The latest news and research from the craft sector
Our new policy brief takes a deep dive into all the latest news from across the sector. From welcomed plans to improve access to arts education, to new funding streams for craft, April’s brief leaves no stone unturned.
Read on to explore the following:
- More studies show the benefits of arts participation
- Action and evidence on increasing access to culture and creative activities
- Skills shortages in the creative industries
- Opening up new funding for craft
- More support for cultural exchange and soft power
More studies show the benefits of arts participation
A US study Investigating Arts Education Effects on School Engagement and Climate found that a 20-percentage point increase in arts course enrolment was associated with improved student-assessed learning engagement and better student assessment of teacher engagement. Teachers also reported an increased sense of respect from students and parents.Taking part in group art activities can significantly reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety among older adults, according to a new study from Queen Mary University London.
A new academic study provides evidence of the lasting benefits of out-of-school arts programmes for young people.
Swiss doctors are now prescribing visits to galleries, museums and public gardens, according to Reuters (no source document available).
Action and evidence on increasing access to culture and creative activities
Crafts Council has welcomed early details of a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education, intended to give young people greater access to arts education and wider creative and sporting activities. This is part of the government’s plans to break the link between background and success.
A new Enrichment Framework is to help support schools to offer pupils high-quality creative and extra-curricular activities.
The parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport Committee launched a new rolling inquiry to examine previously unheard issues and challenges. Crafts Council will be responding.
An interim report from the Independent Review of the Curriculum and Assessment system in England highlights how the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measures may unnecessarily constrain student choice, impacting on access to vocational and arts subjects. It also notes how Design and Technology has suffered a significant decline in student uptake at GCSE, as highlighted in Crafts Council’s response to the review. Crafts Council has welcomed this acknowledgement but we have called for a more explicit and robust focus on our sector.
DCMS reports on what works to increase equality of access to culture for lower socio-economic groups. Even though engagement with arts and culture supports many positive outcomes, studies have consistently found that people from lower socio-economic groups are less likely to engage in arts and culture. The report highlights what works, including:
The number of people working in the creative industries from working class backgrounds is declining, according to The Creative Mentor Network’s (CMN) latest impact report. However, the DCMS data draws on employer responses and doesn’t reflect the breadth of craft activity and its many sole traders. While Getting in and getting on Class, participation and job quality in the UK Creative Industries (2020) shows that class imbalances exist across every creative industry, craft is an exception to this.
Arts and Minds is trying to put arts subjects at the heart of teaching in British schools. The campaign is led by 20 national organisations including the National Society for Education in Art and Design (NSEAD). Meanwhile Arts Council England chief executive Darren Henley says he is ‘hopeful’ that more young people will study arts subjects to GCSE, following the Curriculum and Assessment Review.
And in the early years, there’s a gap in provision of creative activities for children under three years of age. A 25-year Arts Council England research programme, Talent 25, follows the lives of babies from 400 families across Leicester, from birth to their 25th birthdays. Early findings show that cross-sector partnerships are vital and activities need to be targeted, affordable, local, relevant and fun.
Opening up new funding for craft
A record number of cultural organisations will have stable, year-on-year funding from Creative Scotland. All organisations will have a grant uplift and 141 new organisations will also be funded.
Arts Council England have announced they are stopping the launch of their next Investment Process in April, and instead are recommending to Government that the current National Portfolio extends to 31 March 2028. For those craft organisations already part of the portfolio this may be a welcome relief. However, with craft limited in representation is does delay other organisations from joining the portfolio.
Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, announced £60 million to drive creative industries growth. The funding includes money for:
- Glassworks, a new facility for glass making in Sunderland connected to the city’s glassmaking heritage
- CraftStory: AI-Driven Narratives for Craftworkers' Creations at Leonardopower, Devon
- Circular design & build service pilot at Jabulani, Studio Skein, Devon
- Recondition Route to Market, Greater Manchester
- Digital Direct Lost Wax: Historic hand processes, delicately preserved in bronze at Rachel Carter Sculpture, Nottinghamshire
However, Unleashing Creativity, a report on access to finance from Creative UK and the Creative PEC, shows that even though creative organisations want to grow, they still face real obstacles in accessing the right kind of finance to do this. The report shows that if an organisation is in a cluster, it’s 15% more likely to apply for finance. Many craft businesses operate in micro-clusters (streets, neighbourhoods or towns) and they face an even bigger hurdle - they are 19% more likely to say they need external finance and 25% more likely to inject personal funds into their operations. (See p38.)
The report recommends extending the reach of bespoke advisory services - including financial, networking and mentorship support - to ensure place-based creative hubs can better serve micro-clusters and underrepresented regions and groups. These are arguments Crafts Council is pursuing with national partners.
Skills shortages in the creative industries
Important evidence from NSEAD on the content of the art curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4 - the number of projects involving 3D materials, techniques, and process has dropped from 56% in 2004 to just 15% in 2024 (School Art: Where Is It? (Re)exploring Visual Art in Secondary Schools).
The Creative PEC has launched a new Creative Employer Skills Survey of businesses across the creative industries. Nicky Dewar, Crafts Council’s Director of Programmes, sits on the steering group. The survey is a chance to have an industry-wide conversation about current and future skills challenges. Creative businesses with 2 or more employees are invited to take part in an interview.
The Creative PEC’s Skills Mismatches in the UK’s creative industries shows that 65% of ‘hard-to-fill’ vacancies in the creative industries are down to skills shortages. This compares with just 41% of ‘hard-to-fill’ vacancies across all sectors. The report notes that ‘the Crafts sector is estimated to employ around 7,000 workers’ and that 69% of the craft workforce were employed in skilled trade occupations, higher than in other creative industries. But it also acknowledges difficulty in estimating the true scale and contribution of craft industries. (See Crafts Council’s Measuring the Craft Economy and DCMS Creative Industries Economic Estimates Methodology for an explanation and acknowledgement of this).
93% of creative businesses are microbusinesses, compared to 89% across the economy as a whole. The report also shows that the number of craft jobs has fallen, but again there are the same words of caution about craft numbers.
DCMS has published a report on Skills gaps and shortages in the creative industries: Employer perceptions and actions, UK, 2022. The same words of caution apply to these data too.
CreaTech, a report from The Royal Anniversary Trust and DCMS, looks at the fusion of emerging technologies and the creative industries. It explores how investment in skills and R&D can boost the UK’s approach to skills, innovation and business. The report features ’Brooching the Subject’, a competition at City of Glasgow College to design a brooch for the First Minister to wear at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference. The report also references Gareth Neal’s Digitally Woven, a 3D printed chair in recycled polymer.
The latest Design Economy Report from the Design Council highlights how design is transforming businesses, communities and the planet. But while sustainable design is a catalyst for change, only 19% of designers measure their environmental impact.
More support for cultural exchange and soft power
DCMS have published a report (also commissioned under the last Government) on how the UK benefits greatly from international cultural exchange and how more work should be done to understand market failures.
Lisa Nandy and Foreign Secretary David Lammy have launched a UK Soft Power Council to help boost creative exports at a time when creative goods and services exports haven't fully bounced back from the pandemic. Dr Tristram Hunt (V&A) and Sir Peter Bazalgette (RCA) sit on the Council.
Plus…
Arts Professional sets out key dates for 2025 including an interim report from the Curriculum and Assessment Review ‘early’ in 2025 and a final report in the autumn, plus the publication of the Creative Industries Sector Plan in the spring.
The arts sector has one of the highest rates of low-paid jobs in the UK, according to the Living Wage Foundation. Nearly one in three jobs in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector are low paid (29.2%).
The Government has set up a Visitor Economy Advisory Council to help grow the UK tourist industry. Crafts Council welcomes any initiatives to boost the craft experience economy which our research shows is growing in popularity. See our film, guide, case studies and checklist for Building craft experiences.
The Citizens In Power Network is looking to rethink decision-making in the cultural and creative sectors, through workshops, field trips and collaborative residencies.
And 82% of participants in Craft Scotland’s COMPASS business support programme felt that understanding how their values underpin their practice helps them make better business decisions.
