MAKE is a collective manifesto for craft in Scotland. It has nine interrelated calls for action.
1.1
Work to promote Scotland as internationally acknowledged for quality craft through a culture rooted in making, material, creative and critical thinking.
1.2
Present exemplars of work, process, places and individuals to describe the values, quality of the sector clearly, celebrating and embracing diversity as a unifying strength.
1.3
Celebrate objects, ideas, process, sole traders, grassroots collectives, organisations, enterprises and new models for working as craft’s key offers.
1.4
Recognise craft’s parity, connection and collaborative relationship with visual art, design, engineering, technology and industry.
1.5
Encourage makers to embrace and learn from other cultures and other art forms.
1.6
Work to promote, as a priority, the development of a more diverse craft workforce through the introduction of craft in early years and primary schools, through access to craft at secondary level and through formal and informal apprenticeships.
1.7
Seek opportunities to promote the work of Scottish based makers abroad.
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2.1
Ensure that this aim is heard by our MSPs, civil servants and funding bodies as well as the people of Scotland.
2.2
Recognise and celebrate crafts influence as an art form and as a creative industry.
2.3
Celebrate the quality, purity and principles of craft through an understanding of its history, its evolution, its geographical and cultural context.
2.4
Understand making as a process and a set of approaches to design and materials that are fundamental to many strands of visual culture and professional design activity.
2.5
Recognise the inclusivity and democracy of making and its valid contribution to the cultural public programmes of other art forms.
2.6
Recognise the inclusivity and democracy of making and its valid contribution to a wide spectrum of professions including medicine, science, technology and architecture.
2.7
Recognise the inclusivity and democracy of making and its valid contribution to Heritage through our support of the Heritage Crafts Association.
2.8
Recognise the inclusivity and democracy of making and its valid contribution to health and well-being.
2.9
Recognise the inclusivity and democracy of making and its valid contribution to education and skills development.
2.10
Encourage partners and agencies to develop research around the way that craft is publicly experienced and presented in line with our societal expectations of culture (through exhibitions, presentations and venues). How can we work collectively to expand societal expectations of how culture can be experienced through process and through objects?
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3.1
Help to connect the existing craft infrastructure and actively seek ‘buy in’ and partnership with craft focused agencies and organisations across Scotland, the UK and internationally.
3.2
Promote Scotland as a positive, thriving and inviting place to live and work as a maker.
3.3
Promote lifelong learning by sharing information about short courses, professional development and opportunities for makers.
3.4
Advocate for a joined-up and open source approach to infrastructure, physical resources, tools and equipment, facilities, venues, retail and public programmes through innovative partnerships.
3.5
Help makers harness and understand better the creative potential of digital platforms to share ideas and resources and connect globally.
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4.1
Position objects, material and making at the very centre of our culture, our economy and our society.
4.2
Define craft as both an art form and a creative industry, celebrating its links to culture and to our industrial and manufacturing legacy.
4.3
Connect our work to the health, wellbeing and resilience of our diverse communities in Scotland.
4.4
Work in partnership with craft organisations, agencies and local authorities to make visible the diverse career opportunities available via craft education.
4.5
Campaign for a basic universal income or tax breaks for micro businesses to increase diversity within the craft workforce in Scotland.
4.6
Encourage and promote partners and agencies to ensure equality of access to training through apprenticeships and internships.
4.7
Campaign for craft education in primary, secondary and tertiary education in Scotland.
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5.1
Encourage partners and agencies to develop CPD craft and making training for teachers in primary and secondary level, creating opportunities for craft businesses and educators to work together.
5.2
Campaign for targeted investment in schools, colleges, universities and beyond – making Scotland a place where you can define quality practice through craft.
5.3
Build on exemplars of excellence to celebrate craft and making as essential to rounded learning.
5.4
Create case studies that help to evaluate Scotland’s further and higher education courses.
5.5
Support craft bodies and agencies to develop apprenticeship schemes for craft makers.
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6.1
Support new models, working with the buildings and venues of other art forms, heritage, hospitality and our communities to present Scottish craft through cultural commissioning and retail.
6.2
Provide resource for makers to harness and understand better the creative and innovative potential of digital platforms for selling work locally and internationally.
6.3
Recognise the potential of the pop-up selling platforms alongside more strategic and sustainable platforms for selling.
6.4
Encourage partners and agencies to develop research around a national marque of quality for craft in Scotland.
6.5
Encourage partners and agencies to develop dedicated retail platforms for craft in Scotland, representing varying price points and production values.
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7.1
Advocate quality for audiences through supporting cultural and critical presentations of craft.
7.2
Advocate for quality by building partnerships with venues and institutions to research the potential of curatorial internships for craft.
7.3
Celebrate our craft history and our collections, across various public spaces alongside selling showcases, locally and internationally.
7.4
Develop audiences and future makers by campaigning for integrated approaches to craft education in schools, colleges and communities.
7.5
Develop audiences and future makers by highlighting the access to and benefit of making workshops, courses and skills development.
7.6
Highlight the loss of specialist expertise in high-level curatorial positions and the closure of regional cultural venues and buildings, regarding both as damaging to the presentation of craft in a cultural context in Scotland.
7.7
Encourage Creative Scotland to address the lack of craft focused organisations within the Regularly Funded network.
7.8
Campaign for the presentation of international craft exhibitions in Scotland through partnership programming with other art forms.
7.9
Encourage the buildings, venues, galleries and institutions of the five recognised art forms to programme craft in culturally innovative and imaginative ways.
7.10
Actively acknowledge and promote cross art form working and the visibility of craft alongside other art forms within their programmes and cultural venues.
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8.1
Advocate for the crucial role craft has in leading the way in sustainable and ethical best practice, to policy makers, funders, business and cultural organisations.
8.2
Highlight examples of best practice, platforming Scotland’s makers as innovative and relevant to wider conversations around sustainability at government level.
8.3
Highlight the essential and significant role that craft has as both an art form and a creative industry in providing models to take forward in advance of wider shifts taking place in societal demographics.
8.4
Recognise that traditional craft communities, which so often embody healthy relationships between people, place, and living systems, can be important partners for learning and innovation as new economies emerge.
8.5
Understand rapidly evolving and more affordable digital fabrication technologies and the potential of working across digital and manual production within the field of craft practice.
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9.1
Encourage craft’s network of micro-businesses and sole traders to innovate and invent.
9.2
Present craft’s important role at the frontline of wider employment and business trends, as a crucial model in developing employment policies around Scotland’s growing freelance work force, set to expand during the next ten years.
9.3
Present craft’s important role in the ‘slow’ and ‘maker’ movements, as a crucial model in developing wider environmental policies in Scotland.
9.4
Campaign to reduce barriers for micro businesses to access significant business development resources in Scotland.
9.5
Lobby funders for funding (in partnership with other craft bodies) to support small focused grants, bursaries, residencies and Hothouse programmes for early career craft makers, to help establish strong and sustainable business modeling for craft in Scotland.
9.6
Lobby funders such as Creative Scotland, and Scottish Enterprise for funding (in partnership with other craft bodies) to support modest professional development grants for mid-late career makers, encouraging innovation and creative excellence. Encourage the embedding of enterprise into higher and further education courses.