How Crafts Council is changing in 2023

Like many arts organisations we have been deeply affected by the events of the last few years. The pandemic, rising inflation, and a 13% funding reduction from Arts Council England for 2023-2026 have all played their part in creating a particularly challenging financial situation for us.

In the face of these challenges, we have had to make changes to the way we operate and take some difficult decisions as we look to reduce our cost base.

Firstly, we will be temporarily pausing our exhibition programme and our last exhibition in the Crafts Council gallery for 2023 will close on 15 April. It has been wonderful to have this space in central London to showcase thoughtful and inspiring exhibitions including We Gather, Craft School and Cotton: labour, land and body. We have steadily built a faithful local audience, particularly through a range of participation workshops.

Where feasible, we will continue to run closed participation sessions for our communities, and host ad hoc events in the gallery space. We hope that full programming will resume by Spring 2024. For now, we hope that visitors will take the opportunity to visit Stone: Ten Bindings by Faith Shannon, a Designer Bookbinders exhibition on until 15 April.

Secondly, we have had to review our staffing costs. Sadly, this means we are saying goodbye to a number of brilliant colleagues at the end of March, to whom we have offered an enhanced voluntary redundancy package. We thank them for their valued contributions and hard work over the years.

We will continue with our work to make a more equitable craft sector, focusing this coming year on several key projects: growing our Young Craft Citizens programme; running Craft School, our national schools project; opening the Gaining Ground exhibition at Haworth Gallery, Lancashire; growing membership of Crafts and our Directory; continuing to distribute Let’s Craft packs to children; and advancing our work around diversity in the sector, through the Equity Advisory Council which acts as our critical friend on all our anti-racism work. Building on the success of this year’s Collect, we will soon begin working towards the 20th edition of the fair in 2024.

We are enormously proud of what our team has delivered during the last few difficult years and those that remain at the Crafts Council are committed to carrying on all this valuable work. In a time of climate crisis, with many living in poverty and what seems like a deeply divided society we know that craft and making can aid mental wellbeing, provide a place for healing and act as an agent of change. We remain profoundly optimistic about the future of craft in the UK.

Natalie Melton, acting executive director, Crafts Council
Andy Marshall and Helen Hyde, co-chairs, Crafts Council board of trustees