We thought you'd like to know what came out of it all.
One of our priority areas was maker development. This is what you said would make the most difference:
• Professional development: coaching, mentoring, workshops
• Incubation studios for emerging makers
• Exhibitions and Residencies in NW venues
We've been looking at how to develop the market. This is what you said about that:
• Take a group of NW makers to new audiences
• Makers and Museums – how they can work together for mutual economic benefit and to build audiences
• A big NW (or Northern) Craft Festival
And with regards to advocacy about craft, that is, building confidence, getting the good news out there and promoting the sector within the NW and beyond, you picked out:
• Reposition craft as part of the creative industries
• An award of an international residency
• A public facing website celebrating NW craft (but there were widely ranging opinions on how to deliver this)
• Advocacy and education in community and schools
• An international project – an exchange or collaboration with international venues and makers
• Invigorating craft collections – a project across NW venues where makers respond to collections
• A high profile touring exhibition of contemporary craft
• Open studio tours to meet NW artists
• Partnerships between freelance and collections curators to develop exhibition ideas
• Work with online platforms for more craft presence
• Digitisation of craft collections in NW museums and galleries
We've had a chance to sift through all of these and think about what to do next, and that's the subject of our next post…click here to view
