Since 2017, CERF+’s Get Ready Grants have awarded up to $500 to individual artists working in craft disciplines to conduct activities that will help safeguard their studios, protect their careers and prepare for emergencies. In response to the continuing changes that artists are making to their careers as a result of COVID-19, this cycle we will also be supporting artists in acquiring career skills and business assets required in the current and post-pandemic creative economy.
CERF+ broadly defines eligible artists to include those who create work using historically recognized craft materials such as clay, glass, textiles, wood, metal; as well as those whose work expands on these historical definitions through the incorporation of non-traditional materials, new technologies and experimental approaches. CERF+ is equally committed to the preservation of folk and traditional arts, as rooted in, and reflective of, the cultural life of a community. We serve artists at all stages of their careers and seek to support people from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds. Eligibility is not determined solely by the amount of money an artist generates from their work and we recognize that many individuals have careers that rely on multiple streams of income and financial support.
Craft objects may be functional or nonfunctional, but both types derive part of their meaning from their association with traditional functional forms such as chairs, vessels, garments or implements, and/or their association with cultural tradition. Qualities that contribute to the success of a craft object include the skill of the maker, the use of the material, the refinement of the design, the originality of expression, its cultural significance – or all of these.