Toolkit for change

Supporting the sector to make change

Young Craft Citizens panel discussion in the Crafts Council gallery for Black History Month. Left to right: Tyreis Holder, Aliyah Hasinah, Joke Amusan, Khadija Niang, Stella Kajombo. Photo: Jessica Pierre-Ross

Crafts Council has made a commitment to inclusive and equitable practices as a core part of our work. We created Toolkit for Change to guide our own work; we share it with the craft community to help makers and organisations supporting them in this work.

Toolkit for Change has been developed in partnership with Craft UK and Equity Advisory Council (EAC), a group of individuals with a shared passion for equity in craft, convened by Crafts Council. It contains practical guidance to help organisations of all sizes become more inclusive, aiming to to embed anti-racist and equitable practice into all organisation structures that make up the craft community.

Who is the toolkit for?

Carefully designed for and with craft businesses, from sole traders to small studios, large craft practices to complex organisations supporting the craft community, the guidance provided by Toolkit for Change can be used by everyone. Whatever stage your business is at, you can adapt our recommendations to suit your model, capacity, priorities, and existing actions.

The toolkit makes it easier for museums, fairs, stores, galleries, education providers, studios, workshops and independent makers to produce a tailored action plan and track progress

How does it work?

The toolkit consists of ten resources, with the primary resources being a simple Excel spreadsheet and a workbook. These allow you to select the tasks that matter most to your organisation. In the spreadsheet you will report on progress throughout the year.

You can tailor and customise the spreadsheet to your own organisations’ activities and requirements. We recommend setting self-review periods, allowing for check ins every 3 or 6 months, with a deadline to evidence and celebrate your progress. This gives you an opportunity to document where the challenges were (as these are natural part of the journey), and time to consider next steps. Creating a new tab each year will allow you to keep track of your progression.

The toolkit is for long-term and meaningful change. It is essential that you secure commitment to it from all your colleagues. The workbook can be used to help generate future ideas and engage colleagues actively throughout the process. Actions can be allocated to individual colleagues within your organisations, so accountability is embedded.

How do you use the action excel spreadsheet and workbook?

The actions are in the Excel spreadsheet that can be fully customized to reflect your organisations specific requirements and activities. Follow this list to set up your customised version of our toolkit.

After downloading your copy of Toolkit for Change, name the first tab with your planned review period, for example (ADD DATE STYLE REQUIRED).
We recommend that actions are set annually and to specific review periods are set every three to six months.
In the Topic column there are a number of activities. There are three core operation topics (Money, People and Process) which are relevant to all organisations. With such a wide range of activity within the sector, the remaining topic areas are dependent on your organisation’s regular activity streams and what you have planned for the year ahead.
Actions are ordered into levels and we recommend you select a manageable number to focus on for the year ahead. It is better to focus on a couple of actions well to truly embed change. You may already be accountable for actions, so mark this on the document and evidence what you are doing. Any ‘ideas’ actions can be noted in the Evidence and Notes column(s).
Use the review period to document, analyse, revise and celebrate achievements as well as exploring how you dealt with challenges. We know that not everything goes to plan and there are relevant options in the review section to reflect on So don’t panic - the important thing is to understand and review why something did not work and revise or move the action into the following year.

Download resources

How can Crafts Council further support you on this journey?

If you need any support on your journey, please contact Amelia Lawrence toolkitforchange@craftscouncil.org.uk.

If you are a sector organisation please consider joining Craft UK, where useful information is regularly shared to help support your organisation.

Fabric and yarn weaving workshop delivered by Stella Kajombo and Joke Amusan
A gallery takeover curated by Kulthum Abdul-Aziz and Louise Hall for Black History Month. Participants discussed culture and identity over collaborative making and food
Workshop participants at We Listen, an event curated by Young Craft Citizens on placement at the Crafts Council. Photos: Jessica Pierre-Ross
Family workshop participants learning about 3D design over half-term

Acknowledgments

With a special thank you to the following contributors and information sources.

Individuals

Amanda Parker, IncArts
Chinelo L. Njaka
Dr. Karen Patel
Victoria Scholes

Networks

Craft UK’s anti-racism working group
Applied Arts Scotland, Bluecoat Display Centre, Cockpit Arts, CRAFT Festival, Craft Scotland, Creative Lancashire, Folksy, Heritage Crafts, Just Got Made, Great Northern Cotemporary Craft Fair, Hepworth Wakefield, Manchester Craft & Design Centre, Dr Karen Patel, The Exchange

Craft UK feedback group
Bluecoat Display Centre, Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, Cockpit Arts, Farnham Maltings, Folksy, Great Northern Craft Fair, Heritage Crafts, Suffolk Craft Society, The Exchange

EAC feedback group
Kim Chin, Lorna Hamilton-Brown, Chanelle Joseph, Rose Sinclair

Organisations

Horniman

KLC School of Design

MASS

Panic!

Toolkit for change

Who is the toolkit for?

How does it work?

How do you use the action excel spreadsheet and workbook?

Download resources

How can Crafts Council further support you on this journey?

Acknowledgments

Read more

Equity advisory council

Diversity and inclusion

Report on racism in craft launches

Craft UK