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 Strategic Plan 2021-2025

Connecting people through craft

On the heels of Haystack celebrating its 70th anniversary, we are looking towards our future as a leader in craft and studio-based education. In 2021, we completed a Strategic Plan that places equity at the core of our work, with the goal of expanding the ways we define and represent the field of craft.

This eighteen-month planning process was led by TDC–a Boston-based consultancy–and brought together the collective knowledge of our Staff and Board of Trustees. Together we refined our mission, core commitments and values to identify clear goals for a five-year plan, and ten-year vision. The overarching goals of the Plan involve developing flexible and critical frameworks, reimagining the way we foster community, and increasing the School’s capacity to accomplish ambitious goals and ensure long-term fiscal sustainability. The final document details key reflections and findings that helped inform our work, alongside a detailed summary of key operational and financial implications, plus a description of the governance structures that will help us to best lead the School.

The pandemic allowed Haystack to pause, and in doing so we used our time to think carefully about how we could become an even stronger organization. It was a pleasure to do this work, and we are delighted to share it with you now.

 

 Mission & Values

MISSION

Haystack connects people through craft. Located on the coast of Maine, Haystack provides the freedom to engage with materials and develop new ideas in a supportive and inclusive community. Serving an ever-changing group of makers and thinkers, we are dedicated to working and learning alongside one another, while exploring the intersections of craft, art, and design in broad and expansive ways.


VALUES

  1. We believe in the power of craft to connect people and cultures.

  2. We believe in fostering a culture of generosity, exploration, and exchange through all of our work.

  3. We believe in a community rooted in the safety, health, mutual respect, and well-being of each of its members.

  4. We believe in cultural equity and the imperative to develop new partnerships to expand the audiences with whom we collaborate.

  5. We believe in the need to actively address systemic and institutional racism by committing to the ongoing work required to become an antiracist organization.

  6. We believe in an intersectional approach to combating oppression, and commit to addressing these injustices.

  7. We believe in the importance of the land on which Haystack is located and the responsibility we have to care for it.

  8. We believe in maintaining a modesty of scale and a purposeful approach to the historic preservation and renovation of our campus.

  9. We believe in our responsibility to promote the arts and contribute to the creative lives of our community through local, regional, and statewide programming