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Employment Prospects |
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Employment Prospects: Professional Craft: Pottery gives students looking for intensive training in pottery production and marketing an option close to home that can be completed in two years. The graduates of the proposed program, like most professional potters, will likely be self-employed and will need to develop markets for their work. The market for fine craft of the type Professional Craft graduates will be trained to produce is strong and maturing. |
A University of Kentucky study on the impact of the arts on Kentucky's economy reports that the total grants and sales of Kentucky craft artists in 1996 was 10.4 million dollars.
The centerpiece of Kentucky's state-sponsored craft marketing efforts, Kentucky Crafted: The Market, showed an increase between 1998 and 1999 in the number of wholesale craft buyers at its two day event in Louisville from 385 to 455. Total sales by craft exhibitors at the event was over $660,000.
In nearby North Carolina, craftspeople in 20 Appalachian North Carolina counties have an annual economic impact of $122 million. The Southern Highland Handicraft Guild did $3 million in sales in 1999 at four shops (three on the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina and one in Gatlinburg, Tennessee), marking the best sales year ever for the Guild. Graduates of the Professional Craft: Pottery program at SECC will be able to enter these markets.
The strong economy nationally increases the demand for fine craft, as most craft is bought with disposable income. For example, in western North Carolina, a boom in new housing starts has increased demand for craft for interior decorating purposes. New housing starts in western North Carolina have also increased demand has increased for potters with a specialty in architectural craft, particularly personalized tile work.
The Internet and the explosion of electronic commerce is creating new opportunities for the marketing of the wares of graduates of the Professional Craft program. According to a craft industry trade paper, traffic on arts and crafts related web sites has increased between 10 and 20 per cent each of the last three years. The Internet has also increased the accessibility of information about the thousands of art and craft festivals around the country. These fairs and festivals are a major source of sales for professional craftspeople.
Students in the Professional Craft program will learn to tap into these marketing opportunities and explore the support infrastructure for fine crafters regionally and nationally. Organizations such as the Southern Highlands Craft Guild, The Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen, the Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation, the Kentucky Craft Marketing Program (a project of the Kentucky Arts Council), and HandMade in America exist to support the work of craftspeople like those trained at SECC. Major new projects in Berea and Hindman to increase marketing support for craftspeople are well underway and will further increase the economic viability of graduates of the Professional Craft program.
The program's focus on the development of small business management and marketing skills as well as craft production builds on the best models in the field for maximizing the earning capacity of craftspeople. The program's emphasis on the business of craft will lead students through a structured exploration of existing markets and deliberately help them in building the network of contacts necessary to create a market for their work.
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