The latest news and research from the craft sector
Our Autumn Policy Brief is here! This brief includes:
- King’s speech proposals and new government announcements
- A list of the new government ministers in the areas impacting craft
- Recommendations from The Fabian Society for the new government
- The impact of craft on happiness
- The current financial state of arts and culture in the UK
- A looming skills shortage
- And more!
King’s speech proposals and new Government announcements which may impact on craft
The Labour Government plans to increase devolution across England, giving mayors and local authorities new powers, which are likely to include cultural policy. The intention is to support local growth plans, bringing economic benefit to communities. The process is seen as using the power of the state to try to galvanise a more productive form of capitalism.
Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State at DCMS, has said she will review how public funding for the arts is spent. She announced that the Government is putting ‘rocket boosters under our growing industries’ through partnerships with mayors, councils, businesses and charities.
There is a commitment to raise education standards and to break down barriers to opportunity. Ministers also announced a review of what is taught in schools to create a broader, richer, more cutting-edge curriculum. The review will be led by Professor Becky Francis, CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation, and will report next year. Crafts Council welcomed the review, highlighting the importance of vocational subjects and the unwelcome effect of the GCSE Progress 8 measure which deprioritises creative subjects (albeit unintentionally).
The Government will do a short review of post-16 qualification reforms at level 3 and below, alongside the re-contracting of T Level qualifications. At the same time, they will pause the defunding of some BTEC qualifications until after the review.
An Employment Rights Bill will end the use of zero-hours contracts and introduce new workers’ rights. This may provide an opportunity to strengthen support for freelancers and sole traders. A Skills England Bill will set up a new arm's-length body to boost training.
The King's Speech also outlined plans to reset the UK's relationship with Europe and improve trade with the bloc.
New Government Ministers in the areas impacting on craft
The 2024 Labour Government’s ministers at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) are:
- The Rt Hon Lisa Nandy, MP for Wigan, is Secretary of State
- Stephanie Peacock, MP for Barnsley South, is Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth
- Sir Chris Bryant, MP for Rhondda and Ogmore is Minister for Creative Industries, Arts, and Tourism
- Baroness Fiona Twycross is Minister for Gambling
- The Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson, MP for Houghton and Sunderland South, is the Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities
- The Rt Hon Peter Kyle, MP for Hove and Portslade, is the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
- The Rt Hon Angela Rayner, MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, is Deputy Prime Minister, and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
- The Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds, MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, is Secretary of State for Business and Trade
- Caroline Dinenage (a strong supporter and fan of craft) is back, this time chairing the Culture, Media & Sport Committee, while Chi Onwurah has been elected Chair of the Science & Technology Committee
You’ve Got An Extra Tooth by Stacey Jones. Image courtesy of artist
Responding to the new Government …
The Fabian Society sets out new ideas for culture policy in Art for us All. The pamphlet says the government needs to help rekindle our role as a creative and cultural superpower. Its recommendations include:
- Urgent investment in a talent and skills ‘pipeline’ fund, as well as bringing together the arts and creative sectors with science and technology
- Making the arts central to the government’s new industrial strategy
- Embedding arts and creativity (including explicit reference to ‘craft’) and the UK’s intangible cultural heritage in the reformed national curriculum
- Every primary school to spend a minimum of 10% of each school day on arts subjects
- A comprehensive financial review of arts funding
- Increasing school museum visits and more opening up of collections and museums
- A culture pass for young people to help open up arts for all, plus a broadening of libraries’ role
Crafts Council teamed up with 40 creative organisations and Creative UK at September’s Labour Party conference to ensure that politicians, policymakers and party members hear first hand the solutions the cultural and creative industries have for the socio-economic challenges we face.
Crafts Council joined CVAN and other visual arts organisations in calling on the Government to improve support for visual arts. Recommendations included the need to appoint a Freelancer Commissioner (this would also include advocacy for sole traders), to invest in affordable studios and artist-run spaces and to integrate visual literacy into the National Curriculum at Key Stage 2.
And a new creative education compact across the creative arts, education and local government calls for fresh routes into creative education and the cultural industries. The compact highlights how creative education can be low or no cost to government and can tackle society’s big issues including mental health, isolation, disenfranchisement, substance abuse and crime reduction.
Craft is good for happiness! And more people are doing it
People who engaged with creative arts and craft had greater ratings for happiness, life satisfaction and a feeling that life was worthwhile than those who did not, according to an Anglia Ruskin University survey. Using data from the Taking Part Survey (the 2019–2020 DCMS survey of culture and sport participation) researchers found that a feeling that life was worthwhile was more strongly associated with doing craft than with being in employment. People often have a sense of mastery or ‘flow’ when undertaking arts and crafts – experiencing control, achievement and self-expression.
The results of the DCMS Participation Survey, covering May 2023 to March 2024, show that participation in arts has increased from 90% to 91% of survey participants.
WONDERHAUS. Deeplish Digital Project. Hands with brooches, Photographed by Julia Roy-Williams. Image courtesy of artist
The arts are in crisis
The finances of arts and culture organisations in the UK are in their worst state than at any time in the past five years, according to an Arts Professional investigation. The analysis of 2,800 organisations showed a significant decline in financial health between 2022 and 2023.
Meanwhile The State of the Arts report from the Campaign for the Arts and The University of Warwick reveals a crisis in the UK’s arts and culture sector. The UK has one of the lowest levels of government spending on arts and culture among European countries, having slashed its total culture budget by 6% since 2010. By contrast, countries like Germany, France and Finland have increased their spending by up to 70%.
The Local Government Association says council spending on culture has fallen by £2.3bn in real terms since 2010.
In better news John Swinney, First Minister for Scotland, confirmed that applications to Creative Scotland’s Open Fund could go ahead, following earlier uncertainty about funds. But a review of Creative Scotland will follow.
A looming skills shortage in the creative economy?
The creative economy is at risk of falling into a looming skills shortage, even though the number of jobs in the sector doubled between 2011– 2019. The Creative PEC’s latest State of the Nation report on further education shows there was a 57% drop in creative subject FE enrolment and a 63% drop in Crafts, Creative Arts and Design enrolment in England between 2014/15 and 2022/23 (aged 19+) – compared with a 31% drop across all subjects. The report points to a need for a sharper focus on the quality and labour market relevance of FE as well as the extent to which courses retain students, support their success and enable their progression to further study or the world of work.
Students feel they’re being steered into T Levels, rather than making their own, informed choices. They also think that the qualifications are not well established - and their favourite part is the industry placement, according to the Edge Foundation’s interim report on T Levels.
Creative degrees are undervalued in national datasets, according to The Value of Creative Graduates, a new report from higher education body Guild HE and United Kingdom Arts and Design Institutions Association (UKADIA). Using earning metrics alone does not capture the complex nature of creative careers, as many creative graduates aim for self-employment, portfolio careers, freelancing and entrepreneurial endeavours.
The Cultural Learning Alliance (CLA) reports that in the last year (2023-24) there was a slight increase in Art & Design GCSE entries (5.2%) and in Design & Technology (2%) but the trend 2015-2024 is a decline in GCSE Expressive Arts subjects of 34% (defined as Art & Design, Dance, Design & Technology, Drama, Media/Film/TV Studies, Music and Performing/Expressive Arts).
There has been little change in the A Level entries in Art and Design subjects but the decline since 2015 is 17%.
The Association of School and College Leaders says A-level entries have collapsed in creative arts and technology subjects since the introduction of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) in 2011. The teachers’ union is calling for the EBacc to be scrapped.
But … Creative UK highlight how creative businesses are key to growing the economy. Participants in the nine-month Creative Growth programme in the South West of England included Wedge Studio, a Newquay pottery studio, and Stitches &Cream, an independent yarn shop.
Historic England’s research into creativity finds that cultural heritage can positively impact economic development by boosting creativity. The report suggests that regions with high levels of creative talent perform better at wealth creation.
Plus …
A new article in the Creative Industries Journal summarises the findings of Disrupting the craft canon: a Living Lab approach to measuring cultural value, partnership research from Crafts Council and Glasgow Caledonian University (London). Adopting a Living Lab approach, the team investigated the meanings and cultural value of craft and specifically the impacts of race, racism, immigration and migration on cultural production, making and value, grounded in the reality of individuals’ and local communities’ lives.
Stoke-on-Trent has been awarded World Craft City status by the World Crafts Council. The award is given to areas where there are excellent social, cultural, and economic contributions from communities. The city’s heritage dates back hundreds of years and its ceramics are visible in museums all over the world.
The Irish government has launched a pilot scheme to increase the number of workspaces for artists and musicians, making €6m available for local authorities to match fund.
