July will be a busy month for Craft Alliance, as the St. Louis-based art center continues its phased reopening with the start of virtual summer camps, as well as summer classes and workshops, available to the community. The organization is also preparing to move its headquarters from the Delmar Loop to the new St. Louis Maker District, 2 miles east on Delmar Boulevard, in the fall.
The 56-year-old arts organization began as a cooperative gallery in 1964, and has evolved to become Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design, an innovative resource that works to empower and enrich the community through craft, engaging approximately 25,000 St. Louisans every year.
Just like most nonprofits, Craft Alliance has felt the social and economic impact brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has been able to adjust its programming and offerings to respond to the community’s needs.
“Craft remains particularly relevant right now, especially as so many people of all ages have been staying home and need ways to express themselves,” said Mark Witzling, executive director of Craft Alliance. “Our annual Makers Ball fundraiser in mid-March was one of the very first major events to cancel. We immediately moved our auction online and our community responded with spectacular enthusiasm! Our community programs reach students throughout the area that might not otherwise be exposed to craft-making experiences. (While) our education classes, exhibition gallery and retail gallery shop have been temporarily closed, we opened an online shop, posted a virtual exhibition tour, launched online virtual classes and summer camp experiences, and have even held a live virtual hard hat tour showing the construction of our new location.”
The organization’s Gallery Shop, which offers artisan items like jewelry, scarves and stoneware, reopened to the public June 30. Virtual summer camps for children begin Monday, July 6, and a limited number of summer classes and workshops start on Tuesday, July 21.
This fall, Craft Alliance will move to a larger facility at 5080 Delmar Boulevard, consolidating its existing facilities, including the Delmar Loop headquarters and its Grand Center venue, under one roof.
“With interest in our programming continuing to increase, and with our continued commitment to serve as the educational resource for craft across the region, our current physical space was limiting our ability to support and grow the vibrant, interactive community that we envision,” Witzling said. “With this move, we will have a larger footprint, with all programming on a single floor, allowing for a stronger overall experience for our community. We are excited to have all of our studios in one collaborative space.”
The organization has been based in the same location on the Delmar Loop since 1969. The new facility will increase its space to more than 14,000 square feet with larger studios, an expanded exhibition gallery, and more room for its retail shop and administrative offices.
“Inside our (new) building, our community will immediately notice the larger, more open environment,” Witzling noted. “Larger studio spaces will support craft education, and our retail shop and a new exhibition gallery will present contemporary craft in new and exciting ways. A central community corridor will allow artists and students to interact and share together in a common space outside of the studios.”
Witzling adds that when Craft Alliance opens at its new headquarters, it will become an integral part of the emerging Delmar Maker District, which is just east of the Delmar Loop in the City of St. Louis, and home to other creative organizations such as Third Degree Glass Factory, MADE and the recently opened Magic House at MADE.
“This brings a host of opportunities for new collaborations and connections with a broader community of artists, makers and entrepreneurs,” he said.
Craft Alliance’s Delmar Loop location, at 6640 Delmar Blvd., will remain open until extensive renovation work on its future home is completed, which is expected in the fall.
For more information, visit craftalliance.org.
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Thanks for the great feature on Craft Alliance.
Thanks for the excellent article Trish and Gazelle Magazine. Well done, and very much appreciated. Craft Alliance is proud to be a part of a strong St. Louis arts ecosystem!