Textile Arts Center (TAC) is a NYC-based resource facility dedicated to raising awareness and understanding of textiles through creative educational programs for children and adults. At TAC, we unite and empower the textile community and advocate for the handmade by providing accessible, skills-based classes that reinvigorate engagement with traditional crafts. Techniques like weaving, sewing, and dyeing are practical, connective, and process-driven—common denominators around the world. They are part of our collective history and vital to our ongoing expressions of design, art, and culture.
We appreciate the unique values of textile arts and want to expand opportunities for new practitioners to engage with the medium. Experiential learning is the foundation of our model and enables students from all backgrounds to make meaningful contributions to a growing community of fiber artists. By engaging with groups ranging from newcomers to experts, we increase the positive social impact of textile arts and nurture innovations and leadership in the field.
Textile Arts Center is a safe space, but not a silent space.
We can be a respite, but are not just an escape.
TAC is a place for critical thinking and dialogue.
Toni Cade Bambara once said:
"The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible."
And we are revolutionaries.
We are a place that acknowledges our history.
We are a place that imagines our future.
We are a place that uses our hands.
We are a place for female empowerment.
We are a place for empowerment of all folks to break free of gender norms.
We are a place for connections.
We are a place that educates.
We are a place that educates educators.
We are a place that volunteers our time and abilities.
We are a place that promotes self care.
We are a place where we can admit our flaws, celebrate our differences and further our ideas.
We are a community through textiles, but make no mistake we are revolutionaries.
Find your talents.
Use your talents.
Share your talents.
WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR.
2019 marked Textile Arts Center’s 10th anniversary, and a time for reflection and forward visioning, both as an organization, and as individuals invested in the future of textiles. Ten years into our journey, TAC’s commitment to unite and empower the textile community remains unwavering. It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve you, and we are grateful for your support.
Since 2009 TAC has used its platform and collective power to increase visibility of fiber arts and foster connections forged through sharing our knowledge of textiles with one another. The past ten years have brought forth projects, programs, and accomplishments including Sewing Seeds, 505 textiles, TAC Magazine, Give Back Holiday Market, unique youth programming and artist residencies and facilities. Cultural partnerships include institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Edible Schoolyard, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Art and Design, the Museum of the City of New York, and more. All thanks to our robust network of artists, academics, and educators; TAC has become a place to gather, to hold space, to learn and to teach, to make and experience art that is meaningful, thought provoking, and culturally relevant.
