Updates from Rosy Greenlees
It has been a busy two months, and this update gives me a timely opportunity to highlight some of our most important new initiatives:
CRAFTS COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
On 30 September, we brought together 60 craft and cultural institutions and professionals for the partners’ launch of Crafts Council Collective, our new portfolio of continuing professional development programmes for makers. Building on the success of our long-running Crafts Council Development Award and Next Move schemes it will increase the scale and scope of the work we do, delivering opportunities for makers at all stages in their careers. Crafts Council Collective will enable the Crafts Council and partner organisations to work with hundreds of makers throughout the UK and extend its online resources to thousands more. Following the introduction for partners, we will be launching each scheme in turn to makers over the next eighteen months.
Professor Stephen Dixon, ceramicist and maker-trustee of the Crafts Council, and Hilary Carty, Director of the Cultural Leadership Programme both spoke at the launch, reflecting on the role of professional development in a successful making career and in the development of sector leaders.
Hilary Carty said: “It really is terrific to see the craft sector pulling together in this way and harnessing its energies around the critical workforce – the Makers in this industry … As our industries multiply and diversify, then so too do we need to strengthen our systems and processes for leadership development – to proactively catch new talent, mature ideas and innovative thinking, and enable these leaders to define and select the leadership activities that fits best with their circumstances – one size does not fit all. So the Crafts Council Collective offer being launched today fits perfectly with the needs of the industry.”
OPPORTUNITIES FOR MAKERS AT SHANGHAI WORLD EXPO 2010
We’re very pleased to be working in partnership with the British Council, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, and other Founder Sponsors of the UK Pavilion in Shanghai on a competition for makers to design and make the UK’s official VIP gifts at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. This will be the first time that the UK has presented commissioned craft objects as an official gift at any Expo, and so we are delighted to have secured this important opportunity for British makers.
CRAFT CLUB
Meanwhile, we are inviting schools, young people and volunteers to sign up for Craft Club, our new initiative in partnership with the UK Hand Knitting Association. Craft Club will enable schools to work with volunteers to include craft activities in their extended hours offer to children and young people. We are grateful to the National Federation of Women’s Institutes which has agreed to approach its considerable membership throughout the UK to contribute to the pool of volunteers which the Crafts Council will train and resource to run the Clubs. Do pass this link on to your contacts who would be interested.
CRAFT MATTERS
Mindful of the run-up to the election, Craft Matters is designed to give everyone who makes or enjoys craft the opportunity to show policy-makers and opinion-formers that craft matters to them. The DCMS’s own Taking Part data tells us that 17% of the population took part in a craft activity in 2008/09. Now, we want to animate that statistic and make it meaningful. Craft Matters is your chance to show that, contrary to the theory that “there are no votes in the arts”, there are thousands of votes in craft alone. Over 250,000 people per year currently visit our website – imagine the impact if you all sign up and get one more person to sign up too. 500,000 people putting their name to their interest in craft! So, sign up and pass it on. In the New Year, we will launch a new area of the website to publicly demonstrate your support and put our message across to policy-makers. So, forgive us if we tell you about this a few times as we’re rather keen for a good showing – and so, sign up today and help us to Make Craft Count!
POLICY NEWS
The final new initiative included here is a monthly summary for sector professionals covering recently published consultations, reviews and reports with opportunities for a response and news and publications relevant to the sector for information.. This first summary covers a slightly longer period and looks back to the party conferences’ as well as including news of the National Skills Academy’s new apprenticeship programme, reports from NALN, CCE, NESTA and the ESRC, the BIS review on postgraduate provision, the HEFCE consultation on the proposed Research Excellence Framework and NIACE’s report from its enquiry into life-long learning.
OTHER NEWS
ORIGIN
October saw our fourth presentation of Origin: The London Craft Fair at Somerset House. Last year it coincided with major difficulties in the banking sector ; this year the news was all about the continued recession on the high street. However, we are delighted that Origin’s visitor numbers remained constant as did sales at the close of show – and we know that after-show sales and commissions are at least as important to many exhibitors as sales during Origin itself. The contemporary basketry theme in the curated and participation elements was very popular, and the opportunity to pick up fashion and interiors styling tips at our Thursday Late shopping events drew crowds. Congratulations to Origin prize-winners: Annette Bugansky, Carréducker LLP, Andrew Lamb, Leto + Ariadne, Leah Miles, Timea Sido, Wycliffe Stutchbury, Louisa Taylor, Lucian Taylor and Sarah Tyssen, and thanks to the Association of Contemporary Jewellery (ACJ), Crafts Magazine, Evening Standard Homes and Property, United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) and Selvedge Magazine, and to Ikea for providing the materials for the Hybrid Basketry participation programme.
AMERICAN CRAFTS COUNCIL CONFERENCE
The American Crafts Council Conference in Minneapolis, also in October, brought over 300 delegates from the USA and beyond to debate the future of craft. I was delighted to be invited to convene a pre-conference meeting for membership and discipline specific organisations where we discussed the need to engage with new audiences; how we make ourselves relevant to a new generation of makers and what role can we play as advocates for the sector.
The Conference itself had a great range of speakers starting with a keynote by Richard Sennett and ending with a typically provocative speech by Garth Clark. I am sure you are familiar with Richard Sennett’s argument that “craft” applies across a wide range of activities from computer programmers to musicians. Garth Clark’s challenged the sector to consider its relevance in the context of extreme economic hardship in the US, shifting from the excess – ‘the palaces’ – of economic boom to the austerity – ‘the cottages’ – of recession and argued for the reconnection with a craft that provides jobs in rural communities and has a key part to play in the rebuilding of America.
Another recurring theme concerned “DIY” or indie craft, which is dominating the scene in the US. The question of whether this is part of the sector was asked repeatedly, with delegates questioning its value in the absence of debate about the aesthetic or other criteria by which it is judged.
Much like the “access versus excellence” debate in the UK, I feel it is a mistake to try to apply universal criteria. All craft activity lies along a continuum. The reasons people engage in DIY are probably different to those of a studio maker. Above all, what is important is that people – in the US or the UK -are making.
WORLD CRAFTS COUNCIL
I also attended the World Crafts Council Europe General Assembly in Lucerne where fourteen countries were represented. Over three days we received updates on the work of the WCC including an address from the new WCC President Usha Krishna, who had flown in from India to be with us, and talked about her plans to move the WCC forward.
I am delighted to announce that Clare Twomey, Chair of WCC UK, has been appointed to the Board of WCC Europe and that we will be hosting the 2012 WCC Europe General Assembly in the UK.
OUT AND ABOUT
As usual, my colleagues and I attended most of the major autumn fairs including the London Design Festival, 100% Design and Goldsmiths’ annual Fair, and it was a particular pleasure to attend the launch of Emanuel Cooper’s new publication, Contemporary Ceramics at Contemporary Applied Arts and to visit Alison Britton’s superb exhibition at Marsden Woo. And last, but by no means least, my congratulations to the V&A on a fantastic re-presentation of their ceramics collection in the new Ceramics Galleries and to Lesley Craze on her 25 years in business.
Our Chair Joanna Foster and I had meetings with Lord Puttnam and Ed Vaizey, and we look forward to organising some studio visits for the Shadow Minister when his diary permits. I also met senior staff at the DCMS and colleagues at the British Council. Central St Martin’s and UK Trade & Investment.
On a very different note I attended the David Mellor memorial service which celebrated his life through a wonderful range of music and words followed by an exhibition of his work at the RCA galleries. I was also saddened to hear of the death of Alan Peters, one of our most significant furniture designer makers, on 11 October.
I am looking forward to imminent visits to the Stoke Ceramics Biennial, Craftspace’s Taking Time exhibition at Birmingham City Art Gallery and the Hereford Craft Fair amongst other events in the next two months.
Whether our Crafts Council Collective, Craft Club, Shanghai Expo, or news and policy updates are of most interest to you, if you’re reading this, Craft Matters to you, so I will close with a final reminder to sign up now and help us to Make Craft Count!
Rosy Greenlees
Executive Director
