The latest news and research from the craft sector
Our June policy brief takes a deep dive into all the latest news from across the sector. Read on to explore the following:
- Action to safeguard the survival of crafts
- The health of the crafts sector
- Participation levels in arts and craft
- How craft helps our mental health
- New findings on creative skills needs, careers advice and supporting creative freelancers
Action to safeguard the survival of crafts
Action to safeguard the survival of crafts
The UK recently ratified the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Nominations will open in the summer for UK traditions and ‘living heritage ’including crafts to be officially recognised.
Each member state must compile an inventory of living heritage practiced by communities in their country. This can include ‘the folklore, performance, customs and crafts that play an important role in telling our national story and making people feel proud of where they live’. The call is likely to be open for 4 months and there will be opportunity to submit again each year.
DCMS has published its response to an earlier consultation exercise on what can be included under the Convention. ‘Crafts’ are defined as ‘living heritage relating to the skills, knowledge and making of things, either by hand or with assisted tools. Examples could include specific practices of weaving, wood carving, pottery, blacksmithing, or stonemasonry ’(Executive summary). In addition, ‘the distinctions between any types of living heritage should relate to the practice and not between a master and an amateur or hobbyist practitioner ’(para 110).
It’s helpful to note that the earlier category ‘Traditional Craftsmanship ’- which Crafts Council had opposed in the consultation - has been replaced with 'Crafts' (para 243). The response notes that ‘contemporary ’tools and practices are often used to create ‘traditional ’crafts, and vice versa ’(para 234).
Heritage Crafts has updated its Red List of Endangered Crafts, which ranks 285 traditional crafts by the likelihood they will survive to the next generation. While no crafts have disappeared over the last two years, the number in danger have increased, including cut crystal glass making, glove making, linen damask weaving, scissor making, swill basket making and pottery trade and manufacturing. In response, Heritage Crafts have increased their Endangered Crafts Fund and are calling for improvements to the apprenticeships system and effective implementation of the UNESCO Convention.
The health of the crafts sector
Crafts Council’s Makers Survey 2024 reveals a vibrant craft sector. It shows a community of makers across the UK working in a wide range of craft disciplines, with high levels of education, as well as significant representation of female, disabled and neurodivergent makers.
In spring Etsy released its 2024 Global Etsy Seller Stats which show that in the UK,
- 92% are sole traders
- 97% operate their businesses from their homes; and
- 56% of sellers report low (less than £30,000) to medium income (£30,000 - £49,999 per year).
While numbers in the two surveys are not directly comparable, they broadly show a majority of makers who are sole traders and in low to mid-income brackets. The sector faces ongoing economic and market-related challenges that impact growth and sustainability.
A look at participation in arts and craft
DCMS has released data on adult engagement with the arts by council area. Leicester, Slough and Blackburn with Darwen have the lowest participation at 80% and 81% and Rutland and the City of London the most at 97%.
The percentage of people attending a craft exhibition (excludes crafts markets) has remained stable at 11% over the last year of the DCMS’ Participation Survey to December 2024. And 20% of the population continue to participate in craft activities. However, the 2% of people who do ‘other arts, crafts, or creative activities at home’ represents an increase (see table A1 in the link).
The Creative PEC’s latest research, Arts, Culture and Heritage: Recent Trends in UK Workforce and Engagement in England, shows a widening gap by class and ethnicity in terms of who engages with arts and culture. It also looks at the data from the Participation Survey as well as the Labour Force survey - the largest household survey in the UK. In general the data shows there is higher participation in arts and culture in areas with a greater number of arts and culture workers.
However, craft often bucks some of these trends -
- Participation in crafts was much more evenly distributed across the country than in other arts and culture, with the highest rates in more rural areas (see page 19).
- Participation is varied by art form depending on whether people are disabled or not disabled, sometimes with little difference. However, disabled people were more likely to participate in craft compared with people who are not disabled (24% and 18%, respectively). (See page 23)
- There are large differences between men’s and women’s cultural participation, particularly at home. The difference was largest for crafts, with 27% of women and 12% of men participating. (See page 26)
- In terms of social class people in intermediate households were most likely to participate in craft at 23%. (Categories are broadly: higher professional and managerial, lower professional and managerial, intermediate, higher working class, and lower working class.) (See page 33)
- The areas with the fewest people participating in crafts were all urban and generally parts of large metropolitan conurbations. (See page 41)
The PEC has also published an excellent interactive dashboard where you can explore participation by local authority area.
Meanwhile two papers from DCMS look at the learning from the UK Cities of Culture programmes. In the UK the title led to the creation of an additional 3,100 jobs within the tourism and hospitality sectors of host cities. 70% or more of citizens/attendees felt a greater sense of pride from living in a host city or attending the events. Meanwhile the second paper looks at the research evidence and legacy of the programme which includes strengthened community resilience, social cohesion, and civic engagement.
Lastly on participation, Arts Council England’s five year trends from the Annual Museum Survey show that while opening hours are recovering, they are down from 2019-20 in more than a third (36%) of museums. Visitor numbers are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. On a more positive note, museums are engaging more education providers than they were in 2019-20.
How craft helps our mental health
A Lucie Rie ceramics exhibition at Kettle’s Yard was the focus of a study that shows how looking at artistic beauty encourages big picture thinking. The Cambridge University study of visitors to the exhibition found that actively considering the beauty of art increases abstract thinking and “transformative” emotion – helping us escape the “mental trappings” of day-to-day living.
The Guardian reports on how research backs schemes that encourage doctors to prescribe time in cultural institutions to boost mental health and reduce loneliness. It draws on a World Health Organisation summary of research (2019) which notes that group activities such as ‘crafts and singing are particularly effective at fostering co-operation, self-concept and a sense of social inclusion for children, adults, families and communities across different cultures’ (p9).
Looking more widely, a new peer-led creative research programme, commissioned by Arts Council England, found that increased access to creative activities and spaces to connect can support better mental health and wellbeing in young people.
DCMS’ Culture and Heritage Capital programme is publishing a bank of research that cultural organisations and others can use when they need social cost-benefit analyses and value-for-money assessments to develop a business case. Recent research incudes papers:
- To understand and monetise the impact of engagement with culture and heritage on health and wellbeing;
- To provide monetary estimates of the benefits that art galleries and theatres provide to visitors and the local population in England; and
- How cultural heritage provides a modest but significant boost to our life satisfaction and an increase in monetary value to each person’s wellbeing. (This study has focused on physical heritage - there is an argument that in the future the impact of intangible cultural heritage, such as crafts, should also be measured).
More findings on creative skills needs, careers advice and supporting creative freelancers
The Government’s new Industrial Strategy prioritises leading growth sectors including the creative industries. The Creative Industries Sector Plan increases support for the sector with a £100m fund for creative clusters and a new £150m Creative Places Growth Fund in Mayoral Strategic Authorities. Crafts Council will continue to advocate for the importance of making as an essential key component of the Creative industries eco-system.
The Department for Education’s Skills England report looks at the skills needs of the creative industries and the barriers to entry. It points out that that ‘young people face significant barriers to entering creative careers due to inadequate career guidance, stemming from a lack of awareness of the routes available into the sector, limited resources for advisors, and weak industry connections’.
Recommendations focus on ‘strengthening partnerships between education providers and industry, while establishing clear professional development pathways’; and ‘making training accessible for the high numbers of freelancers and SMEs working in the sector’. (For freelancers we would include sole traders too.) The report also notes that ‘the training landscape in creative industries is increasingly recognised as multifaceted, emphasising both established craft skills and emerging digital technologies’.
Crafts Council contributed to a Creative PEC research programme on skills challenges and priorities for England’s Creative Industries. Key points included the need for an ‘entrepreneurial skillset’ (particularly for micros and freelancers) comprising leadership, financial planning, time management, business development, marketing and promotion and fundraising. Skills issues were compounded by a lack of relevant careers advice for those seeking to enter or progress in the creative workforce and the benefits of targeting support to the needs of creative microclusters.
Creative UK’s Forging Freelance Futures reports on the freelance economy of the cultural and creative industries (this includes all those who are self-employed). A higher proportion of people in these sectors are freelance than in the rest of the economy. Recommendations include establishing a Freelance Commissioner, revising the curriculum, sick pay changes, an extension of parental leave and payment protection.
On this last point, the Scottish Trades Union Congress reports that 69% of creative freelancers have experienced late payments from clients. In Freelance and Forgotten, the General Secretary says freelancers are being subjected to “bullying, sexual harassment and abuse within a sector built upon precarity and inequality”.
A new Creative PEC report on Higher education and the arts and culture sectors shows that arts and culture graduates are more likely than others to say they've gone on to apply what they learned as a student in their jobs. The report recommends that the Government’s narrow focus on earnings to measure graduate performance should be broadened to consider ‘multiple graduate motivations’. Crafts Council makes the same point in our report Crafting professional practice through higher education (2018).
And - where you live determines how likely you are to do an expressive arts GCSE or A Level, according to new evidence in the Cultural Learning Alliance’s Report Card 2025. Take-up is lowest in the areas of highest deprivation (with the exception of London). The findings also reveal a crisis in arts teacher recruitment as teacher training numbers fall. The Cultural Learning Alliance have produced a useful briefing note on the benefits of studying arts subjects and a blueprint for an arts rich education.
Money stuff - and calls for more
Crafts Council have put together a snapshot of what the new US Government trade tariffs mean for makers. Note that this information is what we know as of 22 April – the landscape, however, is ever-changing.
The Government’s Spending Review 2025 shows that total expenditure at DCMS will be reduced by 1.4% over the period from 2025/26 to 2029/29. Dame Caroline Dinenage, Chair of the Culture, Media and Sports Committee, says a ‘cut for DCMS is the wrong choice’.
The UK’s art sector contributed £19.1bn to the economy in 2023, with Arts Council England funding helping to generate £1.35bn for the economy. Leading the Crowd: a report on the role of public investment in Crowding In finds that public investment boosts additional income by making organisations more viable and attractive to private investors. The Arts Council England report says it also encourages innovation and supports early-stage research and development.
The Contemporary Visual Arts Network has called on the Government to set up a permanent fund providing support for at-risk organisations to address the “escalating crisis” in the arts sector. Framing the Future: The Political Case for Strengthening the Visual Arts Ecosystem is backed by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Visual Arts and Artists.
The British Academy calls for more investment in cultural infrastructure such as galleries in Measuring Social and Cultural Infrastructure. This can help deliver better outcomes for citizens and support government objectives.
The Centre for London is arguing for a London tourist tax as a way of helping to revitalise arts and culture in the capital. It also argues in Arts for All for a national Arts Pass for under 25s so that every young person can enjoy London and the UK’s arts and culture scenes.
The Mayor of London will invest £10m in the creative industries over the next four years, which will include money for the London Design Festival..
