurship Program in Kentucky, which will be held at Hazard Community and Technical College through June 23.

This is the first of many Etsy trainings the arts council hopes to offer, as many inquiries have already been received about bringing Etsy training to other parts of the state. The arts council has partnered with the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development and Hazard Community and Technical College to offer the training sessions and is in the process of developing partnerships with suitable venues in other parts of Kentucky as well.

There are many artists in Kentucky who are on the cusp of becoming entrepreneurs in the state’s creative industry. The Etsy Craft Entrepreneurship Program is designed so that those participants complete the training having created their own Etsy stores, and that they are armed with the entrepreneurial and business skills to make their Etsy business a success, earning extra income from their handmade work.

If you are interested in bringing Etsy training to your area, contact Emily Moses, arts council creative industry manager, at (502) 564-3757 or [email protected].

 

Arts Council Receives $708,500 from NEA

The Kentucky Arts Council has been awarded $708,500 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in the federal agency’s latest round of state partnership agreement grants.

State partnership agreement funding is awarded annually to state-level arts agencies nationwide. The arts council is the only agency in Kentucky designated to receive state partnership funding from the NEA. This year, the NEA will make 1,023 awards in state partnership grants totaling $74.3 million.

Funding awarded in fiscal year 2015 will be applied to the arts council’s 2016 fiscal year budget. For the 2015 fiscal year, the NEA awarded the arts council $710,500, which represents a decrease in funding of less than one percentage point from 2015 to 2016.

NEA funding helps garner support for nonprofit arts organizations throughout the state, which provide arts education opportunities for local children and stimulate the economy through their local arts marketing efforts.

 

Kentucky Crafted Retailers for 2015 Announced

Gallery on the Alley, a retailer located in  St. Joseph, Mich., is one of the newest businesses  to be designated as a Kentucky Crafted retailer.
Gallery on the Alley, a retailer located in St. Joseph, Mich., is one of the newest businesses to be designated as a Kentucky Crafted retailer.

The Kentucky Crafted brand continues to grow its marketing reach into other states, adding two more out-of-state businesses to its growing roster of gift shops and galleries officially designated as Kentucky Crafted Retailers. In total, nine new businesses have been added to the program this year:

• Boutique Unique, Glasgow

• Rough River Dam State Park, Falls of Rough

• Gallery Augusta, Augusta, Mo.

• Gallery on the Alley, St. Joseph, Mich.

• The Diamond Den and More, Lexington

• Top Drawer Gallery, Berea

• Magnolia Southern Arts, Ashland

• Edenside Gallery, Louisville

• Kentucky Market Pavilion, Owingsville

Kentucky Crafted Retailers represent a broad range of retail venues and galleries that have made significant purchases at Kentucky Crafted: The Market and actively promote the Kentucky Crafted brand. Retailers can be found in 15 cities in Kentucky as well as locations in Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. Visit the Kentucky Crafted Retailer Web page to see a list of all participating retailers. Learn more about Kentucky Crafted by contacting Ed Lawrence, arts council arts marketing director, at [email protected] or 502-564-3757 ext. 473.

The Kentucky Crafted Program is an adjudicated marketing assistance program for visual artists and craftspeople.

Lori Meadows is executive director of the Kentucky Arts Council.