Though this weekend would have marked the start of Pilchuck's 2020 program season, we are excited to share the news of a transformative gift made to support artists in our community who have been affected by canceled summer programming. Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, this remarkable gift totaling nearly $1,000,000 dollars will be distributed across five of the nation’s leading craft schools - including Pilchuck Glass School (WA), Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (ME), Penland School of Craft (NC), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (TN), and Peters Valley School of Craft (NJ). 

This anonymous gift was made with the intention of providing financial relief to artists whose residencies, workshops, programming, and educational support work had been cancelled as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. In total over 550 artists will benefit from this support, across the country and internationally, which helps recognize the time and effort they put into preparing to spend part of their summer in service to our schools.

On Friday morning we reached out to our community of artists whose sessions at Pilchuck were canceled to share the exciting news that, because of this generous gift, we will be able to meet the obligations for our teaching artists while also sending a modest payment to all the other artists who had been engaged to help make our summer programming a reality. 

"On behalf of the members of the Pilchuck family, I want to thank the anonymous donor for this beautiful act of kindness. We are grateful for the opportunity to help facilitate this gift. Thank you!”  

- Christopher R. Taylor, Executive Direct

Since 2012 Pilchuck, Haystack, Penland, Arrowmont, and Peters Valley have been working together as a consortium to promote craft education on a national level. In recent months we have continued to support one another in new ways, by thinking through the implications of a global health pandemic on our respective organizations and learning from each other as we move through these difficult times.

Our partnership and ongoing collaboration has allowed the opportunity to advocate for the artists who are central to our mission and we are profoundly grateful for the unprecedented support we have received on their behalf.

We are inspired by the generosity of our community – it certainly reflects the kindness and passion of our supporters. Thank you all for your support over the years and in the future!