One-day craft or skill workshops in Philly
February 24, 2022 9:08 AM Subscribe
My coworkers are starting a workshop club where we take low-cost, one-off craft or skill workshops together. Help me build up our list of resources!
Right now we're looking at IRL options in Philly, but really great Zoom workshops are worth considering. For IRL, anywhere in the metro area is fine—people are pretty spread out and what's inconvenient for one of us will probably be convenient for others. So far we're mostly looking at creative stuff like ceramics and letterpress, but I think people would also be interested in learning new skills (to the degree you can learn a skill in one day). This is just for fun, so not stuff like bystander intervention or volunteering—my company values social justice work but it goes under separate cover. We're mostly looking for stuff that's 2-3 hours and under $50 (we have one $75 option on the list so far but notably nobody has expressed interest).
So far we are monitoring schedules at:
Black Hound Clay
Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers
Philly Soapbox
Iffy Books
Mt. Airy Learning Tree
A Novel Idea
Where else should we be looking for this kind of low-stakes group education?
Right now we're looking at IRL options in Philly, but really great Zoom workshops are worth considering. For IRL, anywhere in the metro area is fine—people are pretty spread out and what's inconvenient for one of us will probably be convenient for others. So far we're mostly looking at creative stuff like ceramics and letterpress, but I think people would also be interested in learning new skills (to the degree you can learn a skill in one day). This is just for fun, so not stuff like bystander intervention or volunteering—my company values social justice work but it goes under separate cover. We're mostly looking for stuff that's 2-3 hours and under $50 (we have one $75 option on the list so far but notably nobody has expressed interest).
So far we are monitoring schedules at:
Black Hound Clay
Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers
Philly Soapbox
Iffy Books
Mt. Airy Learning Tree
A Novel Idea
Where else should we be looking for this kind of low-stakes group education?
Response by poster: Just reread your question and realised that I've had a senior moment and that by zoom, you meant live classes - apologies!
There's an argument to be made for recorded courses where we can choose a convenient time and all do it together! At the moment I think we need the imposed urgency of having the workshop take place at a specific time (and maybe in a specific place) but who knows about the future.
posted by babelfish at 9:54 AM on February 24, 2022
There's an argument to be made for recorded courses where we can choose a convenient time and all do it together! At the moment I think we need the imposed urgency of having the workshop take place at a specific time (and maybe in a specific place) but who knows about the future.
posted by babelfish at 9:54 AM on February 24, 2022
Fleisher Art Memorial has a number of both paid and tuition-free classes and workshops in a variety of media, and the quality of their facilities and instruction is high. Since Covid they also offer some virtual classes. They are located in South Philly but have their own free parking lot for student use.
posted by citygirl at 10:32 AM on February 24, 2022
posted by citygirl at 10:32 AM on February 24, 2022
Djembe! Immensely satisfying in a hair-flying sort of way.
posted by BobTheScientist at 11:41 AM on February 24, 2022
posted by BobTheScientist at 11:41 AM on February 24, 2022
You might also consider reaching out to artists in the area and ask if they'd be willing to do a workshop for your group.
posted by mcduff at 11:55 AM on February 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by mcduff at 11:55 AM on February 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
I found Modest Transitions through Black Hound Clay, they do dye workshops.
Clay Studio has some one day things. Riverfront North and Bartram Garden both have occasional things like a bird walk + watercolor class.
NextFab would have a lot of options but might be higher cost.
Check the museums, too.
posted by sepviva at 4:20 AM on February 25, 2022
Clay Studio has some one day things. Riverfront North and Bartram Garden both have occasional things like a bird walk + watercolor class.
NextFab would have a lot of options but might be higher cost.
Check the museums, too.
posted by sepviva at 4:20 AM on February 25, 2022
Seconding Philadelphia Woodworks. Terrific experience!
posted by james33 at 6:24 AM on February 25, 2022
posted by james33 at 6:24 AM on February 25, 2022
Sippin and Stitchin (embroidery workshops)
Butcher's Sew Shop (sewing classes)
posted by i_am_a_fiesta at 9:42 AM on February 25, 2022
Butcher's Sew Shop (sewing classes)
posted by i_am_a_fiesta at 9:42 AM on February 25, 2022
I use groupon /things to do for these things.
Here are a couple that may be helpful:
1. Philadephia rock gym climbing package - $25
2. Conservatory for Arts@ Music Dance lesson for $30
3. Uncorked Artist Zoom virtual painting - $20
4. Tufas Boulder Lounge - into to bouldering - $19
5. Philadelphia Woodworks cutting board class - $90
posted by radsqd at 9:59 AM on February 25, 2022
Here are a couple that may be helpful:
1. Philadephia rock gym climbing package - $25
2. Conservatory for Arts@ Music Dance lesson for $30
3. Uncorked Artist Zoom virtual painting - $20
4. Tufas Boulder Lounge - into to bouldering - $19
5. Philadelphia Woodworks cutting board class - $90
posted by radsqd at 9:59 AM on February 25, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
There are great classes at Domestika - the Alex Hillkurtz class on architectural sketching with watercolor and ink is superb, for example. They always have special offers with individual courses costing around $20, three for $35 and so on.
Possibly better value are classes at Etchr Studio (I'm saving up for an annual subscription right now). The same model is at Skillshare and Craftsy, both you can find coupons for. I recently got a Craftsy annual subscription for $3 but I'll need to watch out to cancel their automatic renewal in just under a year's time. I renewed Skillshare for a second year at the introductory price having emailed their support, they were really helpful.
If any of your group need captions, Skillshare are a little patchy (either excellent throughout or a lot of uncorrected autocaptioning but you can usually get the gist); Craftsy are mostly good but some of the older courses have none at all; while Domestika (really professionally produced videos) are excellently captioned in English, Spanish and often Portuguese and German.
Just reread your question and realised that I've had a senior moment and that by zoom, you meant live classes - apologies!
posted by humph at 9:25 AM on February 24, 2022 [2 favorites]