Context
The Scottish Arts Council envisages crafts as a dynamic contributor to contemporary culture and the economy, valued and understood by people throughout Scotland, and Scottish craftspeople as a confident professional community whose work is recognised for excellence both here and abroad.
The strategy for crafts during the period 2002- 2007 aimed to develop the infrastructure to enable a broad range of people throughout Scotland to experience and appreciate the best of contemporary work. We aimed to encourage professional development and increase opportunities for promoting and selling high quality work nationally and internationally We can cite the following achievements in crafts in Scotland.
We have:
- devolved funding to four regions with matching resources from local authorities to support makers at grass roots level
- supported venues to present contemporary work of a high standard
- provided business Start-up and Creative Development funds to makers resulting in UK-wide and international recognition
- supported North Lands Creative Glass (now in its eleventh year) to become a centre of excellence for creative glass work which is internationally recognised
- established a national web-based focus for crafts at craftscotland
- established an interest-free loan scheme for purchasers of contemporary visual art and craft – Own Art
- fostered awareness of contemporary crafts in schools through a three-year programme of residencies.
These and many other achievements have strengthened crafts in Scotland but compared with other artforms the infrastructure is still emerging and, as yet, incomplete.
Budget
The crafts budget for 2007/08 is £869,000 which includes £114,000 committed to one Foundation Organisation (North Lands Creative Glass). In addition to the crafts budget, the department leads on our investment of £310,042 in three cross artform Foundation Organisations.
For information our about funding schemes, please visit our Funding section. | |