About Us
2022 NCECA Fertile Ground, Sacramento, California
The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) is a dynamic, 501(c)3 organization that engages and sustains a community for ceramic art, teaching and learning. In addition to deepening knowledge within the field, NCECA expands it by working to cultivate the next generation of ceramic artists and enthusiasts through programing that affects professional artists, K-12 schools, community centers, universities, museums, galleries, businesses, organizations, collectors and enthusiasts of ceramic art. Currently comprised of approximately 6,000 members from the United States and more than 20 foreign countries, NCECA reaches thousands of additional individuals each year through its programs, publications, events, exhibitions and resources.
NCECA cultivates and sustains networks for reflective and creative practice through an annual conference, special interest symposia, and national and regional exhibitions. NCECA’s annual conference features dozens of presenters, demonstrations networking opportunities and exhibitions over three and a half days each spring, each year in a different US city. NCECA’s Board of Directors and special appointees review hundreds of proposals for sessions and exhibitions gathered through open calls for submissions. Sponsored exhibitions include the NCECA Annual, Multicultural Fellowship Exhibition, and the NCECA Juried Student Exhibition. In conjunction with the NCECA-sponsored exhibitions the organization also reviews, sites and promotes nearly 100 concurrent exhibitions in the host region surrounding the annual conference.
NCECA supports learning year-round beyond the conference through media resources that feature accomplished artists at work, a journal that chronicles presentations, and a catalog that documents the three NCECA sponsored exhibitions. Additionally, NCECA fosters inquiry and professional advancement of ceramic arts and artists through annual fellowships that support independent research beyond the academic environment and awards that recognize and support emerging artists and international residency experiences.
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Joshua Green
Executive Director
Mission
2022 NCECA Annual, Belonging, Crocker Art Museum
MISSION: The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts advances creation, teaching and learning through clay in the contemporary world. Ceramic art connects us to physical and cognitive experiences that foster environments of cultural equity, diversity, access, and inclusion.
VISION: NCECA will convene and engage people who care about ceramic art and education to cultivate learning, leadership, and excellence throughout the field. Building on transformative relationships regionally, nationally, and globally, NCECA will expand awareness of and deepen appreciation for the vitality and vibrancy of ceramic art, teaching and learning within our technologically influenced world.
NCECA promotes and improves the ceramic arts through education, community-building, research and creative inspiration, offering programs, events and publications to support the field and communities in which we work. NCECA’s broad interests are shaped by artists, students, individual and corporate patrons, gallery owners, museum curators, and providers of ceramic arts-related products and services. As a dynamic, member-driven organization, NCECA is flexible in its program development, international in its perspective and responsive to the changing needs of its constituency.
VALUES: NCECA is committed to:
Advancing creativity, imagination, and innovation in ceramic art and education.
Fostering equity, diversity, access, inclusion, and respect.
Leading through service with honesty, integrity, and transparency
Become a Member and Get Involved
NCECA provides membership levels designed to meet the needs of students, professionals, hobbyists, businesses and non-profit organizations. Along with membership revenue, conference registration, exhibitor table fees and art exhibition entry fees are the primary sources of support for the organization’s operations.
2022 NCECA Fertile Ground, Demonstrating Artist, George Rodriguez
NCECA History
2022 NCECA Fertile Ground, NJSE, Sacramento, California
NCECA is a not-for-profit educational organization that provides valuable resources and support for individuals, schools and organizations with an abiding interest in the ceramic arts.
NCECA was founded as a non-profit organization in 1966 after several years of affiliation with the Ceramics Education Council of the American Ceramic Society. NCECA’s founding charter was developed by forward-thinking ceramic artists who saw the benefits of a professional organization in its ability to create identity, definition and support for the ceramics teacher and artist, and to promote advancement of the ceramic arts. NCECA President William Parry wrote in the inaugural issue of the NCECA Newsletter:
“There is no question about our opportunity to amplify the effect of what we do separately by the association that this organization represents. However we might spell out our objectives and possible activities, they are but extensions of our most basic gratification in getting together to swap pots and ideas, to show slides, to look and listen to others with similar interests—away from and out of the context of our individual situations. NCECA is therefore primarily an agency using the resources in time and money surrendered by its membership to guarantee this annual event and the communications and preparations incidental to it.”
There were 22 ceramic art educators from 17 colleges at the initial ASC Ceramic Education Council meeting in 1961, and during its first decade, NCECA was a small gathering of a few hundred artists. In the 1980s it grew to more than 1,000 members and today comprises more than 4,000 members. The annual NCECA conference is the world’s largest event held in the field of ceramic arts. NCECA has been a unique artists-run organization since its inception. Dedicated individuals have made NCECA what it is today—a vital, significant, fiscally-solvent organization that is a model of success to other arts organizations.
Download a PDF detailing the first 25 years of NCECA’s history!
2022 NCECA Fertile Ground, Cup Sale, Sacramento, California
Goals and Objectives
2022 NCECA Fertile Ground, Sacramento, California
Founded in 1966, the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) is a nonprofit organization that fosters global education and appreciation for the ceramic arts.
NCECA advances creation, teaching and learning through clay in the contemporary world. Ceramic art connects us to physical and cognitive experiences that foster environments of cultural equity, diversity, access, and inclusion. Engaging body and mind in imaginative inquiry, clay work shapes our interactions with one another and gives form to ideation, innovation and traditions of insight.
The following goals and objectives are included in NCECA’s current strategic plan …
Catalyze innovation, quality and critical thinking in ceramic art and learning.
Share ceramic art’s legacies across generations
Forge partnerships that facilitate year-round programming
Promote awareness and understanding of global perspectives in ceramic art.
Focus NCECA’s collective capacity to act as a thought leader to direct the field’s attention to key issues that will shape its future.
Frame big ideas through thoughtful program curation.
Convene partnerships for global participation around clay, art, teaching and learning.
Provide practical and theoretical content through online resources.
Cultivate and serve NCECA’s individual and institutional members by providing programs, publications, services and opportunities that reflect changing needs in the field.
Improve access to valuable information on pedagogical and professional practices resources.
Generate and share advocacy resources that strengthen and reinforce our shared commitment to ceramics art as a medium of creative expression, a pathway to sustainable careers, and a means of cultivating appreciation for world cultures.
Provide an inclusive and welcoming community of practice that advances excellence and diversity through which all can share knowledge, opportunity and research pertaining to ceramic art and learning.
Cultivate participation by artists of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints in NCECA programs and promote them to the field.
Align the organizational communications as well as opportunities and programmatic concepts with NCECA’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Enhance the value of NCECA’s website by including more practical information and resources.
Be an outstanding global forum to connect and support ceramic art and education communities in the exchange of artistic knowledge, professional practices, and social impacts of the field.
Continuously work to improve the quality of conference planning and implementation.
Advance curatorial practice in ceramic art
Provide for a financially-sustainable NCECA with increased organizational capacity, and the ability to support is mission and while recognizing changing needs within its constituency.
Identify revenue gaps and the opportunities for developing new earned and contributed revenue to fill them.
Pursue and better focus restricted assets to support strategic goals.
Lengthen financial planning outlook by developing multi-year operations and program budgets with related development goals and plans.
Assess major factors and anticipated events/activities as possible over the next ten years, and begin the development of a longer-range financial plan that identifies new revenue needs and outlines a roadmap and strategy for the future.
Evaluate and revise NCECA’s current governance structure, policies, and procedures to support strategic goals, and provide expertise, leadership, and support to position the organization as a leader of a changing field.
Develop human resources infrastructure to support the organization’s needs and growth over the next 3-5 years.
2022 NCECA Fertile Ground, Sacramento, California
2022 NCECA Fertile Ground, Sacramento, California