Emerging Artists Readiness Program in Puerto Rico The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+) is excited to announce that we recently concluded our first Emerging Artists Readiness Program in Puerto Rico, thanks to funding from the Windgate Foundation. CERF+ partnered...
New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CEFF+), and National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response (NCAPER) join forces to help you protect yourself and your assets before an emergency. The COVID-19 pandemic, along...
Touchtone Center for Crafts began over 50 years ago as Pioneer Crafts Council and blossomed into a craft school where people come together to learn in a fully immersive hands-on environment. Occupying over 150 acres in the Laurel Highlands, a scenic rural area near...
In 1991, Bobby Scroggins, Professor of ceramic art at the University of Kentucky School of Art and Visual Studies, attended the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference. There, he recognized that artists of color were significantly...
Last year, the majority of the craft artists who sought CERF+’s emergency relief assistance did so after suffering impacts from climate or weather-related emergencies, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires. As the threat of climate change intensifies across the...
The Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths (SIBs) formed with the vision to build equity and foster diversity in the field of blacksmithing. Recently, CERF+ staff met with blacksmiths Joy Fire and Elizabeth Belz from the Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths. Joy is SIBs’s...
Michael Billie is an award-winning Navajo mixed media artist who lives in Farmington, New Mexico. He studied art at the University of New Mexico and later took classes in encaustics, but it was only later in life that he became a full time artist. He dove into his art...
It is never too early to start thinking about legacy planning, but you may be wondering what legacy planning even is. Legacy planning is deciding how you want your assets (everything you own, including your wealth, artwork, tools, etc.) to be distributed after you...
Disasters can strike anyone anywhere. As climate and weather related disasters are forecast to become more frequent and severe, it is important to have a plan if the unthinkable happens. Unfortunately, property losses from fire/smoke damage or water/flood damage often...
CERF+’s friends and colleagues on the ground in Puerto Rico are reporting that Hurricane Fiona has caused significant damage, destroying infrastructure and homes and displacing many residents. While the full scope of the damage will be uncertain for some time, we do...
National arts leader advocates for artists and brings over 15 years of arts and disaster management experience Montpelier, VT (September 28, 2022) – After an extensive and competitive national search, the Craft Emergency Relief Fund’s (DBA CERF+) Board of Directors...
The painterly, expressive embroidery that emerging artist and recent Get Ready grantee Amber Mustafic creates is as visually stunning as it is introspective. Amber is a first-generation Muslim Albanian-Montenegrin who uses embroidery to create imagery that reflects...
If you are an artist who does not yet have business insurance, you are not alone. Of the 219 artists in the United States who have applied for CERF+’s Emergency Relief grants since 2018, only 67 (or 23.4%) reported that they had business insurance. But, this doesn’t...
