The First Craftinental Congress

Here is the little something I've been meaning to blog on for so long, but had such a vague idea of what to expect that I couldn't even put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) about it. Here is a snippet of the press release:

"Craft Congress, the first-ever gathering of the diy/indie craft movement’s leaders will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on March 31 and April 1, 2007. The goal is to build connections between the movement's organizers who have been primarily working in their communities; Craft Congress attendees will share knowledge and experience, creating a network and fostering the movement’s growth. Fifty participants from across the U.S., Canada, (and one from England), will attend this gathering of leaders in the increasingly popular craft subculture. Many attendees will stay in the homes of Pittsburgh hosts."

Congress in was in session Saturday and Sunday at the Spinning Plate Artists Lofts.

So basically I hoped on a plane all by my lonely for a weekend in Steel Town with a bunch of like-minded DIY delegates to discuss everything from corporate sponsorship to business entities to crafty politics and a short but interesting delve into "what the heck do we call ourselves?"

I also fancy how Deb Dormody(Craftland) put it,
"I went to the Craft Congress this weekend in Pittsburgh where 50 organizers of DIY craft shows came together to eat sandwich wraps."

Ariel (DE-Part-Ment- Chicago) Me! , and Michelle(Pretty Crafty Things - Leeds, UK)..Michelle was my roommate with host, Gloria Forouzan (Handmade Arcade), we had a smashing good time, and she brought me tea from England for extra cool points.

It was amazing to meet everyone, and who knows where all this networking and newly forged friendships are going to take us. I can't say we made any decisions, and really that wasn't the point, but rather to share ideas and open up dialogue in a series of facilitated sessions. I imagine the details of these sessions will start to make their way onto the web via transcripts and podcasts soon and will be sure to pass that info on!

The Friday night dinner at Remedy consisted of yummy crabcakes and brocolli and a beer called ying yang or ylan ylang or something like that. Yes Rachel (on right, Pandora's Trunk- San Francisco, CA) and Micaela (Indie Craft Documentry) think I have cooties.

Me, Michelle, Julie (Handmade Arcade), and Lish (Handmade Detroit) during the Saturday night reception at AIR. They had like, 5 different kinds of cupcakes there, and art, and screen printing of donkey posters(see all that and many more pics on our Craft Congress FlickR Pool).

I'm on information overload, but I also have a lot of great new ideas for Strange Folk, and a super secret new project I'm concocting. Special thanks to Gloria Forouzan, my Pittsburgh host, and to all the Craft Congress contributors and the O'Fallon Arts Commission for sponsoring my trip!

The Postal Service...