Naked Craft Network: connecting Craft in old Scotland and new Scotland

The Naked Craft Network, hereafter NCN, is an international collective of research academics, writers, curators and industry partners whose aim is to develop strategies for craft theory and policy, future craft practice and dissemination of craft based work rooted in local places and spaces.

The Crafts Council's (UK) recent report entitled "Craft in an Age of Change" (February 2012) highlights a UK perspective on current craft practices across the 4 regions (Scotland, Wales, England and NI), and provides a wealth of data about the economic importance of the craft sector. This significant policy document also highlights pressures in the years to come for the sector. Themes developed from this research report, of particular interest for the NCN, lead to 3 particular questions:
- local vs. global: 70% of makers in UK do not export: how can we support an increase in moving the local globally?
- understanding practice: how can we support the interpretation for "what" is going out into the global space (the vernacular of the locals; understanding practice)
- demographics: average age of makers in UK surveyed is 49 - how do we support the emerging makers and their vision of future practice in the global/local context?

NCN intends to develop a better understanding of the relationships between the identification inherently attributed to geopolitical regions outlined in this Craft Council report, and the reciprocal role that the material production of craft plays in building, maintaining and disseminating identities in a global arena of commerce and culture in the future. The approach that NCN adopts is to bring together relevant stakeholders involved with craft practice into discussions to engage and exchange how the understanding of craft practice, rooted in local communities and traditions evolves and is challenged, promoted and communicated on the post-colonial global stage.

"The craft sector finds itself pulled in different directions. There is a strong 'localist' strain in craft. Many makers seek to build small businesses strongly rooted in particular places, emphasizing authenticity and building on local traditions in, for example, their choice of material. On the other hand, many makers want to take advantage of the business opportunities globalisation offers." (Craft in an Age of Change, Crafts Council UK, February 2012).

This context presents NCN with some significant questions: what do we mean by traditional craft practice in the post-colonial age? What role does our local heritage play in a global context? How do the objects and artefacts of localised production, that are part of the fabric of our tradition and heritage, become understood in a larger, globalized context? Which locality can lay claim to authenticity of tradition?

Our initial partnership involves a case-study approach of two independent communities with a common heritage; Scotland and Nova Scotia, Canada (New Scotland). Within both Canada and Scotland, craft practice is informed by many similarities arising from similar geophysical, political, social and historical elements. For both countries, craft plays an essential role in the cultural and creative industries, providing communities with important financial frameworks as well as being a catalyst for strengthening the connections between creativity, place, landscape and identity. In light of the common heritage and affiliation that Canadians and Scots already share, how will the work of contemporary Scottish makers challenge or reinforce the current conception of Scotland abroad? In what way will Canadian makers move beyond tradition and production of stereotyped histories derived from a post-colonial reminiscence? In understanding the trajectories of these two divergent communities which share a historically common point of connection, NCN intends to establish a space for reflecting upon and re-evaluating the traditional roles of craft practice in the future.

Naked Craft Network (NCN) is a network of academics whose aim is to bring various actors and participants from the craft community together in discussion, knowledge exchange and artifact generation. The network brings together partners from Canada and Scotland to reveal more closely how the processes involved in this particular form of material culture have shaped local communities which share a common past. Through mapping divergent change in these two communities starting from this past, we search for new historical insights with the aim of contributing to developing and supporting future practices. NCN intends to structure research activities which are believed will have significant impact for various academic and craft communities, through addressing three key issues arising from the recent policy statement "Craft in an Age of Change", delivered by craft councils across the UK (Feb 2012). Those three issues are discussed in this proposal's summary.

Key impact contributions include:
- Contribution to Government Policy. Our research is focused towards understanding the process of craft as culturally focused material production. We intend our outcomes to highlight how the practice and support of small scale production by various artisans in diverse fields of practice and materials, can contribute to future economic growth in rural regions of both Canada and Scotland. Comparing how contemporary craft practitioners operate, develop and disseminate their work across these two countries will necessarily help us to provide a comparative framework for governmental agency support tackling issues outlined in Craft Council UK's 2012 report.
- Building international alliances. With partnerships based in two trans-Atlantic nations sharing a common heritage, knowledge generated will be relevant to NGO organizations in both countries to better understand how cultural production and its associated outputs can communicate to a wider global audience. NCN intends to connect partners such as Craft Scotland and the Canada Crafts Council, whose remit in part is to develop international portfolios based on local traditions. Stakeholders will benefit from a deeper understanding of craft production, how it operates and creates cultural wealth globally, based on local vernaculars and practices.
- Professional Practitioner networking. Developing our network of MAKE/WORKshops (including symposia) initially at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Lumsden, Scotland, and eventually in Canada, NCN will bring together academics, makers, curators, and entrepreneurs to exchange and share insight and best practices from both countries. Structuring these workshops which will engage selected academics, industry partners and emerging makers from both countries to develop a collaborative, traveling exhibition will provide an opportunity to bridge the research/practice gap for these young practitioners, as well as providing them increased exposure to international networks and potential new markets which these practitioners are currently seeking.
- The third sector. Through a developed virtual on-line presence, we intend to engage with the wider public audience by encouraging participation and profiling the works of emerging practitioners positioned against our academic context. Audio, video and textual dissemination will be an ongoing activity within NCN, with an aim to profile the network, MAKE/WORKshops, partners and generated work to a general audience via the world wide web. It is anticipated that follow on activities from the initial MAKE/WORKshop will be used to generate a significant Scottish presence at Canada's Year of Craft in 2015, as well as intended public exhibitions touring Scotland the following year in 2016.