Summary report from the HCA forum

23 March 2010 – Victoria & Albert Museum

Question 1 – Why is heritage craft important?

Without its heritage crafts the UK would be impoverished – culturally, economically, socially and environmentally. The wider craft sector would suffer the loss of these fundamental skills.

Cultural value

• Heritage crafts help to shape our sense of cultural identity – personally, regionally, nationally and globally.
• They have shaped our physical environment and way of life. Industries such as metalworking in Sheffield and pottery in Stoke have established communities, family histories (e.g. names such as Wright, Miller, Smith, Cooper) and form a key part of our cultural roots.
• Heritage crafts are a living asset which should be safeguarded for our understanding of the past, for our enjoyment today and for the benefit of future generations – it’s their inheritance too.
• Heritage craft skills can sound like something dead and in the past, but they should be alive and in the present.
• Both the skills and the products of those skills contribute to our sense of national pride.
• They should be preserved for their cultural and personal value – they help to cultivate a sense of meaning, depth, purpose, satisfaction, fulfilment, esteem and self-realisation in peoples’ lives.
• As a practical art form they are a way of expressing cultural and personal identities through continued practice.
• They make the past present, ensuring a more complete and enduring sense of cultural inheritance.
• Their continued practice ensures a greater sense of continuity – a rootedness not found in many more technical fields.
• Often they are expressive of a particular creative context, in terms, for example, of availability of local materials, suppliers of tools and local markets – all of which contributes to particular styles (the Wycombe Windsor Chair a perfect example of this phenomenon).
• Craft can give us a place in society, a sense of who we are and where we are from.
• They help to improve community cohesion and stability, for example, linking the generations and being expressive of longevity and endurance, often against the odds.

Value in the continuum of craft from historic to contemporary

• Is there such a thing as generic heritage craft? Each craft has its own differentiated heritage.
• Heritage crafts don’t exist in isolation. They are part of a continuum which links past to present.
• The skills form the basis of contemporary craft practice. It is important to master basic forms and techniques before innovating.
• Heritage craft is practical, functional and useful – the skills learnt are transferable.
• There is an emphasis on quality.
• There is a passion!
• There is increasing recognition in the value of the bespoke.
• There is a pride in making.
• Heritage craft equals quality, longevity, and superior product.

Value to individuals

• They provide healthy ‘emotional/physical’ connections that are needed in individuals ‘doing something real’.
• They allow people to experience a reconnection and engagement with material things.
• They are an antidote to IT addiction (e.g. in Asia) – a cause of illness and depression?
• They can be therapeutic and contribute to the quality of life and the wellbeing of society more generally.
• They can engage large, perhaps partly disaffected swathes of the community (volunteering, back-to-work, unemployed, disaffected youth, special needs).
• People love making things, it fulfils a basic human need, the buzz of making adds to confidence and self esteem.
• Practising skills develops concentration and patience, problem solving / lateral thinking.
• A sense of ‘flow’ during making helps us relax – slows us down.
• Playing with materials from early age is important to the development of self-worth, passion, learning, place in the world, finding your ability, meaning, enterprise.
• They are accessible – all ages and walks of life can relate to and engage with heritage craft.

Educational value

• They have immense educational value to all. They are an especially good way of encouraging self-discipline and hand/body/eye coordination e.g. in Steiner schools, with children with learning difficulties.
• Craft is eye + hand + heart and can be antidote to emphasis of mainstream education on brain/intellect. Some people talk a lot, while others are doers and can be very creative. Craft provides an outlet for those whose intelligence is physical rather than intellectual.
• They help to give a sense of how thinks work – PROCESS – where things come from – e.g. children knowing milk comes from cows.
• They give a fundamental understanding of the ‘real’ world – as opposed to ‘virtual’ worlds.

Economic value

• UK will employ more craftspeople who will sell more craft.
• They are important to the tourist industry (which I believe is the fasted growing industry globally?).
• Loss of skills needed by traditional trades for conservation/restoration. Heritage crafts are more than (but include) conservation of old things.
• If we lose the traditional skills, we lose the capacity to preserve all that part of our heritage that has been made with them.
• We need the living heritage to pass on to future generations.
• For many modern day crafts there is competition from mechanical developments and/or cheap imports – crafts should and are moving towards the more creative / high art / expensive / one-off commissions. This in turn leads to more creative thinking / design in associated fields in Britain.
• Craft has an influence on the arts and industrial design – fashion is a good example of how craft can be applied to other art forms. Industrial and design processes, even advertising and the media, can benefit from inspiration created by craftsmen.

Environmental value

• Many traditional crafts have a strong connection to, and work in harmony with, the environment (in the sense that they are not exploitative of natural resources).
• With some outdoor / woodland crafts, the shape of the countryside is moulded by craftsmen. Without their skills, the countryside would change (for the worse). The same applied to the look of many of our villages, stately homes and historic buildings. Craft skills are needed to keep Britain looking attractive / beautiful.
• Low carbon / eco / localness: crafts can encourage a non-acquisitive, low carbon, eco-friendly but practical way of life – much of which ties in with the new trend towards localness and sustainability (e.g. farmers’ market idea, etc).

Question 2 – What are the key challenges to the survival of heritage crafts?

Cohesion and vision

• The industry is disparate and lacks a cohesive voice and vision.
• There is a lack of definition as to what constitutes ‘heritage craft’. Are we, for example, concerned with heritage crafts as a viable business, or just the skills regardless of their potential commercial benefit? What is it we want to survive?
• The industry is creatively diverse but suffers from a lack of communication between the various crafts – many parishioners get together to sell, not to create and try new materials/techniques from different disciplines. The industry needs to improve communication and encourage ‘craft collaborations’.
• Different crafts are at different stages of their development and require a tailored, not a standardised, approach to remedying some of the key challenges.
• Many of the best craftsmen are elderly.
• There is a danger of the complete loss of some crafts.

Institutional support

• There is no Government body responsible for craft skills.
• At least four Government departments have an (unstructured) input towards craft (schools / further education / training / culture / work and pensions etc).
• There is a lack of government policy to meet the many needs of the industry.
• Lack of financial help (or understanding) for craft associations / groupings – most of whom are struggling.
• Need better links with funders and to know what opportunities are available – also much funding is too restrictive and onerous e.g. HLF schemes.
• There are a lack of co-ordinated schemes on a regional basis to help craftspeople locally/regionally.
• Regional museums are not interested in the process needed for the support of regional makers.

Education and training

• Education doesn’t currently balance material with virtual.
• School children are not encouraged to make things and seldom see a craftsman – there is no natural progression.
• There is an inclination at policy level towards the academic – schools and further education increasingly having all courses made academic, with little encouragement given to those who could be excellent at crafts (i.e. many craftsmen are dyslexic, etc).
• For schools and FE – health and safety issues are over the top – teachers and tutors have to comply with too much legislation
• Consequently classes, apprenticeships and training (especially adult education) are disappearing, when they are just what’s needed.
• There is a lack of educational provision for all ages – but especially amongst the young. The quality and cost of educational provision is a particular challenge.
• Post-19 education is virtually non-existent. Adult education in crafts which can act as an introduction to craft skills is either cut or very expensive. There is a long list of outstanding craft courses abolished, or many are academic and impractical.
• Learning a skill will become expensive and beyond the people’s purse – crafts have been de-prioritised to IT, learning, job skills, etc.
• Meanwhile more people are getting interested – individuals who offer voluntary time e.g. informal classes, introductions etc are getting swamped with enquiries.
• There is no proper cohesive framework for the various forms of training and for accrediting this. It is almost impossible for young people to find their way round the incredibly complex systems for funding craft training.
• We need to create more opportunities for people entering the industry as well as moving within it.
• All the above means employers are not able to find people who have basic love and basic skills to develop further. Where are the next generation coming from?
• While many willing to pass their skills on, there is no money or straightforward system for doing so.
• Very few craft apprentices left and Government gives no support – sole traders / small craft firms cannot afford them.
• Blacksmithing – lots of people have been coming into the craft but the ‘New Entrants Scheme’ has just closed.
• Do we romanticise apprenticeships? Costs for trainer, time for trainer, are people willing to work for nothing?
• Lack of money for people offering apprenticeships.

Public perception of heritage craft

• Virtual world – removal from the real world – drift from the physical.
• Throwaway society.
• Mechanization / cheap imports. In many crafts new machines are increasingly able to make relatively good copies of craft work (the public often does not know the difference unless it is educated in such things).
• Issue of ‘time’ – time is money etc.
• Lack of understanding of intrinsic value.
• Lack of promotion for heritage crafts skills nationally or locally.
• Challenge of heritage vs. contemporary – what is the difference.
• There is a danger that the public are led to believe that all crafts are ‘old fashioned’” because of the words ‘traditional’ or ‘heritage’.
• ‘Heritage Crafts’ can also be seen as preserving the old/conservation etc, rather than a living part of British life.
• The Craft Council views crafts as something which are high art / specially commissioned / expensive / Art Gallery etc. – this can be another misleading simplification.
• Need to give crafts and objects produced a higher, perhaps ‘more fashionable’ status, to engage more with the public and create a better understanding of their value – Crafts Council has done this.
• Commercial competition – there is a need to encourage home-grown crafts and eliminate competition from cheap craft imports and non-craft production (the latter often being qualitatively inferior).
• There is a lack of public value in and appreciation of heritage crafts. The industry is often perceived as hobby-like which can inhibit its ability to be taken seriously both by those in positions of influence and by those new to the industry. Even the word ‘craft’ is often perceived negatively. We need to think of ways to change public perception and encourage more people into the industry without adversely affecting the number of hobbyists to ensure it remains creatively diverse.
• There is a general need to re-engage young people.
• Lack of awareness of craft opportunities. Is this why most entrants to field tend to be later career changers? Holding public interest.

Issues for makers

• Current education focused on design not making – how can you design if you can’t make?
• The artists/craftsman’s mind finds it often hard to be business minded.
• There is also a lack of training around marketing, running a business, knowledge of the industry and networking.
• Lack of support – studios – challenge of affordability.
• Low pay – e.g. trade engraver starts at very low salary – why when entrepreneurial skills very good?
• Peaks and troughs of market demand can be a problem.
• Issues in obtaining tools, lack of toolmakers.
• Sourcing of materials (basket making, thatching, wood trades).
• Lack of access to the land – bureaucracy, expensive, requirement for long term management of growing materials.
• Fundraising – how to access, comes with conditions.

Question 3 – How can we collectively tackle these challenges?

Working together

• Work TOGETHER.
• We have to take responsibility for doing something about all this collectively.
• Collective approach under (HCA) advocacy / lobbying group / organisation.
• Share knowledge, talk, be confident.
• Need more effective linkages with other related groups / organisations / sectors.
• Tie in Guilds with HCA programme – e.g. woodturners and Scouts – Guilds down to clubs.
• Establish more associations for respective heritage craft disciplines to give them stronger voice and greater influence.
• Not enough interaction between different skills and between hobbyists and professionals.
• Create collaborations to improve educational provision and cross-communication within the industry more generally.
• Hold events for crafts to overlap.
• Use internet to improve communication. Link individuals and groups via digital media such as internet forums.

Lobbying

• Improve dialogue between practitioners and those who are managing the industry to help influence government policy around key issues.
• Government to be more coordinated / focused on crafts.
• Government to set up new body / expanded body.
• Government to work out new training / educational routes.
• Government to do more to promote crafts (e.g. French system of ‘Masters’ etc).

Common message

• Re-instil in the public the benefits of the handmade vs. the throwaway society.
• Educate the public in valuing crafted object AND craft itself.
• Good moment to raise ‘Big Issue’ – balance between virtual and material – holistic.
• Greater public awareness – holding the public’s interest.
• Craft seen as counter culture – must become mainstream.
• Make case about longevity of end product.
• Environmental value, carbon footprint, low energy.
• Recession should create a need to make things yourself.
• Link to the ‘slow movement’ bubbling of interest.
• Localism – community activity.

Publicity and promotion

• We can improve public perception of the industry through the media – by writing and talking about it, ‘spreading the word’ in whatever way we can. For example, TV programmes and published articles and campaigns would all help to educate the public.
• Competitions, prizes and industry events would help to create awareness of the industry and improve its credibility across the board.
• Increasing the number of exhibitions (for example, in museums and galleries, at historic houses and such like) would help to showcase the industry and take it to a wider audience.
• Keeping it in media and on TV – Mastercrafts.
• Link with bodies like wildlife trusts etc.
• Advertising.
• Redefine the marketplace-needs to stress more living culture.– tourism, massive market-local crafts.
• Iphone app would bleep when you passed a craft workshop which is open.
• Craft fairs.
• Open House presence.
• National Trust working more closely with local crafts.
• Heritage Centres around the country demonstrate local/regional crafts.
• Publicity to emphasise that crafts are not old fashioned or only keep up old buildings but living/vibrant/relevant/beautiful.
• Individual craft associations to do even more to promote – with websites, demos, exhibitions and training.
• HCA stand at Art in Action.
• Identify industry champions – key figures in influential places who would help to promote the industry, putting it in a positive light.
• Support award schemes to create champions at practitioner level – such as, for example, the UNESCO ICH scheme. There could be many more at a more local level, at schools for example.
• Look at Japan – National Treasure scheme.

Fundraise

• Lobby government to take the lead in more funding for apprentices and journeymen for craft masters.
• Register as a charity. Small clubs can do well with the taxman if they only ‘earn’ up to £5,000 a year.
• Charities/foundations/sponsors to be encouraged with seed money/core funding.
• Heritage Lottery to be more supportive to heritage crafts (as well as their excellent support for traditional building skills).
• Environmental value, carbon footprint, low energy – could be source of funding?

Research and information

• Need research to have statistics to tell the bigger story.
• Educational research into value of heritage crafts.
• National website – portal for info on heritage crafts (with local dimension) giving location of all craftsmen (map based).
• Database of heritage crafts – to allow people to log in and hire tutors for schools.

Education and schools

• Encourage teaching of craft in schools – from early years – sowing seeds.
• School curriculum – more small class teaching ‘learning through making’ – kinetic learning - taster courses in schools.
• New GCSE in Northumberland linked to employment.
• Change H&S issues – e.g. in Sweden children are taught spoon carving with a knife.
• Educationalists to simplify overall routes for craft training.
• Schools (or some specialist schools?) to encourage craft training, perhaps coordinated with individual crafts – could well tie in with local crafts.
• All schools to be encouraged to get children to make something.

Adult education

• Educationalists to provide more hands-on craft training, probably leading to centres of excellence for each craft.
• Lobby for more in FE/HE.
• Adult Education under a new name.
• Encourage young people to get apprenticeships (funding a problem).
• Arts have foundation courses, what about Craft Foundation year? Not just rely on apprenticeships.
• Press for National Craft College, compare to art colleges and music colleges.
• 14-19 Creative & Media diploma.
• Lobby for inclusion in national curriculum (QCA Ofsted).
• Need to have some cohesion around qualifications and training – what is happening with CCS, NOS etc?
• Appeal to those wanting to change careers?
• Improve access to flexible training.

Support for makers

• Create procedures to prevent the loss of crafts in immediate danger and to address problematic areas of the industry over the medium to long term.
• HCA to offer advice to those seeking us out.
• Maintain ‘professional’ status of makers.
• Viable business opportunities.
• Real jobs.
• Time, housing and workspaces.
• Help with pricing would be useful.
• Training for craftspeople in ‘running a business’.
• Management support by people who understand craft.
• Entrepreneurial skills – mentoring.