If you have never been to the International Folk Art Market, https://folkartmarket.org/about/who-we-are/it is not too early to start making plans for next year. How can I tell you in one short post all the components that make up this market? There is the city of Santa Fe, that has been hosting the market for over sixteen years. There are the artists and visitors alike, from all corners of the world, whose lives have been forever impacted by the market. An infinity of experiences take place at the International Folk Art Market. All this happens in one weekend, in the museum complex on top of a hill in Santa Fe.
Be forewarned. The International Folk Art Market gets crowded. But the crowd is happy, friendly, and as excited to be there as I was. Though I went by myself, I still had shopping encouragement form visitors like myself. And lots of interesting conversations with artists and volunteers.. I talked with people from as far away as New Zealand and as close as Oklahoma. It is the warmest time of year so I was glad I remembered my hat and water. If not, look for the water stations that have free bottles of water. There are several of them.
Observations
—The International Folk Art Market is the largest folk art market in the world.
—Unesco designated Santa Fe the City of Folk Art.
—From Afghanistan to Zanzibar, there are up to two hundred artists from as many as 60 countries in the world.
—Ninety percent of the money collected returns home with the artists.
—This helps the artists, their families and community to pay for basics like food, healthcare, education.
—The art works are all handmade, a preservation of long cultural traditions
—The vision of the Folk Art Alliance in Santa Fe is to help struggling communities to build self-reliance and self-respect.
Can't Wait Till Next Year
There were over 2,000 volunteers for the International Folk Art Market the year I volunteered. In the volunteer’s van that returned us to the parking lot, there was a buzz of energy. I was still on a little bit of a high from all the excitement of the morning. With my newly purchased painted Persian birds from Uzbekistan I was already thinking, “I can’t wait until next year.”
