After much consideration, our board has decided to pause our promotion and reposting of this year’s Clay Week event. We encourage the community to continue their events and share with the work in this week-long celebration.
We will be using this time to evaluate our mission and focus. When we first started Clay Week and Clay Week Open Studios our goal was to leverage social media to share localized events to a global audience in one large amplified week long celebration. When we first started we saw the opportunity for our community to unite and share their ideas and energy to help bring us all together and grow as a community. Fast forward to 2021 and the community has grown so much with all the social media tools. At any moment in the day you can be teleported into someone's studio and share in their practice. In some ways, clay is being celebrated everyday on these platforms. Which brings us to the question of what is our role? We’re going to take time and think about this question. If you have any ideas or suggestions send us an email.
It’s been an honor working with you all and a huge thanks to ArtAxis, NCECA, Red Clay Rambler, Amaco Brent, Make and Do Ceramics, The Ceramics School, and The Color Network for all the help over the years. And from the bottom of our hearts thank you to everyone that tuned in and participated each year to make CLAY WEEK a success. We know that NCECA will continue with their programming for this years event so checkout what they have scheduled.
Cheers and go forth to clay!
-Clay Week Board
2021 Pause
Our mission is to celebrate clay in all its iterations, from the material to the makers.
We are already planning for 2021
Get in touch and get involved!
nationalclayweek@gmail.com
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Active Value System:
Inclusive: We encourage participation from all people, no matter belief system, age, national origin, race, ability, gender identity or expression, class and education. Inclusivity is our goal. It is the foundation on which we invite participants and interact with our members.
Accessible: Our strength is creating a platform that offers equal access to anyone who uses the internet. We use free social media platforms to encourage people to connect on the devices they have access to. We are committed to being accessible to all members regardless of ability, geographic location or financial status.
Egalitarian: Within the organization we operate in a nonhierarchical structure. Our board’s decision making starts with open dialogue, during which we welcome feedback and collaboration from all community members. Decision making is done by consensus.
Community: We celebrate and amplify community involvement and broaden the scope and reach of individuals and groups.
Action Steps:
Inclusion:
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Actively seek global partners and presenters. Each year we reach out to a diverse set of institutions and communities to encourage the broadest participation possible
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Encourage a spectrum of dialogue from the casual to the academic.
Accessibility:
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Maintain the free social media platforms that we already use. Instagram, Facebook,etc. and expand into Tiktok to reach a broad age range of participants.
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Starting in 2021 we will be encouraging participants to add image descriptions for their social media images, subtitles for videos, and transcripts for audio where possible.
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Use giveaways to distribute books, virtual classes and ceramic materials to people who need them.
Egalitarian:
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Each member’s participation is voluntary.
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We encourage members to bring their outreach ideas to fruition by offering them infrastructure and assistance.
Community:
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Use our platform to amplify the achievements of our members. Support groups and individuals that are making important contributions to the field.
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Become a nonprofit to help with fundraising to support our programming.
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Partnering Organizations
Previous Partners
