Careers in Textiles Symposium
What is a Career in Textiles? HGA’s one-day online symposium spotlights leading professionals and industry trendsetters, shares their experiences, and provides insights on the diverse and changing landscape of textiles and fiber art. The symposium is open to all but is geared toward young professionals, recent graduates, and students. The symposium is presented virtually, and all sessions are recorded and available for registered attendees to view at their convenience for up to 90 days following the presentation. Students holding an active HGA student membership or showing proof of enrollment will receive complimentary admission.
Registration Fees:
$ 0 - Students
$ 5 - All HGA Members (donations are encouraged)
$25 - Non-HGA Members
Members, when registering, to receive the Member rate, you must first login to My Account. Not a member? Join Today.
Speakers
Schedule
Fiber Art Programs
Advertising Opportunities
Sponsorship Opportunities
Meet our Careers In Textiles Presenters
Lydia Blackmore
Decorative Arts Curator, Historic New Orleans Collection
Lydia Blackmore is the Decorative Arts Curator at The Historic New Orleans Collection. She earned an MA and a certificate in museum studies from the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture at the University of Delaware and holds a degree in history from the College of William and Mary. In her role, Blackmore oversees the research, acquisition, and preservation of decorative arts, fine art, material culture, and design collections. She supervises the Decorative Arts of the Gulf South project and coordinates preservation initiatives at the historic 533 Royal Street campus. During her eleven years at HNOC, Blackmore has curated or co-curated numerous exhibitions, including Making Mardi Gras (2022), A Vanishing Bounty (2024), and Unknown Sitters (2024). Beyond her work at HNOC, she serves on the board of trustees of the Historic BK House & Gardens.
Tracee Dundas
Founder and Executive Producer of New Orleans Fashion Week
Tracee Dundas has been a fashion pioneer since earning her degree in fashion and apparel design from the University of Southwestern Louisiana. She founded ABOUTFACES Model & Talent Management, one of the region’s most sought-after agencies, and is the Founder, Producer, and Creative Director of New Orleans Fashion Week (NOFW), a premier platform for the Gulf Coast fashion and beauty industry. Under her leadership, NOFW has launched designers to national platforms such as Project Runway and advanced models to New York, Miami, and Paris Fashion Weeks, establishing it as the most comprehensive fashion event in the South. Beyond NOFW, Dundas is a fashion correspondent and contributing editor who collaborates with brands including Essence Magazine, Nike, and Saks. She most recently coordinated the NFL Wives Super Bowl LIX Fashion Show in New Orleans and serves as Programs Director for Dress for Success New Orleans, empowering women through fashion.
Daryl Lancaster
Fiber Artist and Writer
Daryl Lancaster is a handweaver and fiber artist known for her award-winning handwoven fabrics and garments. She has been constructing garments for more than half a century and has presented lectures and workshops for guilds, conferences, and craft centers across the United States. A former Features Editor for Handwoven magazine, Lancaster has written more than 100 articles and pieces of digital content and regularly contributes to a variety of weaving and sewing publications. She also hosts the YouTube channel, The Weaver Sews, where she shares her extensive experience sewing handwoven garments, and maintains a blog at www.weaversew.com/wordblog.
Jacob Reptile
Executive Director, Aquarium Gallery and Studios
Jacob Reptile, a BFA graduate in Fiber Art from the Kansas City Art Institute, returned to New Orleans with a passion for textile, wearable, and green art. In an effort to build a strong artist community, he founded Aquarium Gallery and Studios. When a fire nearly destroyed the space in 2016, Reptile—undeterred and supported by his community—rebuilt it into the thriving creative ecosystem it is today. Inspired by nature, Reptile’s work aims to evoke joy while drawing attention to environmental issues. Using recycled materials and fabrics, he sparks dialogue that blends creativity with advocacy. His journey highlights the transformative power of art and community, inspiring others to embrace creativity and work toward a more sustainable future.
Sarah Resnick
Founder of Gist Yarn and Zollie
Sarah Resnick started her career as a community organizer by day and a weaver in all her spare time. She leaped into a career in textiles in 2017, when she launched Gist Yarn out of a 200-square-foot studio. Since then, Gist Yarn has grown into a thriving small business producing natural fiber weaving yarn and publishing patterns and content to inspire a growing community of multi-shaft, rigid heddle, tapestry, and rug weavers.
March 20, 2026 Schedule
Representing different areas within the textiles career field, HGA’s invited speakers will share their knowledge and enlighten attendees to potential opportunities in the field. Schools and universities will share information on their textile design and fiber art programs.
All sessions are recorded and available for 90 days. All times are Eastern Time Zone.
9:45 AM - 10:00 AM: Opening Remarks, Elizabeth Williamson, HGA Executive Director
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM: Lydia Blackmore
11:00 AM - 11:10 AM: Fashion Institute of Technology
11:15 AM - 11:30 AM: Baylor University
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM: Tracee Dundas
12:35 PM - 12:55 PM: Jefferson University
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Sarah Resnick
2:05 PM - 2:20 PM: Haywood Community College
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM: Jacob Reptile
3:35 PM - 3:55 PM: Tennessee Tech University
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Daryl Lancaster
5:10 PM - 5:35 PM: The New School - Parsons
Fiber Art Programs
These universities offer programs of study in the fiber arts.
or college's fiber art/textile program.
The Baylor fiber concentration introduces art students to traditional fiber techniques in combination with research-based, concept-driven material thinking. Our mission is to cultivate artists and designers who engage with fiber to make the world a better place.
Courses emphasize hands-on art making, employing textile processes such as weaving, dyeing, and surface design techniques, machine and hand sewing, felting, crochet, book making and altering, tufting, and basketry, all within a contemporary art context. Students build visual literacy and material sensitivity through studying fiber art history, concepts, and meaning-making to approach fiber art and design for individualized application in an array of creative careers from the gallery world to the textile industry.
The Textile/Surface Design Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology offers AAS and BFA degrees. This hands-on program nurtures the imagination, teaches the skills, and cultivates the insights needed to design textiles and other products for fashion and home. The curriculum blends conceptual and technological skills, so you’ll study drawing, painting, weaving, and screen printing along with CAD. You’ll gain an understanding of fabric construction, manufacturing, and the importance of sustainability in the industry. You’ll learn to create print and woven designs for apparel, bedding, wallpaper, carpets, and more, and graduate prepared for a wide range of opportunities in this multifaceted field. Located in New York City, the creative center of the textile and surface design industry, the campus extends to design studios, showrooms, museums, and galleries. Our accelerated one-year AAS program helps build skills quickly for candidates who have a previous degree or transferable college credits.
The Fiber program is an intensive curriculum focusing on the design and creation of fiber work, ranging from textile products to contemporary fiber art. Students concentrate on woven textiles and gain many opportunities to include hand dyeing, stitching, surface design techniques, and much more in their original fabric creations. Textile history courses provide in-depth exposure to textile traditions and techniques worldwide, including cultural and economic perspectives. In the second year, students focus on professional practices for the artist or designer. Business models are studied, and each student develops a personal pathway to future work in textile design, entrepreneurship, gallery or museum work, teaching, or any sector of the textile market. Graduates will leave with a thorough knowledge of woven textiles and dyes, as well as small business skills and professional practices applicable to a wide range of employment or entrepreneurial opportunities.
Textile & Fashion Design BFA students at MECA&D investigate the intersection of cloth and the human experience through a balanced study of textile and apparel fundamentals. Students create garments, functional objects, or works of art that affect those who interact with them. The Textile & Fashion Design program emphasizes engaged making that considers a broad and inclusive view of history, sustainability, engagement, and citizenship while utilizing both traditional and digital tools to actively solve problems. Located in the heart of the Arts District, in Portland, ME, Maine College of Art & Design offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts, a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art, a Master of Arts in Teaching, a Salt Graduate Certificate in Documentary Studies, as well as Continuing Studies for adults and youths.
The MFA Textiles Program at the Parsons School of Design is creating groundbreaking, award-winning, hybrid textiles that integrate timeless philosophical principles with craft and technology, on the bedrock of sustainability, social justice, beauty and wellbeing. A community of makers who are exploring and creating textiles from locally crafted materials, to 3D knitted matter and hand-embellished fabrics, is mindfully pioneering textile-based theory and industries, dissolving the boundaries between technology and craft, as well as investigating the dynamics of materials and systems. Devoted to promoting authenticity, originality and unique creativity in the field of textiles, students strive for their own voice and ultimate potential as professional textile makers, artists and designers in fashion, interiors, research, fine art, architecture, performance, speculative design and various interdisciplinary fields.
The Textile Design Programs at Thomas Jefferson University focus on the intersection of artistic craft and technology, where tradition meets innovation. Our Bachelor of Science in Textile Design equips students with a comprehensive knowledge of fibers, yarn analysis, textile construction methods (weave and knit), surface design (seamless-repeating print design and engineered print design), sustainable practices in the textile industry, and collection curation. Our Master of Science in Textile Design harnesses the student's previous knowledge and skills to craft an intensive study of print, weave, or knit development that results in a mastery of that area from that individual's unique perspective. Our Maker Spaces provide the students in our programs with the opportunity to ideate and explore on traditional textile equipment and then translate those processes into digital/electronic spaces while maintaining the presence of their hand.
Merchandising, Apparel and Textiles (MAT) students explore market trends, retail strategies, supply chains and more across the global marketplace. Our coursework teaches students about industry practices within development, sourcing, marketing, and merchandising of consumer goods and services. Students will gain skills in visual merchandising, sketching and design, buying and sourcing materials, event planning and more.
Please Note: This listing is provided as a courtesy. It is not a complete listing, nor is it an endorsement of any individual or organization listed. The information was provided by the organization or its representative. HGA does not warrant the accuracy or validity of the information, and hereby disclaims any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions.
Advertise Your Business
Your business will be listed in our exhibitor list and will include a dedicated advertiser information page to advertise your business. Includes your business logo, contact information, links to your website/online shop and social media, a description of your services, and if you wish, a pre-recorded video and a few photos of your products. Your information will be accessible to attendees for 90 days following the event. For more information, call (678) 730-0010.
Advertiser Page: $25 Professional Members / $50 Non-Members
Show Your Support with a Sponsorship
Support HGA and get your organization's name in front of hundreds of fiber art enthusiasts. We understand that the dollars you spend need to bring the maximum benefit to your company. Sponsors are offered exclusive benefits and services based on their level of contribution. Our packages are carefully structured at each level to provide the maximum visibility and the greatest mutual benefit, but can be tailored to meet your organization’s philanthropic or marketing objectives. For more information, call (678) 730-0010.
All Sponsors Receive:
- Name recognition on HGA's webpage as Sponsor, logo and link to your website
- Logo and name recognition in four issues of the Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot magazine
- E-Blast sent to HGA’s mailing list of approximately 10,000 promoting your sponsorship
- Post recognizing your sponsorship on HGA’s Facebook page (12,700+ followers)
- Post recognizing your sponsorship on HGA’s Instagram account (7,100+ followers)
- Complimentary event Advertiser Page to promote your business to attendees
- Continued publicity for 90 days after the week is over, through recorded viewings of each event
Title Sponsor ($2,500)
As the title sponsor, you will receive recognition at every Careers in Textiles session. Your name will be included in all marketing and promotional materials and mentions, including print advertisements, social media, and e-blasts.
- Logo and name recognition on all Careers in Textiles advertisements and eblasts promoting the event
- Logo and name recognition on every Careers in Textiles registration form
- Name recognition on all emails sent to attendees confirming registration
- Name recognition and logo on the video screen prior to each virtual session and at the conclusion of each session
- Logo and sponsor recognition on every session, as listed on the event schedule
- Following the event, name recognition on all emails sent to attendees, thanking them for attending
Session Sponsor ($200)
- Logo and name recognition on all advertisements and eblasts promoting your sponsored session
- Name recognition and logo on the video screen prior to your sponsored session and at the conclusion of the session
- Logo and sponsor recognition on your sponsored session, as listed on the event schedule
*Listing in Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot and its estimated reach to readers will be based on the date of the signed agreement. Late sponsorships may have less impact in reaching audiences.
