|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
About CERF The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) was founded in 1985 by a group of craft professionals who recognized the need for a formal way to help professional craftspeople who had suffered career threatening emergencies by providing immediate help. In doing so, CERF helps sustain crafts making as a livelihood and continue a tradition that enriches the quality of life and economic vitality in our communities across the United States. CERF offers a package of services designed to help professional craftspeople face crises and return to creating their work as quickly as possible. In today's increasingly technological and impersonal world, handmade crafts are important as a way to retain our connection to beautiful objects and the people who make them. CERF's programs are specifically designed to keep temporary setbacks from turning into permanent silence. CERF's benefits to craftspeople include: interest-free loans with flexible payback dates; booth fee waivers at craft shows; discounts on materials and equipment from suppliers; resources and referrals and assistance with marketing and promotion. CERF also administers a number of funds that are earmarked to help craftspeople working in specific media, living in certain areas or facing special Challenges. Among these funds are: Geographic funds: The Vermont Fund, the California Fund and the Tennessee Association of Crafts Artists (TACA) Fund. Media-specific funds include the American Association of Woodturners Fund, The Glass Art Society Fund, and the Society of American Silversmiths Fund. Emergency related funds include the HIV/AIDS Fund; the Helping Hands Fund, for craftspeople facing homelessness or hunger; and the Elaine Potter Fund, for craftspeople who have cancer. CERF is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization; the only one of its kind in the United Sates. Since 1987, CERF has helped hundreds of craftspeople get back on the feet with loans totaling more than $200,000, and more than twice that amount in other services. Funds for CERF come from the craft community: craftspeople, crafts lovers, show producers, store and gallery owners, craft organizations, collectors, and suppliers.
|
Related Information Website: Contact Info: Cornelia Carey Executive Director Craft Emergency Relief Fund PO Box 838 Montpelier, VT 05601 Phone: 1-802-229-2306 FAX: 1-802-223-6484 e-mail: info@craftemergency.org |