In 2023, Craft Lake City partnered with Backman Elementary School, Promise South Salt Lake’s Hser Ner Moo Community Center and Salt Lake County’s Youth Services’ Kearns Jr High Afterschool Program to provide a series of afterschool artisan and entrepreneurial workshops for students. The program includes onsite visits from a variety of working artists within Craft Lake City’s network. Artists demonstrate and discuss their craft, outline their journey to becoming a successful full-time artist, and provide an experience interacting with a positive role model in a creative field. This program is designed to provide free, enriching afterschool arts programming for youth and show them that a career as an artist is achievable. Students also spend time creating products they can sell as Kid Row vendors at the 16th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival Presented By Harmons.
In addition to the art instruction, Craft Lake City staff work with students on their entrepreneurial skills, including developing their business brand, designing their Kid Row booth layout, and role playing interacting with customers. The final step of their entrepreneurial instruction is participation in Kid Row in August, which allows the kids to put their new business skills into action in a real-world festival setting while celebrating their creative accomplishments and earning money!
