An AHRC funded research project exploring diversity and expertise development in the contemporary craft economy
On Tuesday 29th June 2021 project lead Karen Patel presented the findings and recommendations from Phase 1 of the Craft Expertise project at the event Making Changes in Craft. The final report, available to download here, is the culmination of two years of research with makers from around the UK. The aim of the first … Read More “‘Making Changes in Craft’ report, and Craft Expertise Phase 2 launch” »
Image credit: Mariam Syed, Textile Designer As part of the Craft Expertise project we have commissioned five craft artists to produce a piece of work related to the project themes of diversity in craft. The artists are Shaheen Ahmed, Lorna Hamilton-Brown, Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings, Francisca Onumah and Onome Otite. On 25 May they shared their work … Read More “Video: artist work in progress event” »
We are holding two events in the next month as part of the project: Artist work in progress – tackling racism and inequality in craft. Tuesday 25 May, 2pm. Register on Eventbrite In this event, the five artists we have commissioned to produce work for an exhibition at the Crafts Council gallery in November 2021 … Read More “Upcoming events: Work in Progress (25 May) and Making Changes in Craft (29 June)” »
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. You can watch my research presentation portion of the event below. … Read More “‘Tackling racism and inequalities in craft’ event and second working paper” »
In November and December 2020 I ran a three-day online workshop series for the project in collaboration with STEAMhouse in Birmingham. You can read a full recap of the workshops including methods and insights over at the Research Blog.
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 … Read More “Crafts Council forum on racism and inequality in the craft sector” »
I was pleased to be a part of this article in Crafts Magazine, which features comment from 7 people on diversity and inequalities in the craft sector. An extract from my contribution is below, you can read the full article here. “While some areas of the UK craft ecology do represent the diversity of British … Read More “Feature for Crafts Magazine – how can the craft world address its lack of diversity?” »
For Soundings journal I have written a blog post about the current conjuncture – where the impacts of COVID-19 are disproportionately affecting people of colour and working class people in the UK, and we’ve seen the increased attention on the Black Lives Matter movement after George Floyd was killed in police custody in Minneapolis earlier … Read More “Blog post for Soundings Journal” »
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 … Read More “Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre Seminar” »
It is now almost a year into this project ‘Supporting Diversity and Expertise Development in the Contemporary Craft Economy’, short name ‘Craft Expertise’. In November 2019 I presented initial findings from my interviews and observations to the Crafts Council team. I have written up my presentation into an informal working paper, which highlights the experiences … Read More “First project working paper now published” »
