BAINBRIDGE ARTISAN RESOURCE NETWORK
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Mission Statement
BARN's mission is to grow and inspire a creative community through craft, learning, and service.
About This Cause
BARN began in 2012, when a group of woodworkers focused on creating a community woodshop joined with other artisan groups and community leaders. A steering committee visited craft centers in other communities and interviewed key personnel at the local school and park districts, library, and art museum. Local artists were invited to a community meeting to get their input. Gradually a clear vision for BARN emerged. Rather than being a cluster of artist rental studios, it would be a community center where people work alongside one another. After searching without success for a building to renovate, the BARN board found an ideal, centrally located site and purchased the 2-acre property in November 2013. The board contracted with Johnpaul Jones, an internationally renowned architect who lives on Bainbridge, and various engineering firms to design BARN’s 25,000-square-foot artisan center. The total cost, including the land, is estimated at $8.5 million, more than $7 million of which had been raised by May 1, 2016. To begin building programs and membership, and to test what the community supports, the BARN board rented a 2,000-square-foot temporary location in the spring of 2014. BARN began offering classes, open studio time, and other events there that June. BARN now (as of May 1, 2016) has 200 paid members and 1,600 people signed up to receive news about programs. About 500 individuals have participated in classes, many of them multiple times. About 22 percent of those who have given us their home town are from neighboring communities, mostly in Kitsap County but also from King, Mason, and Jefferson counties. One reason for this growth: No other place in the West Sound offers access to tools, training and collaboration in such a wide range of crafts. When BARN formed, Bainbridge already had a thriving arts community, with many private artist studios, galleries, and non-profit arts organizations, including Bainbridge Arts & Crafts. Now there is even the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. But Kitsap lacks a publicly accessible, non-profit training facility for craft, similar to Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle, Schack Art Center in Everett, and artEast Art Center in Issaquah. That’s why Greg Robinson, the executive director of the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, refers to BARN is the “missing link” in the region’s visual arts facilities. BARN also responds to specific community needs. Students who are not well served by local schools’ focus on academics need a place that nurtures artistic and mechanical skills. The growing “maker” community needs access to tools such as laser cutters and 3D printers. The island’s many practicing artists need a place to gather and expand their skills. And people moving into apartments and condos (the major new housing on Bainbridge) need a place to work, not just take classes. From the beginning, BARN organizers focused on working cooperatively and filling unmet community needs. BARN elected not to include a ceramics studio because the Bainbridge Island park district had recently refurbished its ceramics center, the only park facility offering specialized craft tools. But the park district was happy to turn over its limited jewelry program to BARN; in our temporary center, that program has grown and is thriving. The art museum often features craft exhibits but has only two classrooms; it and BARN are eager to partner on exhibit-related classes that require tools. BARN has reached out to local artists who offer classes in private studios. We have featured them as speakers and hired them to teach BARN classes; some have expanded their skills by enrolling in BARN programs outside their specialty. BARN’s strategy for building its programs is based on developing core members who purchase annual memberships and take an ownership role in creating a vibrant community center. The backbone of BARN, they are engaged in enhancing their craft, mentoring others, and volunteering in a variety of ways. They provide the spark for lively programs that bring in other participants. BARN currently pays instructors as contract employees but otherwise depends on a part-time administrative assistant and volunteers. We anticipate that as the leadership shifts from founding members to new people, BARN will need to rely less on tireless volunteers, especially for administrative tasks, and more on a hired staff. By then, programs will have grown to support that. Some of our programs operate in the daytime, others at night or on weekends because we work to accommodate different schedules. BARN programs are typically open to people 14 years old and older. We also expect to offer programs tailored to younger children and to parents and children working together.