October 05, 2004 Los Angeles: Carol Sauvion, Creator and Executive Producer of a new television series on American craft announced that her three part series, CRAFT IN AMERICA, has received a commitment from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to broadcast the series nationwide.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) also agreed to give this landmark series a $600,000 Challenge Grant which will be applied to the cost of production for the series as well as a companion website.
Sauvion enthusiastically praised CPB and PBS for their commitment to help bring American craft to a broad national television audience. Sauvion went on to say, "We have much work ahead of us as we still have to raise $1,600,000 to match CPB’s Challenge Grant."
"Surprisingly no comprehensive exploration of craft has ever been undertaken." said Jacoba Atlas, Senior Vice-President, Programming, PBS. "It's really amazing that nobody's done this, and it's something that I think most Americans would love and want to see."
In three one hour episodes entitled MEMORY, COMMUNITY and LANDSCAPE, stories of prominent craft artisans will be set against the larger historical context of craft itself. MEMORY will focus on the historical relevance of craft through the eyes of several contemporary pioneers in the field. COMMUNITY will focus on the social and emotional connections that crafts embody. LANDSCAPE will examine the interdependent relationship of craft artists to their media and the natural world.
The CRAFT IN AMERICA production team will travel throughout the United States to film artists in their homes, communities and workshops.
For further information please contact:
Carol Sauvion (310-659-9022) carolsauvion@craftinamerica.org
