Programme Update Spring 2025

With spring bursting into life around us, Craft Scotland is delighted to introduce the first part of our 2025/26 programme. 

After our success in securing £1.3 million in funding across three years from Creative Scotland’s Multi-Year Funding Programme, we have been able to move forward with our new Strategic Plan 2025 – 28. Read more in our Funding Update 2025-28. 

As the national development agency for contemporary craft, our vision is to make Scotland a place where craft’s vital role in our society is recognised as culturally important and essential to our economy.  

Through our wide-reaching programme, we support Scotland’s craft sector, create opportunities for audiences to engage with contemporary craft and promote its wider value and benefits. 

The first part of our programme for 2025/26 builds upon the successes of previous years and introduces exciting initiatives to continue enriching our vibrant community here in Scotland and beyond.   

During a time of change within the Craft Scotland team, we are continuing to work with curators and sector professionals to deliver ambitious projects for the sector. In 2025 we are delighted to be working with independent curator Dr Stacey Hunter, following successful collaborations with Susanna Beaumont and Ebba Goring in 2023/24. 

Below you will find details about key projects and application deadlines. These include upcoming opportunities for makers to apply for our new selling show HARVEST, Jorum Craft Award and Inches Carr Craft Awards and updates on successful long-running projects like COMPASS and MAKE with the Knit Shop. 

Sign-up to our newsletters to stay in the loop and receive updates about our programme, future projects and sector news.    
 

Image: HARVEST / Photography by Grant Anderson 
 

HARVEST: Contemporary Craft Fair 

New for 2025, HARVEST: Contemporary Craft Fair will be an ambitious showroom and multi-discipline selling showcase bringing together different forms of contemporary craft to an expansive audience.  

Following a far-reaching Open Call, we will present the work of up to 50 makers from across Scotland, giving locals and visitors the opportunity to see and buy high-quality, original, contemporary craft.  

The Fair is being directed by independent curator Dr Stacey Hunter who explains; 

HARVEST: Contemporary Craft Fair will take place at Edinburgh’s City Art Centre from Thursday 9 – Sunday 19 October 2025.  

This initiative builds on the success of previous Craft Scotland events such as Summer Show; Collect; London Design Fair; and London Craft Week; offering makers greater opportunities to connect with audiences and showcase their work. 
 

COMPASS 

COMPASS, our learning and development programme for the sector, continues to provide tailored support for makers, curators and craft professionals at all stages of their careers.  

We welcomed our sixth cohort to the COMPASS: Emerging Maker Programme in March, with eight inspiring makers at a key development stage in their craft career. So far the 2025 programme has included workshops covering fundamental business skills delivered by David Crump of Cockpit Arts and sessions with established makers Bryony Knox and Borja Moronta sharing their professional journeys. 

At the end of May we are delighted to welcome back Jo Scott and Elaine Furnivall as facilitators for the COMPASS: Emerging Maker Residential at Hospitalfield. 

Read more about the successes and learnings from the first five cohorts of the COMPASS: Emerging Maker Programme in our recent Impact Report. 

Our COMPASS: Online learning platform continues to grow from strength to strength. Through the relaunch of the Green Craft Initiative with Culture for Climate Scotland in March, we released a new Working Sustainably course for makers and craft professionals. In addition we established a dedicated online forum within the platform for the Green Craft Initiative, facilitating knowledge sharing and peer-networks. 

In the coming weeks we will be publishing recorded presentations from the Re:Symposium held in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland last year. These will provide insights from the event and a toolkit for embedding inclusivity within craft and curatorial practices. 

COMPASS: Emerging Maker Programme 2025 and COMPASS: Online are supported by the William Grant Foundation and Creative Scotland.   

Image: MAKE with the Knit Shop CLPL session / Photography by Julie Howden 

MAKE with the Knit Shop  

This ambitious teacher development programme, a collaboration with MAKE Learn, is reaching its final stages. Delivered over two years with partners, Panel, Knit Shop and Dundee Creative Learning Network, MAKE with the Knit Shop aims to embed craft approaches in schools to unlock learning across the curriculum.  

Supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the partners have been working with six primary schools in Dundee and makers Jolene Guthrie, Kate Scarlet Harvey and Kim Norrie. Together they have formed a robust programme which has included CLPL sessions, workshops in classrooms and the development of a comprehensive set of digital teaching resources. 

The project is one of five across the UK which are contributing to Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s research into teaching and learning.  


Recruitment  

Over the coming months we will be recruiting for new posts within the organisation to help us deliver our three-year strategic plan and programme. We will also be launching opportunities to join the Board and Advisory Group.  

If you want to be the first to hear about upcoming Craft Scotland announcements, sign up for our newsletters. 


Collect  

Collect is the leading international fair for contemporary craft and design, delivered by the Crafts Council at Somerset House in London. Collect showcases makers who push the boundaries of their practice and demonstrate a high level of skill and mastery of their chosen material.  

Between 2008 and 2024, Craft Scotland has exhibited at Collect on ten occasions. Last year we commissioned a report into our participation to understand the longer-term impacts of Collect and makers’ perceptions of how their practice has benefited.  

This research was designed to inform our thinking around international events, and we will share the findings with the sector over the summer. 


Craft Week Scotland 2025  

Craft Week Scotland will return (10 – 17 Nov 2025) with a sector-wide marketing and PR campaign. After the success of last year’s campaign, Craft Week Scotland will again focus on craft retail across Scotland, encouraging the public to shop local and handmade. 

If you would like to share your What’s On activity during Craft Week Scotland, simply list your event on our What’s On section to be included in our promotional event round-ups.  
 

Key projects & dates: 

HARVEST: Contemporary Craft Fair 

PROMOTE YOUR CRAFT EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR FREE  

Promote your craft workshop, event or exhibition to an engaged and enthusiastic craft audience with our free What’s On platform.  

Attract Scotland-based makers to apply to your professional opportunities, with our free Opportunities platform.  

NEWSLETTERS  

Keep up to date with Craft Scotland and more sector-wide opportunities through the monthly Inside Craft Scotland & Opportunities newsletter.   

Please send us your news and press releases about recent launches, awards and collaborations to hello@craftscotland.org.  

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