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How we are celebrating our 50th year and what’s coming next


ByRosy Greenlees

8 October 2021

As we launch Make! Craft! Live! – a season of craft celebrations across the UK – our executive director Rosy Greenlees marks our anniversary by looking to the future


Rosy Greenlees

8 October 2021

  • 50th anniversary

  • Rosy Greenlees, executive director of the Crafts Council

At the Crafts Council, we want to empower communities to tell their stories through craft by using our resources – our new London gallery, our collection, our research, our magazine and our digital platforms – and by drawing on the knowledge and passion of our staff. This is exactly what we’ll be doing with the launch of our campaign Make! Craft! Live! this month, which marks 50 years of the organisation.

This year-long programme of 50 events, hosted by the Crafts Council and partners, will celebrate the possibilities of craft as we emerge from this difficult time. They will take place in our own gallery, as well as community centres, museums, galleries and craft studios across the UK (and online) from October 2021 to October 2022. The exhibitions, learning events and fairs will explore the big societal issues that craft can help address, such as equity and social justice, mental health and wellbeing, and the climate crisis. They will particularly showcase and support makers from Black, Asian, and ethnically diverse backgrounds, the LGBTQIA+ community and disabled makers, ensuring we are inclusive and relevant to all communities.


'Murmur vessels' by Francisca Onumah, one of five artists involved in We Gather, an exhibition opening at the Crafts Council Gallery on 17 November as part of Make! Craft! Live! (more details coming soon). Photo: Jerry Lampson

An anniversary is a chance to look back, celebrate successes and take stock – and gaze into the future. With 50 years of supporting UK craft under our belt, the Crafts Council can now draw on extensive past experience to ensure it thrives in the next half century.

Over the last five decades, we’ve had changes of strategy and staff but our core purpose – to encourage innovation and inspire a passion for craft – has not changed. Our Royal Charter, granted in 1982, stated that the Crafts Council’s role was to advance the creation and conservation of works of fine craftsmanship and to foster the public’s interest in the works of craftsmen, while making their work accessible to all. While this has remained constant – save for the terminology itself, now swapped with the less gender-specific ‘maker’ – the world has changed immeasurably since our founding in 1971.

Make! Craft! Live! will celebrate the possibilities of craft as we emerge from this difficult time

Artists, critics and curators have pinpointed some of the most radical shifts to have impacted making over the last 50 years in Crafts magazine’s story celebrating our anniversary – from the arrival of the first personal computer to the birth of biomaterials. Discover what contributors, including Grayson Perry, Magdalene Odundo, Jonathan Anderson and Jay Blades picked in the magazine’s September/October issue. Over the last five decades, we’ve also seen the economy rise and tank, creative subjects have been stripped from education syllabuses, and many independent art colleges have disappeared. Then there was the pandemic.


What has defined craft in the last 50 years, according to Grayson Perry?

Find out in the magazine

At the same time, the blurring of the lines between professional and amateur making has started to enable anyone to be creative, and craft’s popularity is soaring. Craft has long been a pioneer of the micro-enterprise model – businesses that comprise one or two people producing small batches of products, working to commission and offering public workshops. In the wake of covid-19 and Brexit, supporting craft businesses and organisations to recover and thrive will be key. We know they need funding, as well as commercial and marketing advice. By offering this virtually, we have supported thousands of makers. We are now creating a comprehensive set of business skills resources, accessible to all via our website.

Handmade work has always encouraged responsible consumption – buying less but better, repairing rather than replacing. Makers also play an important role in innovation, inventing materials and reimagining waste. The Crafts Council must play a part in encouraging the development of sustainable practices and materials. We are working with the University of the Arts London on a bio textiles research project; we have joined the Climate Coalition; and are creating long-term plans for boosting sustainability.

Over the last 50 years, our core purpose – to encourage innovation and inspire a passion for craft – has not changed

Over the last decade we have also seen how craft can have economic and social impact. This broadening of the craft world is now our focus. Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve witnessed how craft can empower people when they are feeling helpless and be used for the common good. We saw volunteers make scrubs for the NHS, and furniture designers refurbish street furniture to improve time spent outside during lockdown (see Crafts issue 286, Jan/Feb 2021). As mental health deteriorates, making will play an important role in improving the public’s wellbeing. Crafts magazine frequently spotlights the benefits of making on conditions such as anxiety and dementia, and the Crafts Council will continue advocating for its place in social care provision, while giving more people access to making in daily life. We will do this through our activities with local families in London’s Islington, our network of Craft Clubs and our annual festival of making, Hey Craft!.

Opportunities for young people to engage in craft in formal education is decreasing and government funding cuts for creative subjects in higher education will compound the problem. Stimulating interest in craft education by working with teachers remains a priority. We have recently launched ‘Craft School – Yinka’s Challenge’ for teachers wishing to engage learners with craft. It has the support of designer and maker Yinka Ilori.


Yinka Ilori at the Crafts Council Gallery

With initiatives such as these, as well as our Make! Craft! Live! campaign, we are looking forward to exploring what a future for craft could be, and will throw all our energy into ensuring it is bright.


Make! Craft! Live!

Discover more about the programme

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