DEER ISLE — The Board of Trustees of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts is pleased to announce the appointment of Perry Price as its new executive director, the School’s fifth in its 72-year history. Perry Price is currently the executive director of the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in Houston, Texas. He is a scholar of contemporary studio craft, material culture, decorative arts, and design, and received a BA in the history of art from the Johns Hopkins University and an MA in museum studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies, State University of New York Oneonta and the New York State Historical Association.
Prior to joining the HCCC, he served as director of education for the American Craft Council, where he was responsible for developing and presenting programming and outreach providing thought leadership and cultivating critical thinking on the field of contemporary craft, and as curator of exhibitions and collections for Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts, where he developed and oversaw all aspects of the New England craft museum’s exhibitions and collections initiatives.
In spring 2022 Haystack hired Koya Partners/Diversified Search Group, a leading executive search and strategic advising firm, who guided the search process and worked with the Search Committee to fill the executive eirector position.The Search Committee included Haystack trustees Ayumi Horie, Fabio Fernández, Namita Gupta Wiggers, Laura Galaida, Márçia Minter, John Ollman; former trustee, Rosanne Somerson; and Ginger Aldrich, from the Haystack staff.
Ayumi Horie, president of the Haystack Board of Trustees and chair of the Search Committee says, “The Haystack Board of Trustees is thrilled to welcome Perry Price as our new executive director. Perry’s deep and expansive knowledge of craft will bring fresh vision to the school’s already experimental programming and his experienced leadership will support and bolster our dedicated staff. The eight-person Search Committee was impressed with his all-around strength in multiple competencies and was unanimous in their support for Perry’s selection. His career demonstrates a commitment to the values that guide Haystack’s Strategic Plan. He is well-regarded among peers, and he brings inspiring enthusiasm about both Haystack and the future of craft. We are really excited about Perry’s arrival.”
Perry Price’s appointment comes at a pivotal time with Haystack poised to advance the mission of the School in significant ways and in accordance with the values and goals of the current Strategic Plan. The organization has a strong foundation rooted in its history of groundbreaking innovation, its reputation at the vanguard of contemporary craft, and its impact on artists, craftspeople, and makers internationally. Perry’s role as executive director will build upon this foundation to lead the School into its next decades, providing opportunities for exploring, learning, and creating community.
“Haystack is a singular institution, unique in its committed approach to the studio experience and occupying a niche unto itself in the ecosystem of contemporary craft;” says Price. “It is an exciting honor to join the Haystack community of board, staff, and constituents and contribute to the present and future stewardship of this remarkable place. That this human-scaled institution may continue to thrive while we continually work towards the promise of the field of craft will be the collective effort of each of us who value this school, and I look forward to working with the remarkable people who make it possible.”
Price will be moving to Maine with his spouse, Rosemary Price, and their two children this winter. He will begin his tenure as director of Haystack in January 2023.
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts is an international craft school located on the Atlantic Ocean in Deer Isle, Maine. Connecting people through craft, Haystack provides the freedom to engage with materials and develop new ideas in a supportive and inclusive community. Serving an ever-changing group of makers and thinkers, we are dedicated to working and learning alongside one another, while exploring the intersections of craft, art, and design in broad and expansive ways.
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 the two-week, Open Studio Residency program, conferences, tours, auctions, artist presentations, and shorter workshops for Maine residents and high school students. Haystack also functions as a ʻthink-tankʼ in looking at craft—publishing annual monographs and organizing a variety of conferences and symposia that examine craft in broader contexts. These include collaborations with other institutions such as the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. The award-winning campus was designed by noted American architect, Edward Larrabee Barnes, and opened in 1961 when the school relocated to Deer Isle.
