Brown Bag Lunch time Conversation: The Intersection of Craft and Innovation. Where and when does that happen and how it affect us?
How does craft intersect with innovation today, and how are organizations supporting those who generate ideas to improve our daily life? From the industrial scene to our homes, craft practitioners have been challenging notions of hand making, material knowledge, and risk-taking. As makers continue to further their skills, we see broader investment in collaborations incorporating handmade techniques that inform advanced technology, ending in revolutionary results. In this conversation, the leaders of Artisans Asylum and Society of Arts + Crafts discuss their organizations’ plans to serve as platforms for building communities, and to contribute to creating a more sustainable future through craft and innovation.
Society of Arts and Crafts is a non-profit organization that has been celebrating makers and their creativity since 1987. SA+C embraces crafts and innovation, striving to provide a platform to collaborate with, support, and promote artists and their craftsmanship and to engage a vibrant community that appreciates the value of crafts. Gary Roberts, President at SA+C, brings extensive experience as a leader, educator, and craft collector. Gary’s professional and volunteer career includes being the previous Director of Faculty and Research Services at the MIT Sloan School of Management, AssistantProvost for Academic Affairs at Tufts University, and several positions at HarvardUniversity. Gary has also served as the chair of the Medford Arts Council. Recently relocated from Somerville to Boston, Artisan Asylum is an inclusive, non-profit community maker space offering affordable studios, shared workshops, classrooms, and communal spaces used by artists, makers, entrepreneurs, and students. Antonio Viva, the Executive Director, is an educator, and researcher artist, who joined the organization after his 12-year tenure as the Head of School at Walnut Hill School for the Arts. A lifelong diversity practitioner, his commitment to diversity, inclusion, and justice dates back to his early days as a public-school art educator.