- Organization Name:
- The New Hartford Artisans Weaving Center
- Describe your creative piece – what is it and what has it been used for, and why is it innovative?
- Our creative piece is our newly designed website, www.weaving center.org.
The mission of the Hartford Artisans Weaving Center is to teach the craft of handweaving to blind or elderly people. Last year we opened our studio in Hartford, CT. Today we have 23 elderly or blind artisans who produce lovely, colorful handwoven goods. Our program is unique in all of CT– maybe in the whole country. People come to The Weaving Center to get out of the house, to learn a new skill or to earn some extra income. What they find when they get here is far more. First, they gain self-esteem and a sense of accomplishment from mastering the complex craft of weaving. Second, they escape the isolation so common to the blind and elderly; they become valuable members of a community of artisans where they are supported artistically. Their loneliness vanishes as they come into regular contact with the other artisans and volunteers. Third, they get the pleasure of producing beautiful handwoven items.
- What issue or problem were you working to address with this piece?
- The issue was an outdated website, created with outdated web software and a startup organization with little money who needed a state of the art website. We also had plans to sell our beautiful handwoven items in an 'online store.' Not possible with the old website.
The donation of Dreamweaver CS4 software from Tech Soup changed everything! One of our volunteers redesigned and improved the website using Dreamweaver, which she says was much easier to use than the old software. The online tutorials provided by Adobe were invaluable. Now our website projects the message: “We are professional, capable, important. We deserve your interest and support.” The general public sees the new website, learns about our mission, and then buys our handwoven goods or makes a donation to our program.
- How has your submission successfully impacted your organization’s ability to solve this issue/problem?
- We are using our website to promote our non profit organization whose mission is to promote and teach the craft of handweaving in a supportive and creative community. Our center encourages blind or elderly people to develop their interest and skills in weaving original and beautiful items. With Adobe's DreamWeaver software, we are able to do this. We have already seen an increase in sales in our store and an uptick in inquiries about our weaving program and weaving classes. Since we are a 99.5% volunteer start-up organization, this means a lot to us. Thanks, Adobe and Tech Soup!
