Home » Etsy Craft Entrepreneurship Program making its Kentucky debut

Etsy Craft Entrepreneurship Program making its Kentucky debut

Registration deadline is May 18

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 8, 2015) — The Kentucky Arts Council is partnering with Etsy, the global marketplace where people connect to make, buy and sell unique goods, to bring its Etsy Craft Entrepreneurship training series to Kentucky for art and craft entrepreneurs and other makers who are ready to start selling their work online.

Kentucky Arts CouncilThe five-session Craft Entrepreneurship series will be at Hazard Community and Technical College, 1 Community College Drive in Hazard. Sessions will be:

May 26, 6-8 p.m.
June 2, 6-8 p.m.
June 6, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
June 16, 6-8 p.m.
June 23, 6-8 p.m.

Etsy, whose members reported $1.93 billion in gross merchandise sales in 2014, is an online marketplace where people around the world buy and sell unique goods. Craft Entrepreneurship is a program that equips people with the knowledge and skills to start Etsy businesses and earn extra income through their craft.

“Etsy is excited to offer Craft Entrepreneurship to the creative people in and around Hazard in conjunction with the Kentucky Arts Council,” said Graham Ashcraft, Etsy’s Creative Entrepreneurship program manager. “By empowering creative people with the tools and skills necessary for entrepreneurial success, we hope this launches them on an exciting and fulfilling journey to make extra income doing what they already love to do.”

Using Etsy as a learning lab, accepted students will learn the basics of starting an online business. Students are guided through the process of opening their Etsy shop and listing their products by a seasoned, local Etsy seller. Berea resident Courtney Howard, who has operated Etsy shop Run 2 the Wild since 2011, will facilitate the program.

“The Etsy name carries with it a solid reputation for marketing and selling art and craft. We are delighted to partner with Etsy to offer this training in Kentucky for those who have thought about using their talents to generate supplemental income, and have been seeking the right tools to do so,” said Lori Meadows, arts council executive director. “This training will give entrepreneurs the confidence to put themselves and their work out in public, and become producing members of Kentucky’s creative industry.”

The arts council is partnering with Hazard Community and Technical College and the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED) to offer the training in Hazard. MACED will offer continued entrepreneurial, business and technical assistance to those who complete the training.

This training opportunity is one way the arts council is addressing recommendations made in the Kentucky Creative Industry Report, released in December 2014. The report recommendations include expanding targeted business services and workshops for the creative entrepreneur; educating and supporting artists and creative enterprises in effective use of mobile apps, social media and the Internet; and assisting artists and creative entrepreneurs in marketing art through traditional and alternative means.

The deadline to register is May 18. Classes are free, but participants must attend all five sessions. The course is limited to 15 participants. Preregistration can be completed online.

For more information about the Hazard program or bringing Etsy Craft Entrepreneurship to your community, contact Emily B. Moses, arts council creative industry manager, at [email protected] or 502-564-3757 ext. 472.

The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, fosters environments for Kentuckians to value, participate in and benefit from the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts. The arts council, along with the NEA, is celebrating 50 years of service in 2015, which the arts council is recognizing as the Year of the Arts in Kentucky.