The Craft Development Workshops are a joint venture with Arran Textiles and the Scottish Agricultural College at Auchencruive. They are funded by the European Social Fund Objective 3.
Their purpose is to bring together people practising traditional crafts to identify ways of building confidence and developing business skills to support the craft skills.
The workshops also provide information on opportunities for development to people who normally work in isolation.
The first workshop was held at the Vennel Gallery in Irvine in June 2000. The theme was “Crafts in the Community“. Participants came from North and East Ayrshire and represented textiles, wood, ceramics, jewellery and beadwork and stained glass.
The programme introduced the work of Arran Textiles “Connecting Threads“ programme and invited participants to look at their own communities to identify traditions and current craft resources.
Participants from each area (Three Towns, Cumnock and Rural Kilmarnock) split into separate groups and with the help of flipcharts and a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) looked at the resources and networks in their own communities.
Recommendations for action were sent to the new Craft Development Project Officer who is responsible for North and East Ayrshire, Arran and Cumbrae.
Largs 2001
Two workshops were held in Largs in 2001 in collaboration with North Ayrshire Council Community Education.
The theme was “Traditional Crafts in the 21st Century“. Pariticipants represented existing craft groups in Largs and Cumbrae.
An exhibition of work was set up for each session, representing quilting, knitting, embroidery, decoupage and stained glass.
Lynn Ross presented her own craft history which began with learning to knit and embroider at primary school in Kilmarnock.
Discussion groups were held to determine what was needed for development of crafts in the Largs and Cumbrae area. It was decided to form a Craft Forum which would allow for independent fundraising with the assistance of Community Education.
More development days are planned for the Largs and Cumbrae area over the next few months.