Continuing Textile Traditions: Building Skills, Community, and Economic Opportunity

Stitch Buffalo is a nonprofit textile arts center in Buffalo, New York, that empowers refugee and immigrant women through creativity, education, and economic opportunity. In partnership with local artisans and instructors, we recently launched a paid weaving training program that gave refugee women the opportunity to develop traditional and contemporary weaving skills while earning income as they learned. Sponsored by Live Well Erie, the program was designed to build both creative and economic pathways for women while expanding the range of textile skills available within our community. We’re excited to share what we learned about developing a paid training model that honors participants’ existing skills, builds new expertise, and creates meaningful opportunities for economic connection and growth.

This discussion will take place on Thursday, October 15 at 2:00 PM Eastern.

Please note that if you are unable to attend, please register and a recording will be emailed to you as soon as it is available.

This event is free and open to all. If you would like to attend but are unavailable at the time listed, register anyway and you will receive a link to the recording as soon as it is available.

Panelists:

Dawne Hoeg is the Founder and Executive Director of Stitch Buffalo, a nonprofit textile arts center that empowers refugee and immigrant women through creativity, education, and economic opportunity. An artist and educator with an MFA in Textile Design/Fiber, Dawne has led Stitch Buffalo from its beginnings as a small embroidery class in 2014 to a thriving textile arts center serving hundreds of women each year.

Pamela Palma is a fiber artist, textile designer, educator, and accomplished weaver whose lifelong relationship with textiles began with sewing and knitting as a child. She holds a BS in Fiber Design from Buffalo State University and has exhibited her work nationally and internationally; her practice spans weaving, embroidery, sewing, mixed-media fiber art, and functional textiles. Pamela led Stitch Buffalo’s paid intensive weaving program for refugee women, where she shared her technical expertise while helping participants develop new skills and creative possibilities

Freweini came to Buffalo, NY, from Eritrea. Last fall, she began attending Stitch Buffalo’s open embroidery circle with her friend, Merhawit. What began as weekly lessons soon grew into a deep dedication to textile craft. Her collections for sale in the Stitch Buffalo shop now include hand-embroidery and weaving—which she learned in a paid training program under the guidance of Pamela Palma. Freweini also continues to study machine sewing and has begun learning to crochet.