Maine Furniture School Receives $250,000 Challenge Grant from The Kresge Foundation

Center for Furniture Craftsmanship expansion includes nation's first year-round artists' community for furniture makers

ROCKPORT, Maine - The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, an innovative arts school on the coast of Maine, has received a $250,000 challenge grant from The Kresge Foundation that will help the school expand to create a nine-month course and the nation's first year-round artists' community for furniture makers.

The prestigious grant from The Kresge Foundation represents a major step forward as the school announces a $2.4 million capital campaign aimed at providing more people with the opportunity to learn the art of furniture making.

Founded in 1992 and established as a non-profit educational organization in 1999, the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship currently enrolls more than 270 students a year in a variety of intensive classes taught by nationally known instructors. Courses take place in a 4,200-square-foot workshop situated on 11 acres of meadow and woods along the Oyster River in Rockport.

Students come from around the world and are both avocational and professional woodworkers. Courses range from introductory to advanced. The Center's mission is to provide the best possible education for people who want to design and build functional, beautiful, expressive furniture out of wood to the highest standard of craftsmanship. The school's web site is www.woodschool.org.

"People engage in fine woodworking because they find it so immensely satisfying," said Peter Korn, the Center's founder and executive director and author of the widely read Working With Wood: The Basics of Craftsmanship. "So much of modern life takes place at a keyboard or in an office, with intangible results. But in woodworking the measure of your effort is right there in front of you."

Demand for the school's courses, consisting of 25 one- and two-week workshops and two 12-week "intensives," is so high that hundreds of applicants are turned away each year. Classes are limited to 12 participants, who have round-the-clock access to a fully equipped shop and daily instruction by two or more full-time instructors. Participation will increase significantly as a result of the capital campaign.

The expansion will launch a new Studio Fellowship Program, which will be the first major program in the country serving emerging and professional furniture makers. Combining aspects of artists' communities and university fellowships, the purpose of the program is to provide a stimulating environment to encourage the exploration of new work. Studio Fellows will have the benefits of free shop space and access to lectures and demonstrations throughout the year by the school's extensive faculty, which numbers more than 25 permanent and visiting instructors.

According to Tom Moser, president of Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers and a member of the Center's Honorary Board, the Center's faculty "have a national reputation for excellence as teachers, and more importantly, as the makers of the finest wood craftsmanship which our country currently produces."

To date, the Center's capital campaign has received gifts and pledges totaling $1.3 million, including that from the Kresge Foundation. To receive the $250,000 challenge grant, the school is required to raise the balance of its capital campaign goal of $2.4 million from new private gifts and grants by February 1, 2004.

Half of the funds raised through the capital campaign will be used for new buildings and equipment. A "Main Building" will provide space for a new Nine-month Program designed for aspiring professional furniture makers and dedicated amateurs who seek in-depth training. A "Gallery Building" will house an exhibition gallery, a library, and offices. A "Studio Building" will contain the Studio Fellowship Program. Other goals of the campaign include a $600,000 endowment for the Studio Fellowships, and a $300,000 endowment for long-term maintenance and repair of the new structures.

The expansion will mean even more Maine woodworkers will have the opportunity to teach and study at the school. Also, the school will continue to draw new furniture makers into the state.

"The Center's growth is a major success story for Maine," said Alden C. Wilson, director of the Maine Arts Commission. "It provides world-class education in a field traditional to our economy and advances fine furniture making as a vibrant, contemporary medium of expression."

About the Kresge Foundation
The Kresge Foundation, one of the preeminent foundations in the country, is an independent, private foundation created by the personal gifts of Sebastian S. Kresge. It is not affiliated with any corporation or organization. Grants are made toward projects involving construction or renovation of facilities and the purchase of major capital equipment or real estate. Grant recipients have raised initial funds toward their respective projects before requesting Foundation assistance. Approximately 160 grants are awarded each year through a highly competitive application process.

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Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Rockport, ME