Judi Jetson is a weaver, dyer, spinner, teacher and collaborator who works in bold colors and textures, making rugs, garments and hangings. An arts entrepreneur, Judi co-owned Handmade in Florida Craft Gallery in Ybor City with Gary Burge from 2004-2006, and recruited an international weaving conference (Convergence) bringing 2,000 fiber artists to Tampa Bay in June of 2008. As Community Exhibits Chair for Convergence, Judi helped organize 50 shows around the region.
Judi’s life’s work is creating partnerships to make communities and neighborhoods great places to live, work and play. She is Director of Small Town Revitalization at HandMade in America, a post she assumed in 2010. In her former job as Director of the University of South Florida Collaborative for 13 years, she organized conferences and workshops, awarded grants, offered summer internships to youth, wrote, did research and spoke about university-community engagement. She did similar work at the University of Kansas.
Judi’s also been a downtown redevelopment consultant, worked for the US Small Business Administration, and managed a national research center for state elected officials. She loves to get people together, make music, learn something new every day, and stretch boundaries.
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