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Crafts CouncilAboutResearch and policyPolicy brief

June 2021

June 2021

All the latest news and research from the craft sector


  • Craft policy
  • Craft research
  • Craft education
  • Craft and wellbeing

Number 1 is our Making Changes in Craft report. The findings inform a different narrative: one that challenges institutional racism and inequality and champions social justice.

Also, we cover:

  • More evidence of how arts participation boosts health
  • Changes in the creative and cultural economy and funding
  • Qualifications changes affecting craft
  • and a call for biomaterials research participants.

Morphus Grouping - Gizella K Warburton

Making Changes in Craft

We’re keen to bring to your attention the Making Changes in Craft – Craft Expertise Phase One report. This is an important study from Dr Karen Patel of Birmingham City University’s Craft Expertise project and the Crafts Council which aims to support greater diversity in craft.

Dr Karen Patel has highlighted the challenges faced by women of colour in the sector including racism and microaggressions in craft spaces, the challenges presented by social media, and issues with gaining recognition as expert makers. The work is informing Crafts Council’s approach to tackling racism and inequality in the craft sector.

The recommendations are relevant to the craft sector and to the wider cultural and creative industries. They call on craft organisations, retailers, local and national government, Arts Council England, funding bodies and craft guilds, to:

  1. Reframe the narrative to tackle the way histories and stories about craft are dominated by a Eurocentric perspective
  2. Establish industry codes of conduct to change the culture of racism and microaggressions in craft organisations, craft fairs, markets and galleries, retailers, guilds and creative industries and arts organisations
  3. Improve our evidence base to ensure data about the crafts sector accurately represents the breadth of makers and build a detailed picture of key challenges to find potential solutions and networks that could help
  4. Embed and support craft in education to address inequalities in staffing, in support to students from ethnically diverse backgrounds and in opportunities and careers education and advice to pursue craft courses at all levels of education
  5. Enhance financial support for makers to prioritise positive change in the sector, revisit funding criteria and ensure panels are ethnically diverse for funding decisions, application processes and language.

In addition…

Inc Arts’ survey of organisations funded by DCMS and Arts Council England (ACE) A Year of Anti-Racist Action shows the big gap is still in diversity of staff even though improvements in boards and programmes is evident. Inc Arts say the results of the survey have shown that change towards anti-racism is iterative; it takes time for solidarity to become action, but it is happening.

More evidence of how arts participation boosts health

Hey Craft! 2021 was a nationwide participation festival delivered by the Crafts Council in May as part of the Get Creative and Make a Difference campaign and coincided with Mental Health Awareness Week. This report evaluates how 34 partners delivered 63 events to 1,827 participants before restrictions eased.

THIS Institute and The Health Foundation have produced a guide for community groups, artists and researchers to arts-based engagement.

The Centre for Mental Health has published a report on improving boys’ and young men’s mental health through sports and creative activities.

Arts Council of Wales and Y Lab have developed HARP - Health, Arts, Research, People - an innovation and research partnership to help health places and arts people and places explore creative innovations for health and wellbeing in Wales.

A partnership study including UCL’s Dr Daisy Fancourt shows that facilitating participation in community arts groups could help to promote healthy aging, enabling more fulfilling and satisfying lives.

An online creative intervention has improved mood and wellbeing for 55 adults, with the pattern of clinically significant change comparable to other psychological therapy, according to a study in the Journal of Mental Health.

The Centre for Cultural Value have reviewed research on social prescribing (where GPs or other health/social care professionals refers people to an arts or cultural programme).

A study of an intergenerational arts and health project has supported psychological well-being for participants, carers and artists

There is evidence that arts-based interventions may be effective in addressing suicide risk and survivorship in nonclinical settings.

Changes in the creative and cultural economy and funding

DCMS have released new figures on the economy for its sectors (they include tourism, telecoms, digital etc as well as creative and cultural sectors). It looks like these sectors have fared worse than the economy as a whole. Estimated monthly GVA grew by 1.7% month-on-month in March 2021 - 14% below February 2020 levels. This compares to 2.1% for the whole UK economy which remains 6% below February 2020 levels.

Insolvency rates have declined overall from 2016 to 2020, but they increased in five sectors including arts, entertainment and recreation, which saw the rate of insolvencies jump from 3.5 per 1,000 businesses in 2016 to 4.2 in 2020, an increase of 18%.

Museums in the UK have been hit hard by long periods of closure over the last year, with job losses running at 8%, according to a Museums Association report. University museums have also battled with falling visitor numbers and reduced income, according to the University Museums Group report Covid-19: Beyond the Crisis?

Over half of the UK’s arts and cultural venues and organisations believe they are at risk due to the decline in income during the pandemic, a new study from the University of Sheffield shows. Normal fundraising activities have been impossible for some during periods of social restrictions and some artists and organisations are still falling through the cracks in government recovery funds.

Cultural Learning Alliance analysis of Department for Education figures show that between November 2019 and November 2020 the number of Design & Technology teachers and hours taught fell by 7% while the number of secondary pupils children increased by 2%. There are 48% fewer Design & Technology teachers now compared to 2010, but 7% more secondary school pupils.

But looking forwards Kingston University’s Future Skills League Table highlights problem-solving, communication and creativity among the top 10 core skills needed for a prosperous economy. The findings were based on UK employers’ views about the challenges they face to remain globally competitive over the next 10-20 years.

Creative workers have been enrolling in education as a response to the crisis in hours and in jobs, according to analysis by the Policy and Evidence Centre of the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey. The evidence suggests they have been upskilling, taking arts-related education courses to bolster their skills ready for a return to work. And in 2020, for the first time since 2015, the number of core creative workers studying for an art-related higher degree (66%) surpassed that of undergraduate degrees (27%).

Creative England have established a new partnership with the British Business Bank, to unlock new investment loans of up to £25,000 for all subsectors of the UK's creative industries.

DCMS has published a Tourism Recovery Plan, which recognises that the UK is attractive to consumers because it has something to offer everyone – including its ‘thriving cultural and arts sector’. But it falls short of offering specific help for the sector’s post-Covid recovery.

Qualifications changes affecting craft

The Government has set out its vision for flexi-job apprenticeship schemes as a way of increasing the use of apprenticeships in some sectors and professions. Crafts Council welcomed the ambition, but we’re concerned that the Apprenticeship Training Agency model is only targeted at small and medium sized enterprises. It’s therefore not well suited to the sole traders and freelancers working in craft and other creative industries. We’re keen to make a reality of diversifying routes into craft.

(Putting Apprenticeships to Work for Young People from the National Foundation for Educational Research show that apprenticeship starts across learners of all ages fell by a fifth between 2015/16 and 2018/19; the supply of funding for apprenticeships in SMEs is likely to be an ongoing barrier and, in general, rural areas have been disproportionately impacted by the decline in apprenticeship starts.)

Pearson consulted young people and the education sector for its Interim Report on the Future of Qualifications and Assessment which shows that: flexible routes through study are seen as very important; a purely academic or vocational route can be too binary and a combination of practical and academic skills is increasingly valuable; and that there is too much weight on exams. The findings will shape a forthcoming set of proposals on assessment.

Call for participants in biomaterials in design anthropology research

UCL PhD Anthropology Researcher is looking for makers, designers, consultants and materials researchers who would like to be interviewed for a project on the development and use of biomaterials, biomimetic materials in design and how the natural world is interpreted and appropriated in design.

If you would like to participate, please contact Katherine Pfeiffer at katherine.pfeiffer.20@ucl.ac.uk.


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