Creativebug, the online teaching platform for crafts, is putting plans in place to have Black artists represent a minimum of 15% of all instructors teaching on the site by 2023.

“When Creativebug was founded eight years ago, the original focus was on knitting, quilting and sewing classes – but not necessarily on diversity,” Courtney Cerutti, Editor in Chief, and Liana Allday, General Manager, wrote in the press release announcing the initiative. “Over the past several years, a primary goal of ours has been to increase the diversity of the instructors on the site to better reflect the demographics of the United States. We’ve been crawling toward progress, but we need to do better.”

Creativebug films only 20 instructors per year and with COVID-19, filming new courses has become somewhat more restricted. The Creativebug team realizes that it may take several years to strike a true balance, but they say, “Our ultimate goal is for Creativebug to feature a greater proportion of amazing Black artists and artists of color.” ⠀

The company is also working to offer Creativebug for free to underserved libraries and schools in communities that are otherwise missing out on art education.
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If you or someone you know would like to teach a class on Creativebug, you can submit a proposal right here. And be sure to check out our tips on how to craft your pitch in order to optimize your chances for success.