participant-type
: Other
Welcome Blanket is a nationwide participatory art project working to build a new American tradition of welcome. Since 2017, thousands of people across the United States have crafted handmade blankets and shared their stories of immigration, migration, and relocation.
These works are exhibited together in museums, airports, libraries, schools, and other public spaces to create opportunities for conversation about craft, immigration, belonging, and what it means to be a neighbor. Following each exhibition, the blankets are thoughtfully gifted through partner refugee-serving organizations to newly arriving neighbors.
With making, storytelling, and generosity, Welcome Blanket transforms individual acts of care into a collective expression of belonging. Each blanket carries the history of the person who made it and becomes a tangible greeting for someone beginning a their new chapter.
This radically friendly, open invitation has been embraced by people ages 4 to 104. More than 8,000 blankets have been created and exhibited at institutions including the Smart Museum of Art, Museum of Design Atlanta, Fuller Craft Museum, and Los Angeles International Airport.
More than an art project, Welcome Blanket is an effort to shape culture, demonstrating how ordinary people can create connection, strengthen civic life, and help build a new American tradition of welcome with our hands, our hearts, and our histories.
Join us.
WelcomeBlanket.org
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The American Veteran Arts Collective (AVAC) is a nonprofit workforce intermediary connecting veterans and military-connected communities with meaningful careers across museums, libraries, archives, humanities organizations, cultural institutions, and the broader creative economy.
Through partnerships with organizations including the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, universities, and arts organizations, AVAC expands awareness of the diverse professions that preserve, interpret, and shape America’s cultural heritage.
By helping veterans translate the leadership, project management, communications, and operational skills developed through military service into cultural careers, AVAC strengthens both the veteran workforce and the institutions that steward our nation’s stories. As America approaches its 250th anniversary, AVAC is committed to ensuring that veterans are not only represented within our shared history, but are actively helping preserve, interpret, and shape the cultural life of the nation for generations to come.
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The San Diego Pottery Tour is a cooperative effort by a group of ceramists and potters in San Diego, California to promote the ceramic arts through an annual open studio tour that takes place in early December each year. The Tour is now in its 19th year.
Starting with only three potters in its first year, the 2026 San Diego Pottery Tour features seventeen open studio locations around San Diego. Including invited local and national artists, about 50 ceramist will be presenting new work in clay during the two-day weekend this year, with demonstrations at some of the studios.
A map of the host studios is available on the website, with GPS links for driving directions. The San Diego Pottery Tour is free and self-guided, and attendees can visit the studios in any order.
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Widely published home that was specifically designed to accommodate the Grotta’s and their extensive museum quality collections of mainly mid-century modern craft and design.
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Heath Ceramics is a designer-maker with hands in clay and roots in California. Founded in 1948 by Edith and Brian Heath, and stewarded since 2003 by Catherine Bailey and Robin Petravic, Heath continues to shape California modern design through dinnerware and tile, hand-thrown pieces from the Heath Clay Studio, and goods for the home from likeminded makers.
All ceramics are made from start to finish in the company’s two San Francisco Bay Area factories, an important principle of the business that ensures Heath’s philosophy, values, and products remain deeply connected.
To protect the long-term integrity of the company, Heath transitioned to a Purpose Trust-owned business in 2026 and is accountable to its Purpose: to keep artisanal craft alive through products and experiences rooted in design and making. This extends to collaborating with makers, designers, artists, chefs, and organizations across design, craft, food, and culture.
Heath is proudly B Corp certified and a champion of craft, bringing beauty, integrity, and positive impact to the world we share.
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The Free Library of Philadelphia advances literacy, guides learning, and inspires curiosity. Its vision is to build an enlightened community devoted to lifelong learning.
With 54 locations, the Free Library system offers millions of digital and physical materials, more than 22,000 programs and workshops each year, free public computers, extensive Wi-Fi access, and rich special collections, including those housed at Parkway Central Library.
Welcoming more than 5 million in-person visits and 5 million online visits annually, the Free Library is one of the largest public library systems in the United States.
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The expanded Cowan Pottery Museum is located primarily on the first floor of Rocky River Public Library (renovated in 2006-2007). It features over 1200 pieces of a distinctive form of American art pottery created by R. Guy Cowan and his associates at the Cowan Pottery Studio in Lakewood, Ohio from 1913-1917, and in Rocky River, Ohio from 1920-1931.
The Cowan Pottery Studio was one of the nation’s leading potteries during the 1920s and the Cleveland area’s only major pottery. Cowan Pottery represents a visual cultural heritage unique to Rocky River and Cleveland.
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Founded as the Library Company in 1774, Hartford Public Library has remained at the forefront of redefining the urban library experience for over 250 years.
The Library has seven full-service locations, two Boundless Library locations, and multiple outreach services, including the Library on Wheels and Story Stash, a 24/7 pickup locker. HPL provides education, intellectual enrichment, and cultural development for thousands of children, youth, and adults.
HPL has gained local and national recognition for its wide range of new initiatives and partnerships designed to meet the needs of a diverse and dynamic city and region, including immigration services, employment assistance, and youth leadership training. For more information, visit hplct.org
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M&S Schmalberg is a fourth-generation, family-owned fabric flower studio located in New York City’s historic Garment District.
Founded in 1916, the company preserves a rare American craft tradition as the last remaining domestic manufacturer of handcrafted fabric flowers. Using vintage dies and time-honored techniques, skilled artisans create custom flowers for fashion, theater, film, and special events.
M&S Schmalberg welcomes visitors for guided studio tours and hands-on flower-making experiences, offering a unique opportunity to witness and participate in this enduring craft.
The studio was featured in the EAST episode of the Peabody Award-winning PBS series Craft in America.
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The Gallery at Grace is a fine art exhibit space located within Grace Church that features both professional and emerging regional artists who work in all media: sculpture, paint, ceramics, textiles, photography, and more…
Grace is an Episcopal church located on an island 35 minutes west of Seattle by ferry. Designed by the architectural firm Cutler-Anderson in 2003, the church structure of glass and beams reflects a distinctive Pacific Northwest ethos.
Visitors are always welcome. Grace is located on 10 acres which includes wooded trails that connect with the island trail system, a labyrinth, and a playground. The Gallery is open 6 days a week: Monday – Friday, 9 -1; Sunday until noon; and by appointment: gallery@gracehere.org.
An open and affirming congregation, Grace is part of: the Diocese of Olympia, a group of Episcopal congregations in western Washington; The Episcopal Church; and the world-wide Anglican Communion, a global family of 85 million Christians whose roots lie in the Church of England.
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Our mission is to enrich lives through hand-weaving.
The Hartford Artisans Weaving Center is a non-profit creative community that preserves, promotes, and teaches the craft of hand-weaving. We teach classes to the public, curate exhibits and sales, and run a unique artisan program. The artisan program teaches weaving to people who are blind, visually-impaired, and anyone 55 and older.
To the best of our knowledge our artisan program is the only one of its kind in the nation, where people who are blind or older in age are creative members of a community that works together to create hand-woven products. Some of our artisans have been weaving with us since we opened in 2009. The Weaving Center is know nationwide for its high quality, beautiful products and innovative artisan program.
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- Pond Farm Pottery, located in Austin Creek State Recreation Area in rural Guerneville, California, was the home and studio of Bauhaus-trained ceramicist Marguerite Wildenhain. For decades, Wildenhain taught summer sessions of up to 24 students, focusing on form and function, while addressing each student’s development as an artist. Wildenhain created a vast body of work of wheel thrown pieces and sculpture over her years at Pond Farm. She also authored 3 books, traveled extensively, and presented seminars, lectures, and exhibitions across the United States.
In December 2023, Pond Farm was designated as a National Historic Landmark (NHL). Today, docent-led tours bring Wildenhain’s story to life as visitors tour the grounds. The Barn Studio remains unchanged, its wheels and upstairs gallery a part of each tour. One imagines the energy, trepidation, and excitement of working under a Master Potter with high standards and equally high expectations of every student.
Now, every summer, six artists are selected for the Artist in Residence program. Surrounded by giant redwood, eucalyptus, and pines, guest artists reflect and develop ideas, finding their creative muse.
Arts in the Parks, a California State Parks initiative, brings 4th graders to experience how nature and art are inseparable. Led by docents, students hear Wildenhain’s story and create on site, linking history with their present selves.
Pond Farm is managed by volunteers from Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods.
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Founded in 2009 by Steve Dilley, MFA, The Veterans Art Project (VETART) began as a single ceramics class at Grossmont College and has grown into a nationally recognized arts-based wellness and workforce development organization serving veterans, active-duty service members, spouses, dependents, and caregivers. Rooted in the belief that creative practice builds resilience, belonging, and purpose, VETART offers free, hands-on training in ceramics, glass casting, bronze casting, painting, drawing, and storytelling.
What began as a community-based studio program has evolved into a multi-partner ecosystem collaborating with museums, universities, Vet Centers, the VA, and community organizations across Southern California and beyond. Today, VETART is the only Department of War SkillBridge-approved arts training site in the nation, preparing transitioning service members for careers in the creative economy while strengthening social connection and emotional wellness.
Through deep arts engagement, exhibitions, and public programming, VETART transforms military experience into creative leadership—building community, restoring purpose, and advancing opportunity through the arts.
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The San Diego Public Library is a premier civic and cultural institution that connects our diverse community to free educational and cultural resources designed to enrich lives.
Serving more than 1.4 million residents across 342 square miles, the Library welcomes approximately 6.6 million visitors annually, making it the largest cultural institution in San Diego to offer free public programming.
Its expansive collection includes more than 5.3 million books, e-books, and audio-visual materials; 1.6 million government documents; and more than 265,295 books in 25 languages other than English, reflecting its commitment to accessibility, inclusion, and lifelong learning for all.
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Arlington Weaves ETC formerly known as The Woodmont Weavers Program, started by parents of individuals with developmental disabilities, originated in the mid 1970’s as part of the Arlington Adult Developmental Center. At the parents’ request, Arlington County assumed responsibility for operation of the program in the late 1980’s. In 2003, the county outsourced the operation of the Program to a local non-profit agency. ServiceSource is the current provider.
The Program teaches independence, as well as technical and social skills to its participants. The Program supports these individuals to prepare for and engage in meaningful employment and/or training to increase their functional skills and self-sufficiency. In addition, these individuals have learned to weave and to produce handcrafted woven art and products. Weaving can be therapeutic to individuals with developmental disabilities as they increase motor skills, strengthen memory and concentration and develop their confidence.
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