Arts Council
Kentucky Arts Council Combines Programs to Expand Kentucky Crafted® Brand

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The Kentucky Craft Marketing and the Visual Arts at the Market programs of the Kentucky Arts Council have combined to form one arts marketing program for both craft artists and 2-dimensional visual artists.  The state-sponsored assistance for Kentucky artists and craftspeople in marketing, business development and promotion of their work will continue under the single Kentucky Crafted® brand.

“Kentucky Crafted has international name recognition and is associated with quality craftsmanship that spans for nearly 30 years.  The brand dates back to the establishment of the Kentucky Craft Marketing Program in 1981, through the influence of Phyllis George, who was Kentucky’s First Lady at the time,” said Lori Meadows, executive director of the Kentucky Arts Council.

The combination of the programs will build on the success of the Kentucky Crafted® brand with a total of 511 participant artists in the combined program.  It will also broaden the agency’s definition of “crafted” to include all artistic products made by hand and give greater flexibility in creating integrated marketing strategies for the arts.

The Kentucky Arts Council assists Kentucky Crafted® artists in reaching regional, national and international markets through specialized training, cooperative advertising opportunities, Web presence and the invitation to exhibit at the Governor's Derby Breakfast Celebration, the Philadelphia Buyers Market of American Craft and Kentucky Crafted: The Market.

Kentucky Crafted: The Market, is an annual wholesale/retail marketplace, produced by the Kentucky Arts Council, that features approximately 300 exhibitors of traditional and contemporary fine art and craft, along with books, musical recordings, film and Kentucky Proud food products. The next market will be held at South Wing B of the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville.  Public days will be February 21-22, 2009.

The Kentucky Arts Council is a state agency in the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet that creates opportunities for Kentuckians to value, participate in and benefit from the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

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