Friday 30 October 2009

Help the Heritage Crafts Association in its next stage of development!

The Heritage Crafts Association aims to support and promote heritage crafts as a fundamental part of our living heritage - through surveying, advocating, celebrating, safeguarding and supporting traditional craftspeople. To help us achieve this we wish to become a registered charity. Becoming a charity will open up a range of new funding opportunities and other benefits.

To register as a charity, we need to show that we have at least £5,000. We have already raised £3,000 from work done for CCSkills by committee members, and the the Chair and Vice Chair have each donated £500, leaving just £1,000 still to find. If each of our website supporters and Facebook friends donated £2 we could easily raise this amount. If they donated £5, £10 or more, then we can do even more to support and protect heritage crafts in the UK.

The money will be used to fund various projects. For example, we are hoping to run an internet marketing course for craftspeople with places subsidised to around £30 per person to help showcase and celebrate traditional crafts. We have also been offered free space at various high profile events around the country during 2010, which will be staffed by volunteers, but we need stand fittings and promotional material to show the quality of traditional craftsmanship in the UK. We are also continuing our advocacy work to raise the profile of heritage crafts, with meetings with the Heritage Lottery Fund and Shadow Arts Minister Ed Vaisey in early November.

If you would like to help us achieve these aims we would be most grateful for a donation, however small. To donate, visit www.heritagecrafts.org.uk/donate.html. You can donate using your PayPal account, or if you don't have a PayPal account, using your debit or credit card.

Many thanks for your continuing support!

www.heritagecrafts.org.uk/donate.html

Friday 9 October 2009

A Taste for Tutoring - learn to deliver a crafts workshop

This series of free training days, from Voluntary Arts, is part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Learning Revolution Festival, taking place in October 2009. The days will enable amateur artists and craftspeople to run workshops with groups of other amateurs in their chosen art or craft form.

By attending one of these days, amateur traditional craftspeople will gain the generic skills and confidence to deliver a simple workshop to other amateurs.

Where and when?
  • London - FULLY BOOKED
  • Tuesday 20 October – Brighton
  • Wednesday 21 October – Bath
  • Friday 23 October – Birmingham
  • Friday 23 October – Norwich
  • Monday 26 October – Bingley, West Yorkshire
  • Tuesday 27 October – Durham
  • Wednesday 28 October – Nottingham
  • Wednesday 28 October – Manchester
  • Monday 2 November – Plymouth area (venue to be confirmed)
How much?
Thanks to Learning Revolution Festival funding, these days are available to attend absolutely free. To help cover our costs in the event of non-attendance, we are asking all delegates to pay a £15 returnable deposit when booking, which will be repaid on attendance of the day.

To book:
Places are limited to 16 on each day - please phone 029 20 395 395 for availability.