Stuyvesant Student Union Hosts First Arts And Crafts Fair

Recently, Stuyvesant’s Student Union (SU) organized an Arts and Crafts Fair for art-related clubs at Stuyvesant to showcase and sell work. Many students attended, which fostered a sense of community among the art lovers. The fair was a success and set a precedent for larger Arts and Crafts Fairs in the future.

Planning for the Arts and Crafts Fair began in November 2023 following fall SU budget requests. “The Stuyvesant art community is not very united. We thought, how come these clubs are asking for the same materials but don’t know about each other and are not willing to maybe share or put in a joint request?” junior and Clubs and Pubs Director Adeline Sauberli said.

Another reason to hold the fair was to ease some fundraising difficulties clubs face. “Clubs can’t just sell things indiscriminately. According to some more obscure law in the district of schooling, schools are not allowed to be like the middleman for financial transactions without strong supervision. In an SU Cabinet meeting, [Coordinator of Student Affairs Matt] Polazzo proposed, ‘what if we did some sort of fair where a lot of these clubs could fundraise together?’ And you could still have faculty oversight,” Sauberli said.

The fair was initially planned for the week after SING! ended in mid-March, but fundraising logistics got in the way. “My understanding is that you need a money box; then the money needs to be counted and then reported on a form. The amount of revenue needs to be reported to some sort of authority administration in the school or even outside of the school. And in the course of the entire planning, this kind of delayed the whole fair,” Sauberli said.

The timing of the fair was another complicated matter. “[The fair] being during AP season was definitely tough,” junior and co-organizer of the fair Madeline Goodwin said. “We would have gotten more people if it wasn’t during AP season, and also if it wasn’t during AP season we could have done it in a different location, like one of the atriums, for example.”

Scheduling conflicts are inevitable due to how busy Stuyvesant is. “You don't actually have a lot of time to do this. Each part of the year is really dominated by the main event then—May’s is APs, June’s is Regents, April’s is spring break, March’s is SING!, and February’s is another break,” Sauberli said.

The fair was ultimately held after 10th period on Friday, May 10, outside the cafeteria. It featured clubs such as PublicPalette, Stuy Crochet, Operation Smile, and Craft For A Cure. These clubs hosted a wide range of different activities, such as PublicPalette members drawing free portraits for attendees and Stuy Crochet selling their many crocheted items. “In total, the clubs almost raised about $800, [and] each club will get the amount of money that they individually sold,” Goodwin said.

The Arts and Crafts Fair was an experiment for the SU and served as a place for clubs to workshop the act of fundraising. “I honestly had no idea what I would do at the fair at first. The reason I participated at the fair is pretty much just to get my club going. It was somewhat like a test run for our club hosting fundraisers where we draw portraits in the future,” sophomore and president of Stuy PublicPallete Deidre de Los Santos said.

Each club had unique and interactive approaches to fundraising. StuyCrochet stood out as the club with the most hand-made crafts for sale and took center stage at the central table during the fair. “They even made this huge crocheted dinosaur that was larger than everything else. Whenever someone bought one of their smaller crocheted goods like a flower or keychain, they could write down their email and enter into a raffle to win that dinosaur plushie,” Sauberli said. “People from Craft for a Cure were even showing people how to make the jewelry they were selling.”

Students also took this fair as an opportunity to buy artwork for their mothers. Though it was never planned for May, the fair ended up falling on Mother’s Day weekend. “I think some people wanted to buy something for their mom, [such as crocheted items], keychains, bracelets, and earrings,” Goodwin said.  

A shortcoming of the fair was how crowded it was. “It was difficult to get people to come to our station because everyone was crowded around the other table. Since we were just situated on the benches, it didn’t even look like we were part of the fair, so we resorted to going up to people directly and asking them if they wanted to be drawn,” de Los Santos said. “We didn’t really have space to accommodate ourselves. Since I brought so many of my members to the fair, I felt frustrated because I didn’t want to disappoint them. I considered canceling our meeting and going home, but luckily, my friends encouraged me to make do with what we [had], and I am so glad we did.”

The high attendance rate showcased the fair’s success in bringing more attention to art-related clubs at Stuy, especially given the AP-related obstacles that prevented students from attending. “I think a lot of people learned about these clubs that they might have not known about before,” Goodwin said. “It’s something that I definitely want to do again next year in some capacity.”

As the first Arts and Crafts Fair at Stuyvesant, the fair served as a trial run for a grander initiative. “I think there was a fear that people wouldn't show up, not because it’s new but because it doesn’t feel as established as other fairs. But I’m glad that we were able to lend it a serious test.” Sauberli said.