Interested in more information on weaving, artisan business development, and the Peace Corps? Check out this upcoming program at the Textile Museum on S Street.

Craft for Change: Textiles and Business Development
Featuring weaving demonstrations by Smithsonian Folklife Festival participants visiting from Tonga and Peru
Wednesday, July 6, 12 to 2 p.m.
FREE. No reservations required

Sustaining cultural traditions and fostering economic growth in developing nations are two complex and often contradictory challenges. This program provides firsthand insight into tying these efforts together.

Weavers from Tonga and Peru, visiting D.C. to participate in the 2011 Smithsonian Folklife Festival Peace Corps program, will demonstrate their techniques and answer questions between 12 and 1 pm. Following this drop-in period, a panel of returned Peace Corps volunteers and international development professionals will illuminate the role of textiles in craft and artisan business development, touching on the challenges and sharing stories of their personal successes.

The panel features Kevin Healy, a returned volunteer and former USAID employee; Julia Zagar, a returned volunteer who founded a textile co-op in Peru and now owns Zagar Gallery in Philadelphia; Elena Borquist Noyes, a currently serving volunteer who is working with Tongan weavers to market their crafts; and Brittany Noetzel, U.S. County Director for Amani ya Juu, a sewing and training program for marginalized women based in East Africa.

For more information, call (202) 667-0441 or visit www.textilemuseum.org .

Click on the photo below to enlarge and view the gallery.

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• Photo courtesy of Elena Borquist Noyes.
  Photo courtesy of Elena Borquist Noyes
• Zipporah stiches with kikoy at the Amani ya Juu center in Kenya.
  Photo courtesy of Brittany Noetzel
• PCV Ryan M. Alexander, with Lucila Sifuentes (left) and Hilda Maribel Sifuentes Altamirano (center).
  Photo courtesy of Ryan M. Alexander
• The Textile Museum
  Photo courtesy of the Textile Museum