After closing its in-house restaurant for budgetary reasons, the Fuller Craft Museum last spring reopened the venue as the ArtKitchen Café in order to explore craft through media such as music, poetry, and film.

So far, the Thursday-evening performance series has proved a successful way to connect with the local community and bring a new audience into a museum that made its reputation by hosting fine art creations by artists who work in traditional craft materials such as fabric, wood, metal, glass, and clay, said Titilayo Ngwenya, the museum’s communications director.