by Pamela Conacher, HI-Arts Craft Development Co-ordinator

 
Following on from the Scottish Arts Council, HI-Arts funded 2007 Scoping Study into support for the crafts in the Highlands, HI-Arts appointed Pamela Conacher as Craft Development Co-ordinator from July 2008. Administrative support is provided by a part time crafts and web administrator, Avril Souter who was appointed in September 2008.

Since I took up my post, we have developed a growing range of support for the Crafts Sector in the Highlands and Islands. Prior to my appointment support was variable, there was a lack of take up of opportunities and it was felt that makers professional needs were not being addressed. It has been a priority during the first six months of the project to communicate with our audience, to ensure that they are fully informed of opportunities and support.
 

A co-ordinated approach has put in place a range of initiatives since September with many more being developed in the coming year. We now believe we have the basis of a very supportive programme and the feedback we are getting from our makers is that this is just what they want and need.

The first year of the Crafts Programme will result in much of the ground work being put in place to allow us to support a more dynamic approach to programming in late 2009/10 and to have all the infrastructure in place to take advantage of opportunities for makers.
 

 
Our programme includes the following:

The HI-Arts website Craft pages (http://crafts.hi-arts.co.uk) are now updated on a regular basis with several new features including Makers of the Month, opportunities and news. Our crafts database has been increased and updated and we send out a monthly newsletter. Thanks to Avril, the pages on the website are much more user friendly, colourful and informative. You can even set the crafts page as your Home page on the website and, with news added daily it is well worth subscribing to this if you want to keep up with all we are doing.
 

 
Our programme of Makers Days started in November 2008 and allow makers to come together to exchange ideas, network and to attend workshops and talks covering a range of support such as marketing and photography.

We have held days in Timespan, Helmsdale and Moray Art Centre, Findhorn and it has been great to get out and meet people, to hear what makers concerns are and to offer advice and support.

We have an afternoon at Caithness Horizons on the 4th March, two days in the Western Isles in late March, Mull in May and a day in collaboration with Craftscotland in June.

We intend to continue running similar days throughout the Highlands as they have proved a great success, allowing our makers to network and exchange ideas as well as to learn from a range of professionals.

I believe that meeting up is vital to ensure that our makers feel part of the Highland craft community and that they are being listened to and not working in isolation. Spin offs include people taking action themselves to set up support and marketing groups. All very encouraging!
 

 
We also provide support through one to one sessions and advice through email and phone. It is sometimes enough to put questions into words to make someone take the next steps with a business idea or for career development but we can also offer practical advice and point you in the right direction.

This may include applying for a Makers Award to buy equipment, take some training, do some research or visit an exhibition to inspire and enthuse you.

We can fund up to £500 towards your costs and in exceptional circumstances we can award up to £1,000. Many of our makers on our Makers of the Month have received funding in this way and we are building up an interesting and informative range of makers stories on the website.
 

 
We have launched a programme of Go and See visits to encourage makers to network and to realise opportunities by visiting venues, shows and exhibitions.

We are keen to promote exhibiting opportunities and the active encouragement of new exhibitions that will involve Highlands and Islands makers and also the bringing in of touring exhibitions to raise knowledge and understanding to both makers and the general public. We worked with the Highland Councils Exhibitions Unit to curate the Homecoming exhibition, Precious Cargo that is touring throughout 2009 and features many of our top makers. We hope to curate at least one new exhibition a year working in this way.

Two other programmes are set to be launched later this year. A mentoring scheme which will allow our makers to pass on skills and exchange ideas with other makers from the Highlands or outwith the area. We intend to run a pilot project from June 2009 and then develop this further later in the year.

To take advantage of Highland Homecoming in October 2009 we want to develop a marketing programme to support our makers with dedicated marketing support and again will see this as a pilot phase that can be developed further in 2010.

We intend to continue looking for opportunities for our makers to become involved and to work with other organisations throughout Scotland such as our colleagues in Craftscotland, Shetland Arts and An Tobar to do this.
 

 
So that is the first six months of Crafts Development support and I believe that we are well on the way to ensuring that our makers are given every opportunity to reach their full potential, that Highland crafts are given the recognition they deserve and we build a strong, sustainable crafts sector.

Pamela Conacher
11 February 2009

http://crafts.hi-arts.co.uk