Denver Handmade Alliance

Denver Handmade Alliance Meeting
Date: Thursday, January 21 6:30pm
Location: Vital Studios

Introductions-
The Denver handmade Alliance is a group of crafters working to promote handmakers in the Denver area – fostering creativity, supporting buying handmade & shopping locally, and providing resources for small craft based businesses. We formed last fall with a small group of people when the opportunity to put on a craft fair presented its self. We are now looking to formalize the organization and get more people involved.

Create Denver Expo-
The Denver Office of Cultural Affairs is putting on Create Denver Week April 10-17.

We are looking for people to organize an event or events and possibly put together a proposal. The deadline for proposals is coming up fast, so we need to get organized pretty quickly. The proposal deadline is January 29th.

Ideas for programming generated at the meeting:
-A craft fair including maker demos, a ‘make and take away’ table, kid’s craft table, or kid’s shopping booth.
-A video interviewing crafters to be shown at the craft fair or a panel discussion during Create Denver Expo on April 10th.

The craft fair idea mostly needs a group to finalize craft fair programming so a proposal can be written. We’d like to have a meeting early next week to do that.
The video proposal needs a leader to head up the project. If anyone is interested, please let us know. As of now, we haven’t had any formal volunteers. We need someone commented to filming on the short time line before we submit the proposal.

If you’d like to help organized the craft fair, please email Crystal[at]denverhandmade.org with your availability next week.
If you’d like to pursue the creation of the video, please respond to this forum thread: http://denverhandmade.org/discuss/index.php?topic=8.0

Summer Market-
We want to do a large scale outdoor market this summer. If you’d like to help organize, please contact Brett at brett[at]vitalindustries.com.

Non-Profit Status-
We are looking to get set up as a proper organization. If you’d like to help out planning our organization structure contact Crystal. Anyone is welcome, and knowledge of the process is even better. We’re thinking of having a meeting the first week in February, so forward along your availability that week. Also, we are on the look out for possible board members!

Forums-
We now have forums up and running! Please feel free to use these to connect with others in the community. Uses for the forums that people generated at the meeting: sharing skills, sharing business knowledge, setting up equipment / tool shares, sharing craft fair experiences, ect.

Etsy Street Team-
Brett submitted to Etsy the names of those that signed up at the meeting. Etsy is working on developing more resources for teams and we will keep you posted as teams ramp up. If you haven’t signed up, the only requirement we have at the moment is coming to a meeting or event. While there get in contact with Brett and he will take your name down.

Member Links on the website-
If you signed up on the team sheet at the meeting, you will be added to the website. Otherwise, if you aren’t listed let Crystal know. Requirements for a listing on the website are the same as the team at the moment. At some point we may have a more formal member ship (possible dues?). We will deal with that when we get to it.

Calendar-
The website has a calendar with DHA events listed. This is also the place where deadlines and dates for craft fairs can and will be listed.

Blog-
We are encouraging people to contribute to the blog. So, if you have any handmade crafty topic you’d like to write about we’d love to have you. At one point we had thought of having a series interviewing crafty friendly shops in the area (those where you can sell your wares or purchase craft making supplies).
To contribute to the blog: click on Site Admin under Meta in the bottom right side bar. Create a user name and password. Then, email Crystal and she will enable you to write posts. If you need an in-person demo, let us know.

Workshop ideas-
Social media
Etsy
A couple people expressed interest in leading one of these workshops. Please contact Becky at becky[at]denverhandmade.org to work out the details. Also, if you have any other ideas, please let us know.

Misc. ideas/talking points-
Creation of a labs (similar to Etsy labs) where creatives can meet and work on projects.
DHA booths at craft shows (highlands street fair, national events)
Any ideas for planning a social event in February?

One last thing: Vital Studios is not ideal for these gatherings, so if anyone has location idea/leads we’d love to hear them!

Thanks!
The DHA team