I had a wake up call last week. I read an amazing and impactful statement from Nate Watson, the executive director of Public Glass SF, which is San Fransisco’s “only glass-focused youth education program.” At the end of my spiel will be a link to the statement he wrote. Please read it!
Nate explains how our glass community has not fully stepped up to the plate until now and how unfortunate it is that it took a BLM movement (and a death) to start supporting black and brown glass neighbors and friends. What I got out of it is that it is great that people are supporting the BLM movement but please don’t use black and brown friends as a way to profit from your business. In order to really show your support and take action, donating and physically helping people is the best course to take.
I’m trying very carefully to put together a plan of action to further help with social justice and the inclusion of everyone in the glass community. After reading Nate Watson’s statement, many questions came up in my head. What is the best way to go about showing my support for social justice? What projects can I bring to my business that can create a lasting support system for everyone?
From where I’m standing, the glass community really isn’t that big. It’s getting bigger every day and all over the world, but what I have always loved about our community is how tight-knit we are, no matter how big the community gets. Or so I thought.
I have been following Public Glass SF and other non-profit glass communities for the last couple of years now. Public Glass SF is a pretty amazing non-profit that offers free workshops for underserved youths, upon applying and getting accepted. Glassblowing can offer several things for youths:
It can cultivate an understanding of how to control your emotions with discipline of the medium
Concentration and teamwork is huge in learning how to blow glass, and it can simply help with getting through hard times in life.
It can provide self-motivation and inspiration, qualities that everyone should know how to use throughout their lives.
There’s no denying - it’s an expensive medium which makes what these companies do even more heroic. Check out a list of these non-profit glass studios at the bottom of this blog post as well as where you can donate to help with social justice and the inclusion of everyone in the glass community.
One of the main reasons I have stuck with glassblowing as a medium for so long is because of the teamwork aspect. I have always loved how breathing life into a complicated piece required extraordinary amounts of personal bonding, patience and group concentration with fellow glassblowers. Having cooperation and camaraderie as the backbone of our industry gives me hope that we can get to the place we need to be as a community, together.
For me, I am going to be brainstorming new ways to support social justice. My next couple of blogs will be a more clear and concrete plan of action that I at Rachel Escoe Glass will be taking to help support non-profits like these and local non-profits here in the Portland area. Stay tuned and in the meantime take a look at Nate’s statement and please please consider donating to the links below.
Stay safe and healthy out there friends.
Rachel Escoe Glass
Donation Links for Underserved Youths
Non-Profits in Glass