An Introduction to Marafiki Arts

If you are visiting this blog, then you are probably someone affiliated with textiles and fiber arts, an artist, or someone interested in Marafiki Arts as an organization. You have come to the right place! Marafiki Arts has a few main goals that it reaches through its initiatives in Kenya and in Philadelphia. These goals include: -Sustainability: Creating unique, fashion forward products from organic, ethically sourced, locally produced materials. -Education: Both in Kenya and in Philadelphia. -Hands-on training: Teaching traditional skills in textile production and design as well as business practices to promote self-sustaining skills and renewable sources of income for women. -Revive Kenya’s once thriving textile industry from a grassroots level. Marafiki Arts remains focused on its intention of an educational and cultural non-profit exchange between artisans in Wote, Kenya and designers, youth, and the community of Philadelphia. Marafiki Arts achieves this intention of creating an educational and cultural exchange through various programs. The organization works with farmers in the Wote region of Kenya to develop the raw materials such as cotton or wool, which are then used at St. Patrick’s Vocational Training Center. A textile workshop in Wote, Kenya, St. Patricks’ provides training to women in screen printing on fabric, natural dyeing, paper making, and other ecologically-minded crafts. By both developing skills and using these items for sale on a global scale, the women involved are able to sustain long-term benefits from their training. Lucy Lau Bigham, the co-founder of Marafiki Arts, acts as a community leader in Wote, Kenya, as well as in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Community in Wote is brought about by shared knowledge and the development of skills, while community in Philadelphia is brought about by an exchange of culture. Bigham worked in Philadelphia at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, as well in collaboration with fellow textile artists Cynthia Porter and Christina Roberts. Workshops with underprivileged Philadelphia youth with Porter, Roberts, and Bigham, as well as research and workshops in natural dyes by Christina Roberts have allowed the connection between Kenya and Philadelphia to grow. Marafiki Arts hopes to grow and continue to get support for its programs, and further make sustainability, education and cultural exchange possible.