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ABOUT US
Aid to Artisans (ATA), an international nonprofit organization, is a recognized leader of economic development for the craft industry. By linking artisans to new markets and buyers to culturally meaningful and innovative products, ATA provides needed economic opportunities to artisans while preserving the beauty of global handmade crafts. |
ATA 2009 Calendar
Available for download here.
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ATA in the News
ATA Holiday Gifts in the Press!
The Today Show
Lucky Magazine
Hartford Magazine
Washington Post Magazine
CNBC
Aid to Artisans President David O'Connor was interviewed in a segment on Collaborative Social Responsibility along with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and RED Campaign's Bobbie Shriver on the "The Big Idea" with Donny Deutsch.
Watch here.
20,000 Views of Choco Video on Myspace
Our video about displaced Colombian artisans in the Choco region has recieved nearly 20,000 views since being selected October 8 as a featured video on the Myspace "A Place For Impact" page. Please watch this moving story and click here to make a donation!
Live WNPR Interview on Global Fair Trade with Aid to Artisans, 10,000 Villages and International Correspondent for The Economist, Lane Greene. Listen here
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 Aid to Artisans is pleased to announce the election of Eric O’Leary to its new Board of Directors Chair.
“I am honored to have been asked to serve as Board Chair at ATA, and daunted at this particular moment by the world financial crisis and its impact on artisans and their families around the world,” said Eric. “We must see that we speak powerfully to the issues that confront them whether they are lead toxicity, contaminated dye processes, design services, market training or the global economic crisis. My own life as a second-generation ceramic artisan, the struggles that birthed my studio and my long involvement with the lead-free partnership in Mexico has given me a passionate perspective about the work that ATA continues to accomplish in all the diverse parts of the world we work in.”
Eric is an internationally acclaimed artist who has worked in ceramics for more than 45 years. His Tariki Studio, founded in 1972, was passed down to him from his father who was also a master ceramics artist. Eric has served as board president of a non-governmental organization called the Sierra Madre Alliance, which is dedicated to protecting the rights of indigenous people in Northern Mexico who face drug trafficking, poverty, and loss of land rights. He is also a member of American Crafts Council and National Council on Education for Ceramic Arts. Eric’s work has been featured in acclaimed museums including the Smithsonian, Museum of Fine Arts, and American Crafts Gallery. He has lectured at Harvard University and has been written about in numerous publications including The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.
Eric has always been especially intrigued by Mexican pottery and culture, and his involvement in ATA began 12 years ago in Mexico when he became a senior technical consultant for a project ATA initiated to remove lead from potters’ glazes. The non-governmental organization now called “Barro Sin Plomo” has removed toxic lead from more than 500 potters in Michoacán, and aims to expand its reach to many other regions of the country as well as the world that face serious medical problems due to lead exposure.
“We are extremely excited about Eric’s appointment. His extensive knowledge about ATA combined with his vast experience working as a ceramic artist and designer will be invaluable to us in our mission to help build economic opportunities for artisans around the world,” said David O’Connor, ATA President. |
ATA's YouTube Videos!
  
Click here to watch how ATA makes a difference, and check back each month for a new video from the field appearing on ATA's YouTube Channel. |
Global Handmade Design Innovation at the
New York International Gift Fair 
At the 2008 New York International Gift Fair (NYIGF) August 16-20 at the Javits Center, Aid to Artisans (ATA) displayed a fresh collection of hundreds of handmade products, many showing in the U.S. market for the first time.
In ATA’s Booth, ID210 in the Handmade Hall, new crafts from 13 countries including Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Haiti, India, Kyrgyzstan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, South Africa, and Tanzania were showcased. ATA works directly with artisans in these regions, helping them to design innovative products that will sell in the global market place. |
SENEGAL: NATURAL DYES & ORGANIC COTTON
 For the past two years, ATA has been working with artisans along the coastal and Dakar regions of West Africa. This year, a new pilot project launched in the city of Tambacounda, Senegal. Employing its expertise in product design and technical assistance, ATA will work with artisans to create organic, handspun, naturally dyed cotton yarn for the high end export market using energy efficient spinning wheels. The pilot project hopes to prove that by keeping resources local, hand produced rural artisan enterprises can not only concentrate profits within the community, but also reduce dependence on soaring energy costs.
In June, Docey Lewis, international textile designer, and staff member Lauren Barkume  traveled to Senegal with the USAID CE (Senegal Economic Growth Program). They helped train several artisans and met with key project leaders including Aissa Dione, a world renowned fabric weaver, and Mariama Sylla, a local exporter, artist, and dye expert. “I was struck by the beauty of the people—women in their elegant bou bous and matching headwraps dot the landscape like wild flowers,” observed Barkume on her first trip to Senegal.
They visited the pilot site in the tiny village of Maccanding, population 1300, where the women had already been trained on their two new spinning wheels and hand carders. Time trials showed that with the new wheels, they were spinning organic cotton twice as fast. As a result, they were able to learn techniques for creating thick and thin yarn, a skill that will help them export to yarn boutiques across the U.S. The new cotton machines will also help artisans earn more money by keeping their production localized. Currently, they are forced to pay for outside resources with higher level technology.
Future plans: In addition to the pilot project, ATA is planning two upcoming training activities: a Costing & Pricing Workshop that will prepare artisans for selling products to the international marketplace and a Regional Natural Dye Workshop that will train them in West African dye recipes and production. ATA is also working with UNIDO, a United Nations funded program, to create a Senegal Artisan Directory. The directory will help connect local artisans to the global marketplace. ATA and UNIDO will soon be bringing four international buyers to Senegal to scout out new products and design ideas.
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