An extra extra: Newsletter goes bi-weekly

We’re happy to announce that Woodshop News is adding a second weekly newsletter, available for free as part of your magazine subscription.

Woodshop News has been sending a weekly newsletter to readers for over a decade, but we’ve seen a particular explosion of interest in the medium in the past few years. As our newsletter audience continues to grow, we’re responding to demand for more content and greater frequency.

You should know that I’m a print guy who resisted the newsletter at first. Took me a while to embrace email, too. Social media is a work in progress. But the newsletter has been an outstanding platform for the editorial team to share late-breaking news about the industry, new tools and machinery, and upcoming events. I really don’t know what we’d do without it. So, I’m excited to have two dispatches a week.

The new newsletters will be sent on Tuesdays and Thursdays to current subscribers. New subscribers can sign up at woodshopnews.com. There’s an opt out option, too. But I’m going to try to make sure each newsletter isn’t just going to fill your inbox with irrelevant content. Instead, I want it to be something you look forward to receiving, with content that you find valuable.

The Craft Emergency Relief Fund has been approved to receive an American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic.

CERF is recommended to receive $100,000, and the organization says it will use the special operating funds to support two critical, existing program staff positions, the Director of Emergency Relief and Recovery Services and the Director of Education and Outreach.

“This timely and generous award gives us the confidence that we will be able to provide the emergency and career support services to artists, who continue to face setbacks from the pandemic,” said Cornelia Carey, executive director of CERF+. “We are grateful to the hardworking staff of the NEA and to Vermont’s Congressional delegation — and particularly to the leadership efforts of Sen. Patrick Leahy — to secure funds to stabilize and strengthen the arts infrastructure in the U.S through this period of recovery.”

To learn more about CERF, visit cerfplus.org.

Total construction starts increased 12 percent in 2021 over 2020, according to the Dodge Construction Network, paced by a 20 percent increase in residential starts. Nonresidential buildings increased 12 percent, while nonbuilding starts were flat in 2021.

“The increase in construction starts was impressive given the many challenges the industry faced during the year. Higher material prices, labor shortages, and multiple waves of Covid infections threatened to dampen the recovery,” Richard Branch, the network’s chief economist, said in a statement.

“However, construction remained resilient and persistent throughout the year in the face of these difficult issues. While these challenges will remain in 2022, the industry is well-positioned to make further gains fed by a growing pipeline of nonresidential projects waiting to break ground and the infusion of money directed towards infrastructure.” 

This article was originally published in the March 2022 issue.