Invite to important free craft skills event

The Heritage Crafts Association have been working with Government to highlight some of the issues facing craftspeople in the UK. The Skills minister John Hayes and his officials have been very receptive.

HCA have now organised a craft skills forum where craftspeople of all different disciplines can come together to discuss issues facing the sector and feed directly into the process of developing new strategy to support and promote the crafts. John Hayes will be speaking on the day as will Jo Reilly of Heritage Lottery Fund. Thanks to generous sponsorship from the Balvenie, the most handcrafted single malt Scotch whisky the whole event is free including lunch and at the end of the day there will be an optional whisky tasting.

If you care about the future of your craft, please consider coming and sharing your views with others. The day will involve lots of facilitated discussion groups so everyone will get the chance to air their feelings and contribute and everything will be noted down to feed into a cohesive voice of the sector. This strong voice is what we have been missing and part of the reason why crafts have been rather overlooked. So whether you are a quilter, blacksmith, potter, or basketmaker we hope you will join us for what promises to be a very important day for the crafts.

HCA Skills Forum

Wednesday 11 May 2011, 11.45am to 6pm
Chelsea College of Art and Design, 45 Millbank, London SW1P 4RL
Want to shape the future of traditional craft skills?
With generous support from The Balvenie, the Heritage Crafts Association has organised a Skills Forum on 11 May 2011 at Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. It is free to attend and the afternoon will include:

• Keynote speech by Jo Reilly, Heritage Lottery Fund
• Speech on craft skills by John Hayes Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning
• Discussions facilitated by Hilary Jennings, Crafts Consultant
• Summary by Robin Wood, Chair, Heritage Crafts Association
• Networking with other industry professionals
• Whisky tasting following the Skills Forum, kindly arranged by The Balvenie, the most handcrafted Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Can you add your perspective to the debate?
The HCA are looking for craftspeople, representatives from craft groups, guilds and membership organisations, livery companies, training providers, government bodies and support organisations to participate. We need you to debate, share training experience and set in progress a strategy for ensuring the continuance of traditional craft skills training in the UK.
Book your free ticket here