Refugee Artisan Initiative Grants

Refugee Artisan Initiative

We are hosting a series of Grand Opening events to officially open RAI's new Makerspace + Cultural Center located at 12337 Lake City Way NE on June 16, 2022. Specifically, the Grand Opening Community Open House will be an opportunity for our Lake City neighbors to meet our refugee and immigrant artisans, our volunteers, and staff so we can truly be an anchor for the increasingly diverse community in North Seattle. Our full day starts with a 2:00pm Ribbon Cutting with our supporters, including Mayor Bruce Harrell, Councilwoman Debora Juarez, and King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski, followed by the 3:00pm Open House where we welcome our supporters to stay to meet the community. This project will be completed by September 30,2022.

Refugee Artisan Initiative

RAI will host the RAI Holiday Work(shop) in Lake City on December 9th from 5-7 p.m. This is a free buy local event at our Lake City makerspace located at 12545 Lake City Way NE. Guests will meet our refugee and immigrant women Artisans during makerspace tours and various crafting workshops that will demonstrate the skills of our Artisans. Capacity is limited to 10 occupants who will sign up in advance for a 30 - 45 minute time slot, but the demonstrations will be recorded and edited for public access and posted on the RAI website and social media. RAI Holiday Work(shop) in Lake City will elevate awareness about reducing garment industry waste, show the public how RAI Artisans divert textile waste from landfills, and demonstrate that RAI is a welcoming and safe workplace for immigrant and refugee women, a place that has become a cultural hub in Lake City. This project will be completed by January 31,2022.

Refugee Artisan Initiative

RAI will be hosting an artisan-led RAI Holiday Elves WorkSHOP! in collaboration with Lake City community partners, Children's Home Society of Washington (CHSW), Build Lake City Together (BLCT), Thriftology, and Coyote North, and the help of our strong volunteer community to continue to introduce North Seattle to RAI artisans (refugee and immigrant women). The event will be on December 7, 2022 from 3:00 - 7:00 pm located at 12337 Lake City Way NE. Artisan's handmade crafts will be available and during the event, two to three artisans will demonstrate their sewing skills by offering a `mending and embellishment session` with community members to bedazzle clothing or upcycle holiday ornaments using products from Thriftology, Lake City's local thrift store. There will also offer fabric card-making using upcycled fabric to design holiday cards that guests can take home. This project will be completed by February 28, 2023.

Refugee Artisan Initiative

RAI is hosting Project Renew, a free field trip at our Lake City makerspace, as part of Sustainable Seattle's (Re)Generate! summit. Guests will meet our refugee and immigrant women Artisans during makerspace tours and a visible mending workshop that will teach how to create an artistic patch on torn or worn clothing that highlights the beauty of the imperfection. Capacity is 50, but the training will be recorded and edited for public access and posted on RAI's website and social media. Project Renew will elevate awareness about reducing garment industry waste, show the public how RAI Artisans divert textile waste from landfills, and demonstrate that RAI is a welcoming and safe workplace for immigrant and refugee women, a place that has become Lake City's cultural hub. The event will take place on September 16, 2021 from 5-7 p.m. located at 12545 Lake City Way NE. This project will be completed by November 30, 2021.

Refugee Artisan Initiative

Refugee Artisans Connect is a community arts project consisting of 10 free public workshops on upcycled crafts led by 38 refugee women artisans. The project also includes the creation of a 6-feet-long Peace Dove Sculpture, which will be designed and constructed by a lead artist and a team of artisans, and covered with 1,000 peace-message-feathers made by community members. The project will take place between December 2024 and October 2025 at the RAI Maker Space, and the completed Peace Dove Sculpture will debut in late 2025 at the grand opening of RAI's Arts + Cultural Center, an expansion of the Maker Space which is ready for renovation, and which will also serve as the first refugee arts and cultural center in the State of Washington. The primary purpose of our project is to increase public appreciation of the arts and cultural heritage of their refugee neighbors, while providing equitable and sustainable income for our artisans' unique talents and skill sets.

Refugee Artisan Initiative

The grand opening of our Makers Space in Lake City invites the public to celebrate people and crafts from all over the world. The event will be held at 12545 Lake City Way NE on Wednesday December 4, 2019 from 4-7:00 p.m. Our artisans are refugees and immigrants from Bhutan, China, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Morocco, and other countries. They will share their handmade garments and crafts from their own cultures, as well as food and music from their countries of origin. This free event will build connections between newly-arrived refugee families and the greater Seattle community into which they are integrating. This project will be completed by January 31, 2020.