ATA's Sonu Rangnekar with weavers in Assam

Local markets increasingly important,
Sandur's store in Karnataka

Local design skills, bags from Shraik in Karnataka

Colleagues in India's craft enterprise development visiting ATA - Ramya Narayaman of League of Artisans; Pradeep Kashyap, President America India Foundation and Chandrika Tandon, founder League of Artisans.

India

Program Name: Artisan Enterprise Development Alliance Program (AEDAP) (Program Elements include India Market Readiness Program, Designer Mentoring & Trade Show Participation)

Funders: Multiple, in a Public-Private Partnership Current partners for this include The American Express Foundation, The Ford Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, the West Foundation, The Rohatyn Group and, as an implementing partner, All India Artisans & Craft Workers Welfare Association (AIACA) that is engaged in policy advocacy work and in creating identity for genuine Indian handicrafts through its Craftmark initiative.

India, Motherland of Crafts
India was and still is - the motherland of crafts, long before Mahatma Gandhi's revival of hand -spinning, and even now with India's leap into internet technology, the artisan sector makes up a huge part of the Indian economy, as it employs the second largest workforce after agriculture. From incredible work in marble down to the simplest leather sandals or simple ceramics, generations of skilled and talented artisans produce for the building trades, the home furnishings and fashion industries.

ATA's program tailored to India's high skill level
ATA's specific usefulness lies in its ability to offer the "Market Link", a program that closes the gap between the "Maker and the Market", a program that meets the universal need expressed by the world's artisans for market access. ATA's presence heretofore in India has been modest but frequent through its Maker to Market Grants Program funded by American Express and its Export Readiness Training Program funded by the Ford Foundation.

The new five-year ATA program was designed with and complements the work and expertise of numerous Indian organizations, enterprises and government organizations. As Ashoke Chatterjee, ATA board member, wrote "Market success has to be at the heart of this effort for unless the craftsperson can be assured a decent quality of life through sustained earning nothing will keep the next generations loyal to their heritage"

Click here to learn about artisan festivals in India as well as Kala Raksha's crisis.