Craft and creative industry

It was interesting to read your recent editorials (Platform, AP191 and AP192). In the craft sector, creativity, entrepreneurship and enterprise are natural bedfellows. We welcome the dialogue between art and industry as having the potential to make craft more vigorous and sustainable, and we know there are many excellent examples of craft interacting with other creative industries, notably fashion, architecture and design. Perhaps in some artforms, the difficulty is language – surely, increasing the nation’s wealth is laudable and does not detract from the intrinsic worth of art. ‘Skills development’ is another phrase popular with government but less beloved by arts practitioners who may object to the words while supporting the aim.

But, in a recession, under-capitalised micro-businesses with little spare time and money are more likely to conserve what they do have. The additional costs represented by apprenticeships may seem almost impossible to bear. The call from the DCMS for creative businesses to be ‘unselfish’ in offering support could, in this context, seem unrealistic. Moreover, we should remember that artists are already generous in giving their time and experience to develop future generations. However, ‘almost impossible’ is not ‘impossible’, given flexibility in how schemes are delivered and to whom. In a knowledge economy, for example, apprentice schemes must take into account that most sector entrants are graduates, and I call on government to acknowledge this in its parameters.
As support agencies, we must play our role. The Crafts Council has worked with Creative & Cultural Skills and partners across the UK to produce a plan for sector skills development, written by the sector, for the sector. Our consultees were energetic, critical and engaged; their comments have shaped the Craft Blueprint into a document reflecting real business issues and ideas. The Blueprint will be launched on 10 June. It reviews the challenges facing craft and delivers recommendations for skills development. Businesses and agencies from across the sector, including the Crafts Council, have already committed to working in partnership to deliver these. Following the launch, we hope to see even more businesses getting involved. We will then be able to state with confidence that together we are fulfilling the DCMS’s vision.