My views of what we must do to promote lace making are unique. At age 78, I'm interested in propelling us forward into the future and have been trying to donate my library to a museum research facility that will be more accessible than my home in Maine. It is a difficult task and (for me) uncharted territory. This commitment will provide a foundation of knowledge for just plain lace makers, teachers, lace writers, and lace artists of the future. For 45 years I have endeavored to know what Lace and Embroidery happenings are around me, so I belong to (from south to north) Chesapeake Region Lace Guild, Lost Art Lacers of North Jersey, New England Lace Group, Lacemakers of Maine and Canadian Lacemaker Gazette. A friend belongs to Liberty Lacers. This means Maine lace makers have a good idea of what is happening along the North American East Coast from Washington DC. to Canada. It would be nice if more people had the curiosity to reach beyond their local group, so they can broaden their ideas for programs and relationships with the public. Multiple dues cost a lot of money at the individual level. They are funded from my book budget, meaning I buy less books per year. Daily writing about lace for up to 6 hours steals time away from manual labor needed by home and orchard. If I can arise at 6 am and spend 2 hours working on the land, I imagine others could use such time to promote lace. Does your lace guild's newsletter editor share with other lace guild editors? If she does, that is the practical way to stay "connected". I recommend that (if possible) newsletters be printed and put in an attractive binder that is available for members to peruse at meetings. As a firm policy, everyone must respect the personal contact information sometimes given. *No phones photographing personal contact information should be allowed.* The binder should be marked "PRIVATE, Do not photograph contents" and updated at least quarterly. Someone should be designated to handle this; perhaps the person who brings books from the local group's library to meetings. We must unite to gain publicity strength. A quarterly national bulletin/magazine is not enough. Just back from an OIDFA Congress in beautiful Slovenia, I wish you could see the thick packet of very lovely publicity materials each local lace community there has made available for their guests from around the world. When I go to our Lacemakers of Maine meeting this week, I know they are going to be very impressed by what small local Slovenian governments have done to promote lace. This has given me the idea that everyone needs to contact local/state arts groups that are supported by OUR tax dollars. We all need to learn how to promote lace, and appoint someone to do it. It is when publicly available information spreads across our various nations that we will be able to approach the moneyed and government agencies for financial support for lace artists. You've had some time to think about my letter on July 22nd on this subject. Have you been inspired to sit down and write an announcement about a lace meeting or other coming event for your local community? Have you investigated Meetup.com? We have over 1,000 members of Arachne. I'd love to read what you have done to publicize lace making over the past weekend (3 days). Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center
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