Making changes in craft
Dr Karen Patel reveals the challenges faced by women of colour in the craft sector
Please do touch II by metalsmith and Crafts Council Directory member, Melissa Montague
Making Changes in Craft (2021) is part of Dr Karen Patel's Craft Expertise project, an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded UKRI/RCUK Innovation Fellowship led by Dr Karen Patel of Birmingham City University, in collaboration with Crafts Council UK.
The research in this report is the first to highlight the lived experiences of women makers of colour in contemporary UK craft. Women makers from ethnically diverse backgrounds were the primary research participants here because of the stark gender, ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in the UK craft sector, as highlighted in industry data.
Making Changes in Craft reveals challenges to women of colour that include racism and microaggressions in craft spaces and on social media, and the issues with gaining recognition as expert makers.
Recommendations
The recommendations are relevant to craft and to the wider cultural and creative industries. They call on craft organisations, retailers, local and national government, Arts Council England, funding bodies and craft guilds, to:
- Reframe the narrative to tackle the way histories and stories about craft are dominated by a Eurocentric perspective
- Establish industry codes of conduct to change the culture of racism and microaggressions in craft organisations, craft fairs, markets and galleries, retailers, guilds and creative industries and arts organisations
- Improve our evidence base to ensure data about the crafts sector accurately represents the breadth of makers and build a detailed picture of key challenges to find potential solutions and networks that could help
- Embed and support craft in education to address inequalities in staffing, in support to students from ethnically diverse backgrounds and in opportunities and careers education and advice to pursue craft courses at all levels of education
- Enhance financial support for makers to prioritise positive change in the sector, revisit funding criteria and ensure panels are ethnically diverse for funding decisions, application processes and language.
““The sector has to go further to ensure craft is an inclusive space for all ethnicities and genders, with the proportion of BAME (Black and Minority Ethnic) makers remaining unchanged compared to 2006 at 2-4%””
- Market for Craft Report, Crafts Council (2020)
Project phases
The project, 'Supporting diversity and expertise development in the contemporary craft economy' (short name Craft Expertise) commenced in March 2019 and ended in June 2021. This constitutes the first phase of a four-year project. Phase two will begin in July 2021.
For more information about the next phase of the project, please visit craftexpertise.com
Dr Karen Patel
About Dr Karen Patel
Dr Karen Patel is a Research Fellow based at Birmingham City University whose research focuses on diversity and expertise development in the contemporary craft economy. Her research interests include ideas around cultural work, diversity and inequality, cultural labour, cultural workers’ social media use and the nature of contemporary craft practice. Dr Patel has published two books: The Politics of Expertise in Cultural Labour: Arts, Work, Inequalities (2020) and Craft Entrepreneurship co-edited with Annette Naudin (2020).
