Baltimore Community Weaving Studio’s ‘Weave Where You Are: Foraged Basket Making’ workshop

I co-founded the Baltimore Community Weaving Studio(BCWS) in May. The BCWS is a space where anyone can learn to weave, regardless of their identity or ability to pay. Craft skills like weaving are financially inaccessible due to the high start-up cost of materials and equipment, time intensiveness—time crafting equals time not working for pay– and the intersecting systems of oppression that keep those resources out of reach for many. The BCWS provides all materials, tools, equipment and instruction to participants at no cost to them. We teach in our space in the Waverly neighborhood of Baltimore City. Additionally, Our “Weave Where You Are” workshops travel across the DMV to meet people in their own communities. In our “Weave Where You Are : Foraged Basket Making” workshop participants learn to identify, harvest and process plants that grow abundantly in their surrounding urban environment. Participants are then facilitated through making professional quality baskets from their foraged materials. A set of foraging and basket making tools costs $100. Each workshop requires 20 hours of labor –planning, outreach, correspondence, instruction, follow up, etc. This micro-grant will purchase 10 sets of tools and pay labor costs for one workshop. The workshop will be held monthly once we have the tools. Some benefits to participants: - facilitation of collective stewardship and appreciation of urban environment and natural resources - time spent time actively engaged in the outdoors which has myriad health benefits - acquisition and refinement of traditional craft skills that can be used professionally or for enjoyment - this is an activity that participants can continue to do, for free, even after the workshop