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Handcrafting Virginia’s Cultural Economy

The Artisans Center of Virginia (ACV) develops and implements systems and strategies to improve economic outcomes for Virginia artisans and their communities while assisting them in promoting their local artisan culture.

Quality craftsmanship, talent, and artisan entrepreneurship exist in abundance across the Commonwealth. The Artisans Center of Virginia (ACV) is deliberately coordinating efforts to leverage this talent into a recognized and established industry that is branded, promoted, connected and celebrated as valuable with specific focus on Virginia’s creative and agricultural artisan assets. Now, more than ever, diversifying statewide economic development initiatives to elevate and enhance creative enterprises is critical to supporting the arts and cultural heritage in which local artist and agri-artisan businesses thrive, thereby maintaining the vitality and character of Virginia communities.

As the official state-designated non-profit dedicated to providing opportunities for Virginia Artisans (creative and agricultural) and to the benefit of the communities in which they reside, ACV is implementing a defined plan of strategic initiatives across the Commonwealth that includes:

Developing collaborative relationship‐building strategies by implementing connective systems to support economic growth for Virginia’s creative and agricultural artisan entrepreneurs and their communities;
Supporting traditional economies and new opportunities for economic diversification, including new industry clusters and entrepreneurial
development.
Strengthening state, local and regional tourism infrastructures to attract measurable visitor revenues;
Enhancing statewide messaging to draw visitors to member businesses, their events and activities, as invoked in the global “Take Home A
Piece of Virginia” campaign;
Implementing an entrepreneur framework based on “Helping Businesses Help Themselves” to encourage sustainable organizational growth;
Increasing job creation by broadening business acumen, encouraging entrepreneurs to leverage business partnerships, transfer their skills into synergistic industries and engage in apprentice/intern programs;
Quantifying the state’s artisan industry’s economic impact;
Maintaining of a statewide entrepreneurial ecosystem registry.