Renew America Success Stories

HandMade in America

Description

HandMade in America (HIA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping protect western North Carolina's environment and to creating long-term, environmentally-friendly regional growth by promoting the handcraft industry.

Handmade crafts already constitute a hefty portion of the region's economy. A study commissioned by HIA by Drs. Dinesh Dave and Michael Evans of the Appalachian State University reveals that the craft industry in western North Carolina generates $122 million in revenue for the region annually, and that craft serves as the backbone for much of the region's economic activities, including tourism. "So vital is craft production and selling, that little, if any, part of the region's economy could prosper without its economic contributions," says the report.

HIA believes that the multimillion dollar handcraft industry can be developed as an alternative to the region's current economic base of mining, logging and manufacturing, all of which generate attendant and undesirable environmental consequences. Handcraft items, however, which rely on agricultural materials and human labor, generate little harmful environmental during production.

Over the course of six months, by bringing together more than 360 residents to participate in a regional planning process aimed at making western North Carolina the source for handmade objects in the United States, HandMade in America was able to outline a twenty-year strategy that will protect natural resources; preserve and enrich the spiritual, cultural and community life of the western North Carolina region; and nurture the creation of traditional and contemporary craft.

By fostering community involvement and focusing on the culture and traditions of the region as the basis for the planning process, Executive Director Becky Anderson believes the effort will help develop a sense of community that will lead to success. "We who live here often miss out on the very things that draw tourists from around the world," says Ms. Anderson. "We need to teach our citizens about ourselves. No wonder we don't do well -- we don't even know who we are."

Program Highlights

• An emphasis on promoting regional tourism has been integrated into the planning process through the creation of a "national craft heritage corridor" that runs through the small towns and rural areas of the region under the auspices of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Blue Ridge Parkway will serve this corridor and will provide a series of "loop trails" that take visitors through historic craft sites, scenic byways, indigenous cuisine restaurants, historic bed and breakfasts, and retail shops and galleries featuring area craft.
• Natural dye gardens are being developed for use in fiber and basketry.
• Water gardens are being established to grow reeds and cane that are disappearing from the region's rivers.
• Educational demonstrations in dying and basketry are being developed for craftspeople and visitors.
• Agreements have been reached with farmer's markets in the regions' smaller towns to feature agriculturally-based craft products.
• A program-related investment bank to provide low-interest loans to craftspeople and craft-related support industries is being established. Interest on the loans will provide continual financing of HIA administration.
• HIA is compiling a craft registry of the region (both on-line and printed) to identify producers, objects, and materials for archival, marketing and licensing purposes.
• The North Carolina arboretum at Asheville has agreed to plant its flower gardens in the form and color of quilt patterns, and to publish detailed expositions of each design.
• HIA is pursuing integrating arts into the curricula of selected elementary schools and using art to reach at-risk and prison populations.
• Three mountain universities are developing an institute for creativity, research and design for professional craftspeople, historians, university students and national scholars.
• A monitoring program has been established to help measure the economic impact of the program over its twenty-year life.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: Handmade in America works with numerous other organizations, including the Penland and John C. Campbell craft schools, six elementary schools, Chimney Rock Park, the Biltmore Estate, the North Carolina Division of Travel and Tourism, the Cherokee Indian Reservation, fifteen county arts councils, six rural museums, Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, Brevard Music Center, Pack Place Education and Science Center, the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, the Western North Carolina Regional Economic Development Commission, the North Carolina Department of Commerce and North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt. In addition, HIA relies upon the support and involvement of those in public, private and nonprofit sectors who share a commitment to that inspired joining of art and function called handcraft.

Budget: HandMade in America has received startup funding in the amount of $620,000 from a variety of sources, including the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and the North Carolina Rural Development Center.

Community Served: A twenty-county region of western North Carolina with a population base of approximately one million people.

Measures of Success:

In 1994, HandMade in America received the prestigious Current Topic Award from the American Planning Association.

More than 100 communities and nonprofit corporations have adapted the HIA sustainable economic development planning process for their own use.

Success stories designed by Mark Nowak

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