Spark Plug Award

The Spark Plug Award is a new annual award scheme that supports curators and craft professionals in the UK to develop ambitious and innovative exhibitions that engage with contemporary craft.

The Spark Plug Award scheme selects a minimum of four curators each year and awards them £5,000 for the fixed period of one year of research activity, during which time the awardees are required to research and develop an original exhibition project. Proposals must relate to an aspect of craft with craft practice at the core of the making process.

The successful Awardees are selected by an independent panel comprised of four professionals representing a range of curatorial and creative disciplines. For this first year of the Award the panel was:

David Falkner (Director, Stanley Picker Gallery), Shreela Ghosh (Deputy Director, Institute of International Visual Arts), Nima Poovaya-Smith (Director of Alchemy) and Hans Stofer (professor and Head of Department, Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery, Royal College of Art).

The Chair was Claire West (Director of Programmes, Crafts Council)

The inaugural Spark Plug Award attracted 43 applications and from a shortlist of ten proposals, six curators were selected to receive the Award. The panel were extremely impressed by the high standard of applications and the challenging and inventive ways in which curators were proposing new ways of engagement with contemporary craft.

The successful candidates were:

Janis Jefferies and May Cornet with a proposal to investigate the dynamic relationship between maths and textiles.

David Littler with Sampler; a proposal for collaboration between music and textiles by looking at the use of samplers.

Sally Moir with Cut and Paste; an investigation into craft within the work environment.

Sanna Moore with Compulsive, Obsessive, Repetitive; a proposal that looks at repetition in design and the process of making.

Paul Purgas with Vintage Future; a proposal that explores the nature of craft in the age of mass technology.

Zoë Shearman with Craftivism; a proposal which explores the relationship between contemporary art practice and craft traditions.

Notes to Editors

• The Crafts Council is the national agency for contemporary crafts. The Crafts Council aims to position the UK as the best place in the world for making, seeing and collecting contemporary craft.

• For further information about Spark Plug visit Learning & Support

• The Crafts Council is funded by Arts Council England. The Arts Council works to get more art to more people in more places by developing and promoting the arts across England and acting as an independent body at arm’s length from government. For 2006 to 2008, Arts Council England have six priorities: taking part in the arts, children and young people, the creative economy, vibrant communities, internationalism and celebrating diversity.

For images or other media enquiries about the Crafts Council please contact Jill Read, telephone: 020 7806 2549 or email: j_read@craftscouncil.org.uk or media@craftscouncil.org.uk