The mission of the International Folk Art Market is to create economic opportunities for and with folk artists worldwide who celebrate and preserve folk art traditions. The International Folk Art Market envisions a world that values the dignity and humanity of the handmade, honors timeless cultural traditions, and supports the work of artisans serving as entrepreneurs and catalysts for positive social change.
Imagine a place where cultures from all corners of the globe are celebrated; where folk artists are elevated. A place where the humanity of the handmade is apparent in the colors, symbols, traditions, and dialects of master artists and their work. The International Folk Art Market | Santa Fe is an annual limited-time event that brings together over 100 artists from nearly 60 different countries. It is a transformative experience that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
The Market is a delight for the senses, and the income generated from it provides global ripple effects of change. The artisans you meet at the Market represent many more family and community members back home. When artists return to their communities, wells, bridges, water treatment facilities, and schools are built. In a global economic system that continues to sacrifice Indigenous lands and livelihoods while exploiting workers for low wages and cheap goods, IFAM seeks to address the challenges of an interconnected world.
Traditional lifestyles are threatened by economic forces that split communities apart, devalue hand-crafted tradition, and disrupt knowledge handed down from generation to generation. Yet handmade art represents the second-largest industry in emergent nations, and therefore holds the potential for large-scale, positive social change.
IFAM seeks to provide a space where folk artists from across the globe can gather together, learn, and sell. The Market helps artists sustain their livelihoods, preserve their cultures, and support their families.
IFAM artists represent their communities as leaders who uphold ancestral traditions, train the next generation, and set precedence for quality, technique, and sustainability in their field of craft.
The Market is a celebration of these master artists as well as those traditions that connect us and make us uniquely human.
Information on tickets and a schedule of events is available here!
