Our work

The Crafts Council delivers its activity through four strategic themes.

1) Make Stimulating and profiling creative excellence, innovative thinking and practice across all craft forms

• Through support to makers, curators and craft professionals including Collective, our new portfolio of five continuing professional development programmes, we are working with hundreds of professional makers every year, helping them to develop their work and businesses.
• 7,500 professional participants

2) See Change people’s perceptions of craft by showing the best of contemporary craft in different physical and conceptual contexts

• Through collaborations with museums and galleries including V&A triennial exhibition, 50:50 exhibition programme, national touring exhibitions and online exhibitions.
• Promoting our Collection as a working loan collection and extending it into new contexts through CraftCubes – placing the object and digital interpretation into a self-contained environment.
• 2 million audiences / 6,000 showcase opportunities

3) Collect Supporting the growth of a robust craft sector

• Two major events – Collect showcasing the best international galleries and Origin, bringing makers and the public together in a new venue Spitalfields and partnership with Tent London at London Design Festival.
• International and domestic support to makers and retailers
• £4m sales and investment via our market development activities

4) Learn Promoting craft education and skills progression for the economic and cultural health of the sector

• Resources and support for craft educators including ‘Firing Up’, a major three-year national programme, supported by the Esmee Fairbairn and Paul Hamlyn Foundations, Craft Club, Craft Action Network and the Maker Teacher Scheme incorporating many elements of the recommendations of the Craft Blueprint on skills development.
• 1,000 members of Craft Club and 600 maker / teachers trained

5) Research and Advocacy

Providing research and policy demonstrating the value of craft with three new reports launched at Assemble 2010 in June:

• Making Value: craft & the economic and social contribution of makers, showing the contribution of craft makers to industry, education and the community
• Crafting Futures: a study of the early careers of crafts graduates from UK higher education institutions
• Consuming Craft: the contemporary craft market in a changing economy, looking at the current and potential market for contemporary craft and consumer attitudes in a changing economic environment.
• Craft Matters promoting value of craft through public contributions and high profile Craft Champions and national and regional press campaign.
• 7,000 policy bulletin users / 6,000 Craft Matters sign ups

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  Annual Review 2009-10

  See an online version of the Crafts Council’s 2009-10 Annual Review

  Find out more