I was lucky; I trained in the 70s when applied arts were confidently supported in our education system: potter's wheels and kilns in the school art department; several dozen undergraduate courses to choose from after ‘A’ levels; good facilities and peerless tutors at my art college. After graduating I did a PGCE in Art Education; taught in a big comprehensive and an FE college, then left formal education for a near- 20 year stint as Artist in Residence at Salisbury Arts Centre. Alongside my own making I taught 6-90 yr-olds; anyone who wanted to come - always busy, always oversubscribed. Learning skills is a need that lies deep in the human DNA. I became part of the community glue, and have continued to teach since leaving the Arts Centre.

A couple of years ago I stretched to taking on an apprentice who was supported partly by a charity. I'm glad to have been able to do it, but feel that opportunities are too few to develop the next generation of professional makers. Current TV offerings notwithstanding (offering more entertainmant than insight) there is a general ignorance of the excellence of British Craft. A few years ago I was visited by my MP; in his column for the local paper the following week he commented how nice it was to see someone make a business out of their hobby. He was Under-Secretary of State for the Arts at the time, and clearly had not a clue about what it takes to make and keep an Arts career going..

Over the last 20 years the economic contribution made by the crafts sector and its buying audience has quadrupled* while school and college training provision has plummeted. For decades Government policies have consistently undervalued the economic and social contributions of materials skills. The pandemic has underscored the importance of creativity and making; it’s what humans evolved to do. Currently we have an X shaped graph: rapidly increasing demand for technical skills is sliced through by declining training opportunity. It’s a story of inexorable de-skilling, at a time we need to be nurturing our homegrown talent.

* £.8m to over £3 billion (Crafts Council)

Julie Ayton FRSA
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