State Grant Will Support

Craft Center’s Programs

BROOKFIELD — Brookfield Craft Center has been awarded a grant of $14,063 from the newly created Connecticut Commission on Arts, Tourism, History, Culture and Film. The new state agency administers several support initiatives that positively affect quality of life in Connecticut.

Grant funds will be used to expand the center’s nationally respected education and exhibition programs which “promote and preserve the skills and values of fine craftsmanship, creativity and good design,” according to the Center’s Executive Director, John I. Russell.

Brookfield Craft Center offers a full spectrum of hands-on studio arts classes and workshops taught by local artisans and visiting master craftsmen from across America. More than 300 topics are offered each year in four seasonal sessions, which enroll more than 1,500 students from throughout New England.

The Lynn Tendler Bignell Exhibition Gallery at Brookfield Craft Center features original, curated shows that spotlight important trends and issues affecting the nation’s fine craft community. Four shows are produced each year highlighting the work of some of the country’s most important fine craft artists.

The non-profit center was founded in 1954. It has become one of America’s finest non-academic schools for professional craft studies. In 1982 the craft center received the state’s highest award for excellence in the arts: The Governor’s Arts Award. The center’s main mill building, constructed in 1780, is a Connecticut State Landmark.

The center’s picturesque, Colonial vintage campus, which overlooks the Still River at Halfway Falls, is at 286 Whisconier Road (Route 25), just east of the intersection with routes 7/202. Call 775-4526 or visit www.BrookfieldCraftCenter.org for more information.