Artisans formed the Arkansas Craft Guild as a cooperative in 1962 to promote and preserve the traditional crafts of Arkansas, as well as build a market for high quality handmade products and provide a collaborative environment where craftsmen and women could share information and explore further development of their art.

Today the Guild still supports those early goals and has expanded to provide greater resources for its membership, expanded opportunities for marketing and reaching the public, and excellence in traditional, contemporary, and emerging crafts. The Guild recognizes the cultural and economic role crafts have played in the lives of Arkansans and development of the state and the continued impact they will have into the future.

The Arkansas Craft Guild is a for-profit cooperative, owned and operated by Guild members, and managed by a board of directors elected annually from the membership.