Crafts Council looks ahead

Our activity this autumn explores how craft and making can address urgent societal challenges and bring people together in disorienting times through two key themes - New Positions and Crafting Change.

New Positions
Explores power and representation in craft, and the civic role of galleries and cultural institutions.

Recognising that craft is shaped by many voices and perspectives from different lived experiences, we will prioritise new perspectives in our own activities and work with the craft sector to make equitable change. Activities include.

• Disrupting the Craft Canon – a new research project in partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University London supported by the Centre for Cultural Value’s Collaborate fund. The research will explore the cultural value and wellbeing attached to craft by racially minoritised communities who are excluded from the cultural space of craft.
• Summer Studio open call invites applications from LGBTQIA+ makers, or group of makers, to develop a new installation in our gallery made in collaboration with the public exploring ideas of queerness through making.
• Toolkit for change – supporting the craft sector to become anti-racist and enabling broader intersectional equity through the development of shared learning resources, action plans and a peer network.
• The creation of a youth advisory panel who will inform decision-making at the Crafts Council about activity and how we run our organisation.
• Crafting Pride - a collaborative project with Opening Doors and Forum+ working with older people within the LGBTQIA+ communities in London through participatory craft workshops.

Crafting Change
Crafting Change is about championing ideas of social integration, sustainability and equity, and sees craft as a powerful tool for impacting social, ecological, political and economic change. Highlights include.

• Cotton: labour land and body, Crafts Council Gallery, featuring work by artists Raisa Kabir, Brigid McLeer, Bharti Parmar and Reetu Sattar. Cotton explores the impact of cotton production on labour, land and the body, uncovering multi-generational connections between Britain and South Asia.
• Crafts will move to a membership scheme with an expanded biannual publication and a programme of live and online events, a rich offering of digital content and exclusive offers from partners. Crafts will continue to champion craft as an agent of change and build on its reputation for highlighting craft excellence from across the globe.