In 1938, the New Brunswick government created an outreach training program in an attempt to supplement workers' income beyond traditional seasonal work in fishing, farming and forestry. This endeavour was the initial impetus for what would later become the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. With a break during
World War II, the program re-emerged with a location at Hut #43 at Exhibition Court in Fredericton and in 1946 Dr. Ivan Crowell was hired from
McGill University. Crowell would have a major impact on the development of the province’s craft industry. Dr. Crowell established a Handicraft Training Center at Exhibition Court in Fredericton (equipped to teach
woodturning, weaving on floor and table
looms,
rug hooking, braiding and weaving,
leather work, and cutting and polishing
gemstones) and in 1950 a summer school at
Fundy National Park called the New Brunswick School of Arts and Crafts. Since then, the College has been located at the Palmer MacLellan Building on Argyle Street in the late 1960s, the Huts at the Old Army Barracks at St. Anne’s Point on Woodstock Road in 1970 under the leadership of Allan Crimmins and finally in 1980 the permanent location, then known as the Old Liquor Commission Warehouse on Queen Street under the direction of
George Fry. On May 30, 2010, as part of the Provincial government’s action plan for
post-secondary education, the College separated from the
community college system, remaining under the umbrella of the Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour. In 2011, the College added the newly renovated Barracks Building which at one time housed the Fredericton Temperance Reform Club. == Academics ==