​Winds of Change

​The only constant in life is change. Those immortal words are attributed to the ancient
Greek philosopher Heraclitus, and it seems that in this day and age change swirls about us even
faster and more furious than ever. It’s easy to get caught up in the hectic pace, but’s let’s take a
minute to breathe, get our bearings, and think about the world around us and our place in it – at
least in terms of weaving.

This past January, the Handweavers Guild of America held a virtual retreat for local
guilds. The one-day event had several panels focused on challenges facing local guilds today,
with panelists sharing their experiences in building guild participation. I did not attend every
session, but my big takeaway was twofold – all guilds (at least those in attendance) are facing the
same challenges with participation and members “aging out,” and a hybrid world of in-person
and virtual offerings are the wave of the future. Not exactly an epiphany, but I am excited by the
fact that this conversation has begun in earnest, something the Iowa Federation of Handweavers
and Spinners, and perhaps your local guild, is also engaged in.

This brings us to some very important questions. Do guilds want to continue to support
the federation? If so, what does that look like? Are you envisioning more virtual events, or do
you prefer an even mix of in-person and virtual offering? Who among you is willing to step up
and take on some of the responsibilities in order to make this happen? How much of your time,
and how much time is your guild willing to put into this? If we continue, how are we going to
pay for future events? And what about individual guilds? How do we grow our membership?
How do we attract younger members? Is this something the federation can help with, and if so,
how?

During this time of change we all have a lot of questions to grapple with. Answers can
sometimes seem elusive, but they are within our reach. Having discussions with fellow guild
members and at the upcoming federation meeting on April 12th could go a long way to
discovering at least some of those answers. We are looking forward to our upcoming meeting
and broaching these questions, knowing that our membership will be bringing their own
concerns and, hopefully, some answers. So, our ask to you is, over the next few weeks take
some time to think about what you envision the federation to look like in years to come, and
bring your thoughts, questions and ideas with you on April 12th . We look forward to seeing and
hearing from each and every one of you.