Founder’s Letter

January 30, 2021

Founder’s Letter

GEEX meets the dynamic and generous spirit of the glass community with strategies of support, organization and professionalism. I started GEEX, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to draw on strengths and address weaknesses in the community laid bare by the compound crises of 2020 and its impacts on the field. GEEX aims to serve the immediate and future needs of those interested in glass, education, and exchange through programming, resource-sharing, and communication.

What are GEEX’s goals?

• To establish a new voice in the field embodying a different model of leadership—one that prioritizes respect, accessibility, and value-retention;
• To suggest new and alternative economic models of value exchange, re-organizing resources to greater impact;
• To recenter the field of glass by shifting the dominant narratives that define it; and
• To improve sustainability in the field of glass by building a network for both financial and interpersonal support.

Who is GEEX for?

GEEX uses the terms educators, co-learners and onlookers to describe our audience. These categories often intersect and overlap, altogether representing the ecosystem of ongoing glass education. GEEX uses these terms to emphasize the importance of knowledge-sharing, teaching, and in-field experience while disrupting problematic traditional learning hierarchies.

What does GEEX address?

1. GEEX addresses attrition through connection, community building, and resource-sharing.
   Academic glass programs have been plagued by low enrollments well before the pandemic overlaid even greater challenges. Dwindling enrollment numbers speak to the obstacles to engaging more students in the study of glass. Now is a wise time to strategically work together to make the most of our resources. GEEX pools resources from academic programs to strengthen the collective landscape of ongoing glass education. The GEEX platform enables university, non profit, and independent educators, co-learners, and onlookers to access and share resources alike.
   
   The truth of attrition is that many talented and diverse voices have actively chosen to distance themselves or disassociate entirely from glass as a professional field. This trajectory of attrition needs to be addressed, particularly if the glass community is committed to supporting and learning from a new generation of diverse voices.
   
   GEEX asks and responds: Who will young voices look to for role models in this field? How can a field that has failed to retain diverse talent support a new generation of diverse voices to actively choose glass as a worthwhile professional arena?
   
   
2. GEEX counters tokenization in the field by prioritizing the value of diverse artists’ voices through thoughtful framing and well-compensated labor. Counter to mainstream glass narrative, BIPOC have been influential contributors to American Studio Glass since the first generation. Remember that. Rewriting glass history is an act of collective care that acknowledges the historical impact of marginalization and tokenization. Longstanding issues of inadequate compensation are exacerbated in the landscape of the shifting consciousness of racial justice. Amplification of diverse voices must be met with adequate compensation for meaningful change. GEEX programming positions diverse artists and collaborators to garner respect, visibility and monetary support. 
   
   GEEX asks and responds: How do we acknowledge and respect marginalized voices? How do we counter tokenization and increase narrative plurality in the field? How do we foster, document, and archive artists’ practice toward the long-term goal of narrative plentitude?
   
   
3. GEEX adds plurality to the field’s precedents of singular power.
   Power protects power, and a small cohort of similar voices has traveled between glass institutions for too long. GEEX models power-sharing by empowering the next generation of skilled, diverse leadership in the field. The current GEEX staff (Emily Leach and Ben Orozco) have been instrumental in building and elevating the voice and design of this platform, owning programmatic decisions that add merit to the core values of respect, accessibility, and value-retention. GEEX has spotlighted this next generation as facilitators of our programming and is committed to continuing to identify and foster diverse leaders in the field.
   
   GEEX asks and responds: Who will lead this field in the future? What values will they prioritize? Who will invest in them and cultivate their leadership skills?

What is the future of glass? ➜ What will this community choose to empower?

GEEX turns to the community for support through subscriptions, donations, and advertisement revenue. The future of GEEX depends on what this community chooses to empower.

We ask you, in community, to support GEEX.

Helen Lee
Director, GEEX