Making connections, getting inspired, hatching plans

Shaping the Future: making a vision for craft in the North West
Conference
10 March at the University of Bolton
12.30-7pm

Tickets £15       Book here


Make connections, build your practice, talk about your challenges, and hear talks by people who make, move and shake in the craft world. You'll have a chance to shape future plans, as well as meet and network with some of the UK and Ireland's best makers and craft organisations.

Open to makers, curators, galleries, managers - anyone who works with contemporary craft in the NW. Make connections, be energised & hatch plans to put NW craft on the map.

Speakers are Louise Allen, head of programmes and innovation for Craft and Design Council Ireland; Geoff Mann, Scottish glass artist, innovator and educator and Liam Hopkins of Lazerian, an internationally renowned creative studio based in Manchester.

Organised by the NW Craft Network in partnership with the University of Bolton

More about the day here
Book tickets here

OUTLINE - Shaping the Future: Making a Vision for Craft in the North West

Outline of the day

10 March 2016
12.30-7pm
The University of Bolton, Deane Rd, Bolton BL3 5AB
Tickets £15

Join us for an afternoon of talks and activities that will shape the future of craft in the North West. For details of the programme and speakers, click here.
 

To book click here

12.30pm	Registration and coffee. Networking hub open
1.00pm	Introduction Victoria Scholes, co-ordinator of the NW Craft Network and Donna Claypool, Programme Leader for Textile and Surface Design, University of Bolton
1.15pm	Speaker:  Global Futures - Louise Allen, Head of Innovation and Development Programmes, Design and Crafts Council Ireland
1.45pm	Speaker: Liam Hopkins of Manchester Creative Studio Lazerian
2.15pm	Networking Hub and coffee Book a time or turn up and chat
3.00pm	Breakout Strands – making a plan Pick one of these Activities about Maker Development Activities about Market Development Activities about Advocacy – building knowledge, confidence and understanding
3.30pm	Speaker: Crafting Innovation – Geoffrey Mann, Scottish Artist, Designer and Educator and a pioneer of new technologies
4.15pm	Breakout Strands – making a plan Pick one you didn’t do last time Activities about Maker Development Activities about Market Development Activities about Advocacy – building knowledge, confidence and understanding
4.45pm	Pulling it together Feeding into the future & building a plan  Panel Discussion With our speakers and members of the NW Craft Network Development Group
5.30pm	Wine and conversation

To book click here

 

NETWORKING HUB - Shaping the Future: Making a Vision for Craft in the North West

Shaping the Future - Networking Hub

10 March 2016
12.30-7pm
The University of Bolton, Deane Rd, Bolton BL3 5AB.
Click here for more details about the programme for the day. To book a ticket for the day, click here

As part of our day, members of the North West Craft Network's Development Group will form a Networking Hub, offering you the chance to ask specific targeted questions about your work or practice.

We're inviting a host of craft experts including makers, curators, gallery owners and directors, museums policy-makers and audience development people.

You'll be able to ask questions, chat through issues and just get to know people and what their aims and motives are. You'll be able to book a 5 minute slot, or just turn up and say hello.

Stuck for what to ask? Check out the ideas below.

The people listed here have agreed to come and offer their advice and expertise. We'll add to it as they sign up, so keep an eye out: 

Samatha Rhodes, Assistant Director at the Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool
University of Bolton 
Clare Knox-Bentham, Designer and Outreach Manager for Manchester School of Art  
Rebecca Hill, Curator of Art at Gallery Oldham 
Vanessa McDermott, Director at Gawthorpe Textiles Collection  
Kaylee Jenkinson, Exhibitions officer at Manchester Craft and Design Centre 
Stephanie Boydell, Curator at Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections  
Ann Marie Franey, Co-Director of Great Northern Events, who run the The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair and Little Northern  
Jennifer Harris, Deputy Director of Whitworth Art Gallery 
Fiona Moorhead, Head of Marketing, The Crafts Council
Janet Boston, Craft and Design Curator, Manchester City Galleries  
Alice Kettle, textile artist and Professor of Textile Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University

What you might ask

Gallery owners, retail managers and curators might want to look for people who would be willing to collaborate with them on ideas and projects - or just to bounce and idea off a peer.

If you're a maker, just a tiny sample of the questions you could ask includes:

• What do they do
• What are the breadth of projects that they run that might be of interest to you
• How you might approach an organsiation or gallery
• What kind of work they show and if they sell, what sort of price range
• How do they like to be approached (email, images, face to face)
• For a regional or national museum what is their collection strategy - who do they collect and why?
• What kind of craft objects or projects really excite them.

Some people have significant expertise in allied areas such as community engagement (Gallery Oldham, Bluecoat Display Centre, Gawthorpe, The Whitworth), in marketing (the Great Northern Contemporary Craft fair) or networking and working with emerging makers (Manchester Craft and Design Centre). They might be able to offer advice about those things and how they could work for you.

If you have a question and you're not quite sure who to ask - just come and ask the first similing face you see and they'll help point you in the right direction. That's what the NW Craft Network is all about. A question doesn't have to be perfectly formed.

Do bring images of work or a project on a phone or tablet to share. Be ready to shout about your good news and look for answers to your issues.

Shaping the Future: Making a Vision for Craft in the North West

Join us for talks and activities that will shape the future of craft in the North West
Conference
10 March 2016, 12.30-7pm
The University of Bolton, Deane Rd, Bolton, BL3 5AB

Geoffrey Mann, The Secret Life of Shadows @SDeleau

Tickets £15        To book click here

What are the challenges you face as someone who works with contemporary craft in the North West? What can we do to make craft and makers great? What actually is the Northern Powerhouse? What does the future hold?

Liminal Exhibition 2015 - DCCoI

Come and talk about your challenges; hear inspirational speakers on topics such as trends, Northern-ness and new technologies and what they might mean for us; take part in structured sessions that will form a plan of action to strengthen the sector, and build your connections with a vibrant network of makers, galleries, museums, educators and Arts organisations.

If you're anyone who works with craft in a professional capacity in the North West, this day is for you. Together we can make the North West a brilliant place for contemporary craft and the people who make it.

Louise Allen, Innovations and Development DCCoI

Speakers are Louise Allen, Head of Innovation and Development Programmes, Design and Crafts Council Ireland (DCCoI); renowned Scottish Artist, Designer and educator, and pioneer of new technologies, Geoffrey Mann and Manchester dynamo and the brains behind creative studio Lazerian, Liam Hopkins

Special sessions will seek your views on a host of potential activities that could form our future plans – covering maker development, increasing markets and improving knowledge, confidence and understanding about North West craft inside and outside the region.  We’ll look at things like getting more craft exhibitions in the North West’s museums or setting up a major regional craft open of national quality. Could we have a North West Craft festival? What about a yearly celebration of making like the Sheffield Design week, or open studios like C-Art in Cumbria? Or could we encourage more incubation spaces and business support for makers? These ideas and lots more will be on the table.

Making friends and connections: the heart of it all

There will be lots of opportunity for you to ask specific targeted questions about your work or practice. Central to the afternoon will be a networking hub gathering many of the members of the NW Craft Network Development Group. These include makers, galleries, curators, museums and more. They'll be ready to meet you, chat about your practice and answer questions. See information about the Networking Hub here.

For an outline of the day, click here

To book click here

 

Coming up on 10 March - a day to shape the future of craft in the North West

Geoff Mann, Crossfire wineglass. Image Sylvain Deleau

Shaping the Future: Making a Vision for Craft in the North West
10 March, 12.30-7pm
University of Bolton

Tickets £15 (to be released 25 Jan)

Coming soon! An afternoon of talks and activities that will shape the future of craft in the North West.

Come and talk about your challenges; hear inspirational speakers on topics such as global trends, the Northern powerhouse and new technologies and what they might mean for us; take part in structured sessions that will form a plan of action to strengthen the sector, and build your connections with a vibrant network of makers, galleries, museums, educators and more.

Speakers so far announced include Louise Allen, Head of Innovation and Development Programmes, Design and Crafts Council Ireland and renowned Scottish Artist, Designer and educator, Geoffrey Mann.

Put the date in your diary! More to follow soon.....