Pocosin Arts Folk School has been awarded a $75,000 Economic Innovation grant from the NC Rural Economic Development Center to create a craft metals business incubator.  The Pocosin Arts program will emphasize “up-cycling” -- taking locally available used materials and transforming them into original, beautiful, functional objects such as finely-crafted art jewelry that combines discarded tin or aluminum with fine metals.  Other up-cycled metal objects will include toys, trays, containers, musical instruments, ornaments, candelabras and utensils.

“This program is designed to bridge the gap between the world of art/craft creation and production and the world of business.  The skilled artists and artisans need business skills and capital.  The banks and venture capitalists need innovative ideas and new products.  Pocosin Arts is confident this program expansion will have a positive impact on the economy of downtown Columbia, ” says Pocosin Arts’ Executive Director, Feather Phillips.

The incubator site will contract with top level professionals to teach craft skill development and business skill development. The first of two nine-week pilot programs will begin in January 2010.  Each program will accept six full time students.  Pocosin Arts has posted the Project Coordinator job position and application on the web-site www.pocosinarts.org.  The Coordinator will begin work September 1, 2010.

Pocosin Arts has operated its teaching studio and gallery on Main Street in Columbia, Tyrrell County since 1995.  In the past fifteen years Pocosin Arts has welcomed thousands of visitors to the gallery, hosted classes and workshops in its teaching studio, provided arts enrichment programming in the Tyrrell County Schools, and built a life long learning adult education retreat program which has attracted participants from fourteen states.

The Rural Center’s Economic Innovation Grants Program supports innovative local and regional economic development projects that spur business activity, create jobs and further public and private investment in rural North Carolina.  Priority funding areas for 2009-2010 were rural manufacturing innovation, growth of the green economy, community-based economic innovation and pathways out of poverty.  The program was created as part of the General Assembly’s Economic Infrastructure Fund.

March 19th through May 22nd, 2010