Our Largest Market Yet: A CraftHER Spring '18 Recap

At #bossbabesATX, we're inspired by the magic that happens when people meet. And all of our productions are centered around supporting and sustaining visibility around women and nonbinary creatives, entrepreneurs and organizers. craftHER Market is no different. It's been inspired by a few of our favorite things: pop-up spaces, traditional marketplaces and the people who organize others to gather.

From 11 AM to 5 PM on Sunday, April 15, we hosted our fourth installment of craftHER Market. 3300+ attendees filled the space to #supportwomenartists and #supportwomeninbusiness.

THE VIBE

This year, we hosted 125 booths, including 105 Texan makers, 10 Austin-local community groups and 10 food and beverage vendors. Attendees were greeted with an installment of greenery and illustrative interpretations of our makers, courtesy of Spring '18's badass illustrator Kelsey Kilcrease. On top of the pop-up marketplace, we produced five panels, curated by members of our programming committee, spanning topics of entrepreneurialism, maker culture, representation, mental health and community-building. Through this year's raffle, we also fundraised more than $650 for DACA application renewals (learn more about this project here.)

Already missing the market? Recapture some of the day's energy by listening to DJ Ella Ella's craftHER Market playlist. We played this all day!

View all the photos here!

THE PANELS

featuring five discussions between local community members and the #bbatx committee, emceed by Leslie Lozano

This spring, our craftHER panels explored mental health, negotiation, continued skill-building, representation for women of color in entrepreneurship and building an honest brand. Curated by five of our committee members (Nina Rose Bailey, Nina Berenato, Leslie Lozano, Keisha Gillis and Jasmine Robinson), each panel was an intentional and candid conversation. With stage design by Party at the Moontower, the backdrop for these discussions featured a commissioned piece by artist Kwanzaa Edwards.

We'd like to thank this spring's stage partners, Volusion, for making these panels possible!

THIS MARKET'S PRODUCERS AND PARTNERS

#bbatx is an online and offline space for women-identifying and nonbinary creatives, entrepreneurs and community organizers. Through our event series, showcases, strategic collaborations and professional development programs, we provide a platform of visibility, outreach and financial opportunity to 900+ emerging Texas-based artists, businesses and causes and educational opportunities to more than 15,000 community members. We were named "Best Bossy Babes" of 2015 by The Austin Chronicle and were selected by The White House to attend the United State of Women Summit in June 2016.

This production has been made possible in part by 2018 presenting partners Resplendent Hospitality, supportive collaborators at Fair Market, Volusion and MYEVENTISTHEBOMB, as well as our community press partners Austin Woman Magazine.

Want to get involved in the next craftHER Market? Sign up for email updates at the bottom of crafthermarket.com and stay tuned for Fall '18 applications (they'll reopen in July '18!).