Tackling racism in craft February 2021

On Tuesday February 16th we held an online event for this project in which I presented further findings from the research, gathered some more ideas for action to address inequalities in craft, and got to hear from some fantastic craft artists we are commissioning. The presentation highlights the challenges faced by women makers of colour in the UK craft sector, including racism and microaggressions, barriers in craft education and pressure from their families to pursue seemingly more ‘stable’ careers than craft. These findings are detailed in the second working paper from this project, which you can download below.

The research presentation was followed by a short ideas generation session using Padlet. I asked attendees at the event to post their ideas for addressing some the issues raised in the research. Many great ideas were submitted which I will review and incorporate into developing policy recommendations, in collaboration with Crafts Council. The final part of the event consisted of short presentations from five artists we have commissioned to create a piece of work which relates to the project themes around diversity and inequalities in craft. Some really interesting and inspiring ideas were presented, and we are looking to exhibit the work produced later this year.

I would like to thank everyone who participated in this event, particularly Deirdre Figueiredo from Craftspace for chairing the event, and to the artists Shaheen Ahmed, Lorna Hamilton-Brown, Francisca Onumah, Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings and Onome Otite for presenting their ideas. Finally thanks to Crafts Council for organising.

Watch the recording of the event below.