An AHRC funded research project exploring diversity and expertise development in the contemporary craft economy
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” »
The Maker Stories Podcast series is now live. The first two episodes feature Jasmine Carey, a designer-maker for Deco 22, and Rose Sinclair, a lecturer in design (textiles) at Goldsmiths, University of London. Both talk about their journeys into craft and their experiences as Black women in the sector. More episodes to come in the … Read More “Maker Stories Podcast Series now live” »
Registration is now open for the project conference which is taking place at STEAMHouse Birmingham on Wednesday 4th December 2019. See the Event page for more information.
On 6 September 2019 Karen presented at the CAMEo conference at the University of Leicester on her work on challenges for women makers of colour online. You can read Karen’s summary of the conference and link to her paper on the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research website.
We are looking for participants who would like to be interviewed for this project. Craft Expertise is a 2-year Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project in collaboration with Crafts Council UK, which is exploring and seeking to address inequalities in the craft sector. The project lead, Dr Karen Patel of Birmingham City University, … Read More “Call for participants” »
Wednesday 4th December 2019, STEAMHouse, Birmingham Craft in the creative economy has seen significant growth in the past ten years, in what is perceived to be a ‘return to artisanal employment’ (Nesta, 2017). It has been argued that this growth is driven partly by the proliferation of online sites such as Etsy, as well as … Read More “Call for Contributions: Craft Economies – Inequalities, Opportunities and Interventions” »