Handshouse Studio is a not-for-profit, innovative, educational organization that creates adventurous hands-on projects through community-service, building projects with non-profit partners around the world and is a Cooperating Institute with the Massachusetts College of Art and Design Professional and Continuing Education Program. Handshouse creates projects outside of the traditional classroom that energize history through the reconstruction of large historical objects. Handshouse collaborates with educational organizations and institutions providing faculty and students the opportunity to work with scholars, educators, historians, architects, engineers, anthropologists, archeologists, artists, craftsman, and builders in a wide range of historical subjects. Our intense workshops create a dynamic learning experience where everyone contributes to the process and everyone learns.
Handshouse was co-founded by Rick Brown and Laura Brown in 2002. In its few years of operation it has gained international recognition for its pedagogical method of connecting institutions and organizations to carry out bold and complex educational built projects. Handshouse reaches large audiences regionally, nationally, and internationally through exhibitions, lectures, films, workshops, and publications in magazines such as National Geographic, Archeology Today, Smithsonian, Fine Homebuilding, Timber Frame Magazine, South Shore Living, and through local and national news media. Handshouse has collaborated with film companies such as PBS’s NOVA, Discovery Channel, England’s Channel 4, Frances Channel 5, Czech television, and BBC.
The Museum of the History of Polish Jews will open in 2013 on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. This multimedia narrative museum and cultural center will present the history of Polish Jews and the rich civilization they created over the course of almost 1000 years. Initiated by the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland in Warsaw in 1996, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews will be a unique institution. Not only is it the first and only museum to focus on the history of Polish Jews, but also it is a truly 21rst-century institution in every regard.
Using the latest historical research and most innovative exhibition design, the museum will immerse visitors in the world of Polish Jews and encourage exploration through a wide range of media, documents, and artifacts. As a cultural and educational center, the Museum will provide a unique learning environment, lively public programs, and singular meeting place for a diverse public.
The Timber Framers Guild was established in 1984 as a nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to understanding and promoting the centuries-old craft called timber framing. Since its foundation, the Guild is proactive in learning through exploration, practice, and archival discovery. Guild workshops, ranging in scope from the construction of a classic 120 foot long covered bridge, to the creation of play structures built in children’s workshops, provide the opportunity to learning by doing. These events blend the talents of everyone from professional framers, designers and engineers to interested beginners. Since 1985, the Guild membership has grown sixfold, maintaining a regular program of international and regional conferences, sponsoring project workshops, and publishing a monthly newsletter, Scantlings, and a quarterly journal, Timber Framing.
