Programs: Aid to Artisans
Facts
Announced:
July 7, 2010
Category:
Providing Small & Growing Businesses with Access to Financing & Business Services
Grant Amount: $380,000
Disbursed to Date: $380,000
Grant Objective:
To re-establish 3,000 artisan production jobs, expand retails revenues by 10-15 percent through product development and design consulting, and generate orders worth a projected $400,000.
-
President Bush visits with a local artisan during his March visit to Haiti.
-
In-home artisans working on papier-mâch
-
Artisans display new basket weaving techniques.
-
Haitian artisan products on display at the New York International Gift Fair.
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund has awarded a $380,000 grant to Aid to Artisans for their Haitian Business Growth Fund to invigorate the Haitian art sector.
ATA aims to invigorate the Haitian art sector by providing product development and design consultations to artisans seeking to enter the international market. Additionally, ATA is funding several Haitian artists or representatives from Haitian art collectives to attend American gift shows. They will also arrange buyer trips to Haitian artist collectives where crafts are produced in order to showcase Haitian artisan capacity and boost orders. This grant is expected to create or re-establish over 3,000 artisan production jobs, generate orders worth a projected $400,000, and boost local retail revenue in Port-au-Prince, Labadee, and Jacmel by 10 to 15 percent
ATA has completed one Trade Show to date — the NY International Gift Fair, held in August, 2010 – and is in preparations for the 2011 Atlanta and NYIGF events. Haitian products were ATA's bestseller at the NYIGF, garnering $26,510 in wholesale sales. ATA has facilitated one buyer trip to date, which resulted in a $20,355 order with Caribbean Craft and an order placed directly to Leogane artisans working in stone. ATA will reschedule one trip that was postponed due to the cholera outbreak and concerns over post-election violence and expects to recruit and confirm four additional buyer trips to Haiti by February 2011.
Aid to Artisans has sent three international designers to work directly with artisans. Export partners have also travelled aborad to help develop products for sample creation and sales, and ATA will send four more in the coming months. These designers have helped exporters Caribbean Craft and Metal Arts generate new collections for international buyers representing well-known retail chains like Anthropologie, Pottery Barn Kids, and Whole Foods Market, and have worked with numerous artisan groups to develop marketable designs for local sales distribution.
ATA’s efforts have led directly to over $96,000 in artisan product orders, and ATA estimates its work to date has generated up to 630 job units – 381 jobs employing men and 248 employing women.
Why We Invested in Aid to Artisans
Clinton Bush Haiti Fund's grant to Aid to Artisans reflects our commitment to filling near-term gaps that lay the foundation for longer-term reconstruction, by boosting production capacity and demand in this key sector of Haiti's economy.
Transforming Lives and Livelihoods
With support from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, Aid to Artisans seeks to achieve the following targets by Spring 2011:
- Create or re-establish over 3,000 artisan production jobs.
- Generate orders worth a projected $400,000.
- Boost local retail revenue in Port-au-Prince, Labadee, and Jacmel by 10% to 15%.
About Aid to Artisans
Aid to Artisans has spent 33 years creating economic opportunities for well over 100,000 artisans in more than 110 countries where their livelihoods, communities and craft traditions were at risk. Over the past ten years, Aid to Artisan's efforts have leveraged nearly $230 million in retail sales. This income has empowered 125,000 artisans (70 percent of whom are women) in 41 emerging regions of the world and has brought lasting economic growth by providing an integrated approach to product development, business skills training, market access, and eco-effective processes. Learn more about Aid to Artisans at www.aidtoartisans.org.
