In July 2020 I participated in an open forum organised by the Craft Expertise project partner, Crafts Council UK. The forum aimed to:
- Publicly acknowledge Crafts Council’s responsibility for deconstructing racism, both within their organisation and the craft sector as a whole and commit to addressing this.
- Frame and outline some of the ways that racism has shaped the craft sector.
- Begin to explore the structures, processes and actions that will enable ongoing, meaningful change within the sector; and how Crafts Council will commit to taking these forward.
- Discuss how Crafts Council can share their organisational power with others in order to embed anti-racist practice.
The forum also included contributions from Rose Sinclair from Goldsmiths University (and guest on the Maker Stories Podcast) and maker Jay Blades, and the discussion was facilitated by Amanda Parker of Inc Arts UK. You can watch the entire discussion below.