Annual Events
Hot Night in the City
JULY 21, 2023
Celebrating the “hot” processes and traditions of craft creation, the Worcester Center for Crafts’ Hot Night in the City practically combusts each summer with music, food, drinks, the opening of an exhibit, and fun around the flames. All are welcome as we explore the hot processes of craft in and outside of the Center.
The dusk darkness dissipates as Craft Center artists demonstrate their profession in our studios. There is a lot of hands-on fun for the fearless and demonstrations for the appreciator. We hold Hot Night in the City rain or shine.
Questions? contact Candace Casey, ccasey4@worcester.edu. For this years Hot Night in the City line up, click here.
American Craft Fair at Tower Hill Botanic Garden
OCTOBER 21 + 22, 2023 - Free with Tower Hill admission
The Worcester Center for Crafts and Tower Hill Botanic Garden have partnered to present a juried fair of American craftwork. Hosted at Tower Hill, the show features fine artisans representing ceramics, jewelry, wood, metalworking, glass, mixed metals, painting, fiber arts, and more. The fair is held indoors, and is free with admission paid to Tower Hill Botanic Garden.
Want to participate in the fair as an artist with work for sale? Download and complete the application to have your work considered for next year's festival. Please contact us at ccasey4@worcester.edu for additional information. Due to an overwhelming response, we are no longer accepting applications for the American Craft Fair at Tower Hill.
Holiday Festival of Crafts
NOVEMBER 24 - 26, 2023 - $5 Admission at door
Friday & Saturday - 10am-5pm, Sunday 11am-4pm
Once a year, the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday after Thanksgiving, the Worcester Center for Crafts is transformed into a European-style holiday marketplace complete with twinkly lights and the sweet smell of evergreens. This juried marketplace celebrates American handmade craft and is our antidote to the big-box madness of holiday shopping. By bringing together craft artists of the highest caliber all under one roof, the Holiday Festival of Crafts is a one-stop holiday shopping opportunity for unique, handmade gifts in a range of prices for men, women, and children. Craft collectors also will find that this is an opportunity to compare a wide range of work suitable for collecting.
Usually featuring over 50 fine craft artists and their work, the Festival is held indoors and includes free lot and street parking.
Want to participate in the festival as an artist with work for sale? Download and complete the application to have your work considered for this festival. Please contact us at ccasey4@worcester.edu for additional information. Application is open - Booths are filling fast!
CUP SHOW
NOVEMBER 30 - DECEMBER 24, 2023
The Krikorian Gallery is filled to the brim with cups of all kinds! This years show is curated by talented ceramist Maliya Travers-Crumb, who will be judging applicants for the Juror's Choice, Student and BIPOC Awards. The plethora of cups gives the novice or experienced shopper the chance to find the cup that is perfect for the cocoa, coffee, tea, or cocktail lovers on your holiday gift-giving list. The show is nothing if not diverse.
If you are interested in applying to the Cup Show, please click here for more information on the application process.
Pasta Dinner
MARCH 2, 2024
A night filled with food, ceramic wonders and fun! Enjoy a pasta dinner catered by a local restaurant and explore a gallery of beautiful handmade ceramic plates to pick one to bring home. Each plate is lovingly made in our very own Ceramics Studio and there will definitely be more than one calling your name, so choose your favorite wisely! View art work in the Krikorian Gallery and browse items at the silent auction all to benefit the Worcester Center for Crafts!
Ticket information: $65 per person, $15 for kids (paper plate).
Pottery Invitational
April 21 - 23, 2023
The Worcester Center for Crafts Pottery Invitational is a nationally recognized, 2½ -day exhibit that brings pottery to the people. This year's is juried by guest curator, Hayne Bayless who represents new and exciting ideas in production pottery. The Invitational provides an opportunity for everyone from pottery aficionados to the casually interested to discover an accomplished group of American ceramic artists and to shop their beautiful wares. Our 2023 Invitational will feature a selection of works from nationally recognized artists from New England, demonstrating the breadth of the ceramic field.
See a shape that you find enchanting? Ask the potter how the shape was made. Fall in love with a particular decoration on a pot? Tell the potter and learn the intricacies of their craft. At the Pottery Invitational, best of all, everything on view is for sale.
Tickets are now available for Friday night's opening reception! $55 per person