Collective Buzz: How To Form A Craft Collective

A while back we were approached about presenting something at the 'Craft and the New Economy' Symposium which is put on by the Ontario Crafts Council. We were super honoured, and jumped at the opportunity, but it wasn't until we sat down to plan our workshop that we realized how nervous we all were! We very quickly figured out what we could talk about ('How To Form A Craft Collective'), but who was going to say what? Who would go first? "Are you nervous? Because I'm so nervous!"...

Well, it came and went, and we did just fine! We had a great turnout at our workshop, and we walked our attendees through an English Paper Piecing tutorial as we went through what we consider the five key steps to starting a craft collective in your own community.

Step 1: Find a group of like-minded people.

This might be a group of friends that you already have, or it might mean that you need to get creative! Put up posters, join/start a knit night, look for local craft blogs...do whatever you need to do to find
some people who are just as passionate about this idea as you are.

Step 2. Create a vision for your group.

Every craft collective will have it's own unique identity. For us, we were looking to connect with like-minded people and participate in skill-sharing and large-scale craft projects. For you it may be something very different. When you meet with your collective be sure to share the things you are excited about, because you never know what might come of it!

Step 3. Delegate tasks.

For the Beehive, the tasks 'fell' pretty naturally. Each of us volunteered for certain tasks, based on our interest and schedules, and the tasks that were left over seemed to naturally fall into place as well. It's important in a collective, where no one is in charge or specifically taking the lead, that you're very aware of sharing the load. One thing we've all appreciated about the Beehive is that there is an honesty and graciousness about what each of us can take on a different points throughout the year.

Step 4. Get busy!

Do the things that you want to do! There was a reason you started this collective - now, get to it! Host a craft fair, share your skills, start a garden, put on a workshop, create a collective art piece...there are so many different things you can do with your group!

Step 5. Share the love.

If you're part of a craft collective, there are lots of people who want to hear about it! Start a website, create a blog, share pictures, put together tutorials...there is so much to learn and so much we can all be inspired by.



Those five steps pretty much sum up our process, which we would all say has been a great success! We've got some exciting projects on the go, one of which we'll be looking for help with soon! You'll hear about it here in the next few weeks...

If you have a collective of your own, we'd love to hear your story! Or maybe you're thinking of starting one and you have some questions about our journey. Just leave your comments and questions below or send an email to beehivecraftcollective@gmail.com, and we'll be happy to give some more insight. Thanks for reading!

Collective Buzz at Craft and the New Economy Symposium

Us!

The Beehive is big on sharing skills, knowledge, and inspiration. This orientation is a driving force in all of our activities, which are collective endeavours that draw on our individual strengths and backgrounds. We also try to reach out to the community around us to participate in our projects (see Knit Night on the Brain), provide us with space to make stuff (thank you Kieran & The Brain!), and teach us skills that will help us on the path to self-sufficiency.

So when the Ontario Crafts Council approached us about presenting an interactive activity at their upcoming symposium, Craft and the New Economy, we were pretty stoked on this opportunity. We knew we wanted to present a collective making activity, and reflecting on what we had to offer as a group, we decided that we could also share our experience in making a collective.

If you plan to attend the Symposium on March 10, 2012 (which is highly recommended if you are interested in issues in contemporary craft), we invite you to sign up in the morning for Collective Buzz, which will take place at the reception following the Symposium from 6-8pm. Here you'll hear about how the Beehive was formed, how to start a collective in your own community, and we'll provide you with supplies and instructions for making English paper-pieced fabric hexagons. If this is is ringing a bell, Hollie mentioned it in the last post which also hinted enigmatically about the installation proposal we submitted for this year's Supercrawl. Here is another clue about where we are headed with this project: you can hold on to your hexagons made during this session, or you can leave them with us to be included in the installation.

We're excited to share our know-how and learn from Symposium-goers as well. See you there!

One UnBeelievable Year

Can you bee-lieve (sorry, had to) that the Beehive Craft Collective has been around for a year already? It's flown by in a blur of meetings and workshops and craft fairs and art installations. Not to mention the fact that many of us are full-time makers and/or entrepreneurs in our day-to-day lives. Needlework, Sweet Ice Snow Cones, Bespoke Uprising, Jenna Rose, White Elephant... sometimes it's exhausting to even think about. But that's also the really great part about a collective - the joint support from everyone involved working towards a common goal. I often think about how honoured I am to be a part of a group of such awe-inspiring and talented women.

We're gearing up for some exciting things this year too. We are super excited to be participating in the Craft and the New Economy symposium on March 10th at OCAD University. We'll be doing a pretty informal presentation on how to start a craft collective within your own community, while also providing materials for a crafting circle. We'll have everything you need to join in making paper piecing hexagons, but everyone is encouraged to bring their own projects as well.

Ever since we saw the Quilts! exhibit at the AGH we've all kind of been obsessed with quilting bees and friendship quilts, and this is where our idea stems from. A collective project while discussing forming collectives. We'll be presenting from 6pm-8pm and we hope to see some of you there. It should be an amazing event all around.

We're also working on our submission to be a part of this year's Supercrawl. All we can really say about it at this point is that it will be another large scale textile installation that has the opportunity for community involvement. Does Jenna's sketch give you any ideas? I didn't think so. The Bees are really hoping to be a part of this for a second year, so cross your fingers for us!

And the question that we've been asked most often lately - will we be putting on another Summer Craft Fair?  Honestly, we're still figuring out the logistics of this, as we've lost our beautiful location from last year (very happily to CBC) and it's caused kind of a snag in our plans. If not a full scale craft show, be sure to look out for some smaller trunk shows throughout the year. Either way, we'll be sure to keep you updated on our plans.

Thanks for following us during our first exciting year! We look forward to what 2012 will bring for us all.