Craft is…
Craft is our essential anchor—it is the tangible practice that restores focus, revitalizes mental well-being, and builds community. By dedicating ourselves to enriching lives through art and craft, Arrowmont provides an irreplaceable space for learning, healing, and connection. Your generous support is critical to sustain this mission.
Help us reach our fundraising goal of $200,000 by December 31, and invest directly in the future of arts and craft education.
Craft is Opportunity
Your gift creates life-changing opportunities at Arrowmont. As artist Cat Bates says, “Access to opportunity is a fundamental step in living in a better world,” giving people “meaningful opportunities to [experiment] and to find out what they’re passionate about.” For many, the only barrier to their creative purpose is access.
Your commitment helps tear those barriers down. This past year alone, donor support helped us award over 150 scholarships and more than $250,000 in financial aid. As printmaker Ashton Ludden shared, “You’re giving opportunities people wouldn’t ever have otherwise.” Your donation makes it possible for anyone to find their purpose and thrive at Arrowmont.
Craft is Community
Arrowmont is more than a campus—it’s a creative home where your support ensures the vibrant community at its heart continues to flourish. Your donation sustains this magical exchange of ideas, directly helping maintain the historic buildings and studios that provide the sacred time and space for artists to connect, create, and thrive together.
Your support for Arrowmont creates ripples far beyond what you might imagine. As artist and instructor Mark Errol shared, “Your reach is huge when you donate…This place changes people’s lives.” Your gifts directly put tools in hands and open doors to new possibilities, offering transformative experiences that build confidence and help students find opportunities they never knew existed.
For many emerging artists, this support is a critical turning point; instructor G.V. Kelley attests that a scholarship is a “foot in the door in a way that could be trajectory changing.” Your generosity ensures that Arrowmont remains a safe space where the power of craft is integral to our lives, helping us “express ourselves… get through hard times and just build community,” as Intern Hazel Eden beautifully puts it. Your gift is an investment in changing lives.
Craft is Heritage
For young people across Central Appalachia, access to art is often severely limited, risking a disconnection from their own rich cultural legacy. Your support for programs like ArtReach and Legacy steps into this gap.
These outreach programs directly put tools in the hands of children and provide hands-on instruction in the traditional crafts of the region, from weaving to woodworking. By doing so, you not only preserve the unique artistic heritage of the mountains, but more importantly, you instill in a new generation the confidence, creativity, and sense of pride that comes from connecting their own hands to their history. Your donation ensures that the traditions of craft live on, not in a museum, but in the vibrant future of every child.
