MAFA not only represents a community of fiber arts guilds, the not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization is committed to provide educational, financial and operational support to its member guilds. Among the benefits guilds and their members, who are automatically members of MAFA, derive from membership are:
Biennial conference: A central focus for MAFA is its biennial conference, which offers in depth study workshops with leading fiber artists. Individual members of participating guilds enjoy one month of priority registration time and reduced registration fees to the event.
MAFA Virtual: One way to keep all our members connected and engaged, as well as to bring new and more diverse members into the MAFA community and our guilds is to offer virtual programs in addition to our in-person conferences.
Grant programs: MAFA offers grant, fellowship and scholarship programs to support participating guilds in their educational outreach programs; guild members committed to sharing learning experiences; and novices learning fiber arts skills.
Publicity for guild programs and workshops: MAFA offers a place to publicize guild programs, workshops and events with other guilds.
Host guild websites: MAFA can create and host member guilds’ websites on its server at no cost. If interested, contact the webmaster for full details.
Associate memberships: Although MAFA is primarily focused on its member guilds, associate memberships are open to commercial enterprises, institutions, organizations, schools and to individuals not in affiliated guilds.
Social media: MAFA supports vibrant social media communities on Facebook, Pinterest, Ravelry, Weavolution and Twitter. We also have a group for guild Reps on Groups.io.
Resources: MAFA provides a resource site for the community to interact in learning through project ideas and links to other online resources.