In June 2020 I presented at the Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre Seminar series, which was organised by Nesta and King’s College London. I presented the latest research from the Craft Expertise project as part of the session on ‘Creative Industries and Intersectional Barriers’. You can listen to the full audio from the session below
Paper title: “They think I don’t know anything”: race, gender and perceptions of expertise in crafts
This paper discusses the politics of craft value and how it is communicated and recognised. Drawing on interviews with women makers of colour in the UK, the paper explores how getting their craft skills recognised and valued as expertise is a challenge which hinders their ability to establish a full-time career in craft. The paper argues that this is linked to how the craft practice of marginalised groups has traditionally been denigrated or omitted from accounts of craft processes within the creative economy.