Director change at Society of Arts & Crafts

Brigitte Martin is ending a four-year tenure as executive director of Boston’s Society of Arts & Crafts, an organization formed in 1897 to support and celebrate craft makers. Deputy director Karina Burston is now the acting executive director on the eve of the organization’s quasquicentennial celebration.

“In the next phase of life for this 125-year-old institution, the Society of Arts & Crafts will remain committed to support and advocacy for artists in woodworking and all disciplines of craft,” Burston said in an interview with Woodshop News.

“With the annual John D. Mineck Fellowship we administer, and the many wood artists whom we’ve shown, supported and sold for over the years, it’s clear that this discipline is important to us and to the larger craft field. Personally, I’m surrounded by crafted wood beauty – my partner is a woodworker and furniture maker – so it holds a prominent place in my heart.”

Martin guided the Society through the pandemic and transitioned its semi-annual CraftBoston event into a year-round online educational marketplace.

“I speak for all of us on the board and staff when I say how grateful we are to Brigitte for her steady guidance over the past four years and her leadership in creating a new vision for the organization’s future,” Gary Roberts, chair of the Society’s Board of Trustees, said in a statement.

“She joined the Society at a crucial moment, when the future of brick-and-mortar craft retail was becoming increasingly unsettled, and the pandemic was threatening to change how artists and customers interacted. Her enthusiasm for craft energized our organization and will be missed.”

For more, visit societyofcrafts.org.  

This article was originally published in the April 2023 issue.