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What is CraftNet? PDF Print E-mail

CraftNet is an international alliance of community colleges in North America, Europe, and Africa that work together to enhance their own arts and crafts-based teaching programs and to develop local and regional artisan-based economies. It was conceived and is managed by Regional Technology Strategies.

Member schools share ideas, observations, and best practices that stimulate innovation in their curricula, programs, teaching methods, advising, and services. They also encourage greater awareness among students and the public about the programs and services offered by community and technical colleges.

At the heart of the network’s collaborative work, CraftNet member schools engage in a lively process of discovery and dialogue about innovative ways that community colleges can: 

  • Prepare youth and adults for employment and self-employment in creative enterprises based on regional arts and crafts;
  • Develop those industries into a sustainable growth sector, especially in rural areas and small and mid-sized cities; and 
  • Attract and provide new opportunities for low-income and non-traditional learners.
Many community colleges still associate economic development with training the workforce needed by a new manufacturing company or call center, or with helping employees adapt to new technologies. But in many parts of America, especially in rural areas, these types of jobs are leaving, not arriving.

That’s why CraftNet colleges are turning to a different kind of development, one that builds on local talent and culture to make more authentic and higher value-added goods, as well as attract visitors. We are working to strengthen the production and marketing capacities of art and craftbasedenterprises to satisfy a growing consumer appetite for high-quality artisan-made goods.

Of course, this presents quite a challenge for many community colleges that once viewed creative arts and craft-based programs as important to local culture, but only marginal to economic development. As such, CraftNet, which wasorganized in 2003 with support from the Ford Foundation, strives to excel at fostering collaborative learning, innovation, and entrepreneurship among our select group of 20 innovative community colleges and technical schools.

CraftNet delegates, typically one or two representatives from each member school, assemble at least once each year for the network’s regular business meetings.  In recent years, the alliance has met in Eureka Springs, Arkansas (2007), Santa Fe, New Mexico (2006), and Asheville, North Carolina (2004). These face-to-face sessions are supplemented by regular monthly conference calls. 

Early on in the network’s history, representatives from our member schools visited colleges in southeast England and Wales that have developed strong arts and crafts-based programs.  This European study tour, supported by the Ford Foundation, resulted in plans for a variety of collective and bilateral CraftNet projects, including ways to enhance the business and marketing skills of artisan firms.

CraftNet Symposia

On April 23-26, 2009, CraftNet co-hosted the annual conference of the Craft Organization Development Association (CODA) in St. Paul, Minnesota.  This high-profile gathering focused national attention upon CraftNet’s newly launched (in a public beta version) Ecommerce Curriculum, as well as allowed attendees to explore new partnerships that can support artists working in regional creative economies. 

In April 2007, CraftNet drew more than 100 economic development professionals, college administrators, arts council members and others to its one-day conference in Rogers, Arkansas.  The program’s speakers and panels examined arts and crafts from three perspectives:  TRADITIONS (reflecting on arts and crafts in industrializing economies), TRANSACTIONS (arts and crafts as business opportunities in a digital age), and TRANSITIONS (developing cultural environments, creative milieus, and consumer experiences).

In March 2006, CraftNet held a one-day symposium on “Community Colleges and the Art of Economic Development” at Santa Fe Community College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Experts from Kentucky, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Northern Ireland, and South Africa described how local, culturally based arts and design represent a direct source of jobs and wealth, with a competitive advantage that resists globalization.  The program also included an overview of New Mexico’s creative economy and a discussion of ways that arts and design at community colleges are impacting their region’s economies.

In November 2004, CraftNet sponsored an international conference on “Community Colleges in Creative Economies,” which in 2006 resulted the publication of a book by the American Association of Community Colleges entitled Cool Community Colleges.  A .pdf version of the summary conference report can be downloaded free-of-charge at http://www.rtsinc.org/asheville/index.php?option=content&task=blogcategory&id=23&Itemid=60

Regional Technology Strategies, Inc.

CraftNet’s parent organization, Regional Technology Strategies, Inc. (RTS), is a private, nonprofit corporation founded by Dr. Stuart Rosenfeld in 1991 in Carrboro, North Carolina.  It specializes in workforce development and economic development.  RTS helps states and regions develop new strategies to promote higher-wage and higher skill jobs with an emphasis on those that address the needs of less advantaged people and places.  It is especially known for its work on collaborative and cluster-based strategies and its work with community college as a primary entry point for immigrant, working, and first-generation college-going populations.  RTS manages a number of international community college learning and innovation alliances. 

More recently RTS has been on the forefront of promoting stronger roles for community colleges in supporting creative pursuits and enterprises.  The organization has become especially well known for its groundbreaking work on creative economies in Arkansas, Montana, and North Carolina.  Its December 2004 conference in Asheville, North Carolina was the first such event on this topic and brought together community colleges, economic development officials, and arts councils.

To learn more about Regional Technology Strategies, Inc., please visit the RTS website at http://www.rtsinc.org.  To contact the RTS offices during regular business hours, please telephone 919.933.6699 or email Dr. Rosenfeld at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .