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FS2020-2022 Building Place, Shaping Identity, creating community

Loca­tion: Asheville, NC.


Community Partners:

STEAM Studios

STEAM Studio is a maker­space specif­i­cally combin­ing the curric­u­lar forces of Engi­neer­ing and Art and co-founded by faculty and staff from multi­ple disci­plines to primar­ily support interdisciplinary collaborations.

BeLoved Asheville

BeLoved Asheville creates inno­v­a­tive solu­tions to some of the tough­est chal­lenges they face as a commu­nity. They try to put love into action daily through these solu­tions to make their community better.


Local Resident Fellows:

2021 Local Resident Fellows

Annie Evelyn & Ellie Richards

In this iter­a­tion of Craft for a Greater Good, Annie & Ellie will be the liaison between TFS and our part­ners at STEAM Studios and our member­ship to explore the design-build process which includes devel­op­ing designs, and proto­typ­ing furni­ture for tiny homes that will be used by BeLoved Asheville as they serve the home­less popu­la­tion in Asheville.

The launch of our new Local Resi­dent Fellow posi­tion will allow us to forge a deeper connec­tion and long-term commit­ment to our host city, ensur­ing the success of this program.


The Project:

Our primary part­ners in 2020/2021/2022 were UNCA­sheville, STEAM Studio, and BeLoved Asheville, a local non-profit build­ing a micro-home village to address the housing crisis in Asheville. These micro-homes are an afford­able, commu­nity-oriented, and sustain­able model for future repli­ca­tion.
In this iter­a­tion of Craft for a Greater Good, under the lead­er­ship of our Local Resi­dent Fellows, Annie Evelyn and Ellie Richards, we worked to create furni­ture solu­tions for the micro-home village being built by BeLoved for the home­less inse­cure popu­la­tion in Asheville.

Activ­i­ties to-date have included:

  • UNCA STEAM Studio offered a Univer­sity-level semes­ter-long course enti­tled Craft for a Greater Good: Public Art in Private Spaces.’ Local Resi­dent Fellows partic­i­pated in the design, fabri­ca­tion, and instal­la­tion of built-in cabi­netry for the BeLoved homes. This will be an ongoing offering.

  • Contin­u­ing to build furni­ture for BeLoved: we will continue build­ing furni­ture for the BeLoved micro home village and will focus our second year of the program on expand­ing the reach of the project by contin­u­ing to offer work­shops with the STEAM Studio’s youth audi­ences in the Asheville area. 

  • Present­ing about CGG: the Resi­dent Fellows will produce a series of virtual presen­ta­tions on FS Connects about CGG’s progress 

  • Commu­nity classes, Maker Exchanges: the Local Resi­dent Fellows will offer commu­nity classes and will host TFS member ideas exchanges. These events will raise aware­ness (and funds) for the BeLoved Village project.

    • Confer­ence 2022 Asheville: when we are able to come together for our next confer­ence in 2022, we will antic­i­pate a new model that will allow atten­dees to partic­i­pate in the BeLoved micro home village project. 

    • 2021/2022 build­ing continues/​Spreading the word: Begin­ning this fall, TFS will invite College furni­ture programs to partic­i­pate in CGG. Allow­ing students to contribute will teach them through personal expe­ri­ence why this kind of work is impor­tant and mean­ing­ful. Inspir­ing the spirit of CGG in the next gener­a­tion will have lasting impact.

This incar­na­tion of CGG embod­ies the kinds of possi­bil­i­ties we see for this program. Contribut­ing to some­thing as profound as creat­ing furni­ture for housing the home­less truly exem­pli­fies the program’s intent. 

For complex projects with mean­ing­ful results, we have learned that multi-year engage­ment is crit­i­cal. Extend­ing support will enable us to forge deeper, longer-term rela­tion­ships in commu­ni­ties and engage our member­ship in the process result­ing in big payoffs for the housing inse­cure commu­nity in Asheville.


Press:

Recording from FS2021 Virtual Conference

Photos from STEAM Workshop led by Brent Skidmore

Recording from FS Students Presentations with Local Fellows


Get Involved:

We Need Your Help

All Hands on Deck!

Help us Inspire young people to work with their hands, engage in creative problem solving, and under­stand the value of making, exem­plify what our field has to offer, and co-create work with lasting social benefit and impact within the community!