Monday 30 November 5pm (AEDT)
World Crafts Council Australia
“A forum on the crisis in Australian craft education”
Register: https://wccaustralia.org.au/a-forum-on-the-crisis-in-australian-craft-education/
The strength of a culture depends on a diversity of stories and skills that are sustained over generations. Civilisations develop institutions to help preserve and develop those skills, including musicianship, dance, drama, art and craft. Craft has a particular value in the way it engages a full range of senses and gives meaning to everyday life. Without institutional support, Australia risks losing its capacity to make useful objects of beauty and meaning.
Being a manual skill, the teaching of craft can be more intensive than abstract knowledge work. Thus it is often targeted by managers of large institutions who seek to apply a standardised funding formula. But in no longer passing on that skill, we will have seriously diminished our culture.
There are recent proposals to cut tertiary craft courses at Griffith University and the Australian National University. If successful, others might be encouraged to follow.
In response to this threat to Australian culture, WoCCA has organised a forum to develop a collective plan to support craft education in the face of this challenge.
This is a public meeting. A wide range of perspectives is encouraged.