The Board of Directors of the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) announced today that Executive Director Perry Price will leave his position at the end of the year to lead the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine, as its next executive director.

“Perry's nearly seven-year tenure at the Center has been a time of exceptional growth,” says HCCC Board President Judy Nyquist. “His leadership has brought new initiatives, given a platform to diverse voices, and has elevated the dialogue locally, regionally, and nationally about the significance of contemporary craft. He has given his staff the authority to test out new ideas and has led the institution with grace through the most challenging two-and-a-half years in the Center's history. Our reputation as a thought leader in the field has grown exponentially, and our artist residency program is considered one of the most prestigious in the country, encouraging and enabling both emerging and established makers to experiment and go on to robust careers. While it is very difficult to say goodbye, the HCCC Board of Directors wish Perry and his family the very best at Haystack and look forward to many future collaborations.”

Perry Price joined HCCC as its executive director in 2016. During his tenure, he has fostered collaborations through exhibitions with the Racine Art Museum; the Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco; and the Danish Arts Foundation and Danish Ministry of Culture, as well as developed the collaborative Interdisciplinary Craft + Photography Residency with the Houston Center for Photography as an expansion of HCCC’s celebrated artist residency program. He has also led the Center’s fundraising strategy to increase contributed support of the organization, including securing the first successful and repeated grant funding of HCCC by the National Endowment for the Arts and a gift of $3.5 million from the Windgate Foundation to establish the Center’s first endowment fund.

“The opportunity to contribute to the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft has been transformative for my career, and I am profoundly grateful to the board of directors, staff, and the community of artists who continue to shape the Center. The city of Houston and the field of craft as a whole are lucky to have an organization like HCCC, and it has been a privilege to be a small part of it. I have every confidence that the Center will continue to shape the future of craft in novel and profound ways,” says Price.

Price leaves HCCC to become the next executive director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, an international craft school located on the Atlantic Ocean in Deer Isle, Maine. Connecting people through craft, Haystack provides its students with the freedom to engage with materials and develop new ideas in a supportive and inclusive community. Founded in 1950 as a research and studio program in the arts, Haystack offers one- and two-week studio workshops to participants of all skill levels, as well as a two-week, Open Studio Residency program, conferences, tours, auctions, artist presentations, and
shorter workshops for Maine residents and high-school students.

The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft Board of Directors will launch a national search for a new executive director in the coming months.

About Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) is a nonprofit visual arts center dedicated to advancing education about the process, product, and history of craft. HCCC has served as a treasured resource in the Houston arts community and the region for more than 20 years. The Center showcases emerging and acclaimed artists in exhibitions, introduces visitors of all ages to contemporary craft through hands-on and virtual programming, and supports the development of working artists through its artist residency program.

HCCC is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 AM – 5 PM. Admission is free. Holiday hours: HCCC will be closed to the public November 24 – 26 for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and December 24 – New Year’s Day for winter holidays. HCCC is also closed on Easter, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, July 4th, and Labor Day.

Before visiting, the public should visit www.crafthouston.org to view the latest visitor guidelines. All programs and events are subject to change or cancellation in response to the current COVID-19 conditions. HCCC is located in the Museum District at 4848 Main Street, three blocks south of the Wheeler Ave. MetroRail station. Free parking is available directly behind the facility, off Rosedale and Travis Street.

HCCC is supported by individual donors and members and funded in part by The Brown Foundation; Houston Endowment, Inc.; the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; Texas Commission on the Arts; the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kinder Foundation; the Morgan Foundation; Windgate Charitable Foundation; and the Wortham Foundation. HCCC is a member of the Houston Museum District and the Midtown Arts District.

For more information, call 713-529-4848 or visit www.crafthouston.org. Find HCCC on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @CraftHouston.