Social
Concerns
Summer Fellowship
Association for Craft Producers
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Location Details
Description
This fellowship is offered in collaboration with the Department of Art, Art History & Design. Since 2010, the CSC has partnered with Professor Ann-Marie Conrado to provide fair trade design undergraduate internships. This partnership between the Center for Social Concerns and the Department of Art, Art History, and Design with the Association for Craft Producers in Nepal brings design expertise to fair trade production of handicrafts in order to create sustainable livelihoods for Nepalese artisans and their families. The Association for Craft Producers is largely devoted to providing a permanent system of technical expertise, retail venues, and market management for over one thousand low-income, primarily female producers nationwide. ACP is intrinsically linked with social welfare and female empowerment through fair trade principles and practices and is committed to environmental preservation in its production and manufacturing. The ensuring of labor rights, access to international markets, as well as implementing sustainable models for business and production provides an indispensable forum for both advocating and acting in creating important social and economic infrastructure within Nepal and its place in the global market. Open to students in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design, this fellowship provides students the opportunity to work with a faculty member in the Program of Design to utilize and enhance their academic training for the broader benefit of helping to provide Nepalese artisans a sustainable livelihood. The faculty member in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design provides design mentoring of the students and coordinates the local partnerships to support and mentor the student interns.
Student Role
Students will work in collaboration with fair trade handicraft artisans in Nepal to develop contemporary products for the global marketplace. Working with the Association for CraftProducers (ACP), the largest Fair Trade umbrella organization in the country, students will work each day with ACPs small in-house design team to bring a modern design aesthetic to traditional handicrafts in order to make them more attractive to American consumers. Students can work in a variety of mediums and techniques including weaving, silk-screening, felting, ceramics, furniture building, copper-smithing, knitting and sewing. They will follow their design from conception through prototyping into production, learning valuable skills about the design process.
Work Schedule
Sunday – Friday, 10am-5pm with appropriate days off for off-site visits and visits to other parts of the country
Orientation
Before departure, students will meet with Professor Conrado (Program of Design) on the design aspect and fair trade. On site, orientation and training will be provided by Revita Shrestha, Executive Director and Sunita Maharjan, Design Group Lead. Professor will continue to consult remotely on the progress of design work over the summer.
Housing Information
Students will reside in a nearby furnished apartment in housing that accommodates students of the same gender sharing a bedroom. They will also visit Professor Conrados home in Pokhara which also houses HOPE House, a family home for orphaned youth. Students stay in Pokhara for a short time to visit artisan villages in the area. Breakfast and dinner are provided daily. ACP provides students with lunches of various Nepali snack foods. In Kathmandu, water, electricity, and internet are available but students may experience disruptions due to frequent power outages. Wifi is available at the home and internet is available at both ACP and at home, as well as internet cafes.
Start And End Dates
Eight consecutive weeks between May 17 and August 16, 2026