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Crafts CouncilAboutResearch and policyPolicy brief

March 2021

Research and Policy Brief


  • Craft research
  • Craft policy

This month we focus on

  • Tackling racial inequalities
  • Brexit and the budget
  • plus a selection of new research

Flourish Pendant 02. Steel, oxidised silver, hand dyed monofilament. Kate Bajic, Carly Pettit-Taylor, 2016

Tackling racial inequalities

Craft Expertise, or ‘Supporting diversity and expertise development in the contemporary craft economy’ is a AHRC funded UKRI/RCUK Innovation Fellowship led by Dr Karen Patel of Birmingham City University, in collaboration with the Crafts Council. The project highlights the challenges faced by women makers of colour in the UK craft sector, including racism and microaggressions, barriers in craft education and pressure from their families to pursue seemingly more ‘stable’ careers than craft. These findings are detailed in the second working paper, aimed at a non-academic audience. The final report will be presented to a public conference to take place on June 29th.

Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings (currently on secondment with the Craft Council) is one of the commissioned artists invited to be part of the project, in the context of the Craft Council’s approach to tackling racism and inequality in the craft sector. Omeima said “As an artist I have been part of the conversation through an event, where Dr Karen Patel presented her findings and five artists were able to share our early-stage concepts for the commission which will be exhibited in the Craft Council Gallery towards the end of this year.”

Freelands Foundation and Runnymede Trust are to commission research into access to the visual arts for Black, Asian and ethnically diverse students in the UK. The two-year research programme spans early engagement with art in schools to the make-up of the professional sector. A sector-wide review will map the representation of Black, Asian and ethnically diverse artists, curators and organisational leadership, followed by an investigation into art education in secondary schools and a large-scale consultation. The final report, including guidelines, recommendations and plans for teaching and training resources, will be published in Autumn 2022.

The All Party Parliamentary group for BAME businesses owners’ report on responses to Covid 19 makes recommendations to tackle the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on Black, Asian and ethnically diverse businesses. They include improvements in representation, data collection, funding and tailored business support. Case studies include businesses working in arts and culture.

The Museum Association’s Decolonisation Guidance Working Group has collected a range of resources to support and inspire decolonial practice, including research papers, blogs, articles, case studies and keynotes.

Creatively Minded and Ethnically Diverse, from The Baring Foundation, is a series of thought pieces from artists and practitioners, with professional and/or personal experience of the field, who share reflections on the challenges and barriers faced by service users, workers and organisations in the arts and mental health sector.

Are you facing Brexit challenges?

The House of Lords EU Committee has published the findings of its inquiry Beyond Brexit: trade in goods, calling for the Government to take further steps to improve the advice and support it provides to businesses. It highlights Crafts Council evidence (paras 69 & 232) on goods affected by rules of origin and VAT charges to non-VAT registered businesses.

We’ve summarised some of the Brexit difficulties makers are experiencing that we’re raising with government officials.

The government has made £20 million available through the current SME Brexit Support Fund. HMRC may pay up to £2,000 towards training and/or professional advice to help businesses with changes to trade rules.

The Budget – what’s new?

  • Another £300m will be available through the Culture Recovery Fund, with a wider safety net for the self-employed and continued VAT and business rates cuts. (The Budget also includes a consultation on the future of R&D tax reliefs and an extra £7m funding to support portable apprenticeships.) The Creative Industries Federation said, ‘These measures will provide relief to many in the UK’s creative industries, a sector that has been amongst the worst hit by the pandemic and that will be one of the latest to return to work.’
  • The Government’s Plan for Growth includes the creative industries as “a major success story for the UK and a critical driver of innovation and growth.”
  • The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant continues with the tax deadline extended to 2 March 2021 to include a further 600,000 people. This means that makers who weren’t eligible in the previous round may now be able to apply.

Backbench MPs debated Covid-19: Cultural and Entertainment Sectors. They noted that the DCMS Events Research Programme will include testing measures at pilot events in preparation for a full rollback of restrictions. MPs reiterated the need for support for people excluded, such as VAT cuts, extended furlough etc.

New research on the impact of the pandemic on business, plus findings on culture and health and on people and place

The Cultural Value Centre (CVC) has found that there are 38,000 fewer freelancers working in creative occupations since the start of 2020. Freelancers are especially important to the creative economy as they represent a high proportion of the workforce. In particular, the findings show how music, performing and visual arts are at the epicentre of the crisis for freelancers, with a trend of decline continuing throughout 2020. (More findings from the project - Impacts of Covid-19 on the cultural sector – are here.)

The Cockpit Effect Report 2021 gives an insight into the impact of makers in the studios and the challenges they face. It also shows that whilst Covid had a harsh impact on many makers, others proved themselves equipped to adapt to the changed circumstances.

The CVC has explored how cultural organisations and practitioners are working with healthcare students to help them develop their practice beyond core clinical skills. A new digest assesses the evidence for the value of culture in the training and development of healthcare students.

The London Arts & Health Forum’s Arts & Culture: Social Prescribing Myth Buster aims to dispel some of the myths about social prescribing in the arts and cultural sector in order to help grassroots organisations become more involved in the London recovery plan.

The latest Making Futures online journal from Plymouth College of Art contains selected papers on People, Place, Meaning: Crafting Social Worlds and Social Making.

Raffaella Goffredi at the University of East London is seeking survey participants for research into the relationship between buying craft objects and constructs of subjective well-being, environmental attitudes and personality traits. There is a body of research evidence about the positive impact of making craft or engaging in craft activities, but a gap in the literature about the potential effects of craft on buyers and collectors. Please click here if you’d be happy to complete the 10-15 minute survey.

The 2021 Craft Research Fund awarded twelve organizations, scholars, and artists in the US a total of $136,291 through the Artist Fellowship, Exhibition Grant, and Project Grant.

Practical training on the Anti-Money Laundering Directive

The new Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5) (January 2020) is a legal framework to cover business activity taking place within the art market – the galleries, auction houses, dealers and individual artists involved in selling work. Creative United are now offering practical training for art market participants to understand, assess and respond to their obligations under the regime.


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