the red list

I was having a chat last night with someone who is worried about how much focus their is on community art nowadays – how money is going to projects that involve a bunch of people getting together, even if the project has nothing to do with art at all. Their fear is like: why can’t money ringfenced for art go to people who make art in their studio, with their hands, even if they are doing so alone? and i get it. i guess deep in my heart I wish there was money for both and it wasn’t one thing versus the other. and the conversation carried on, and we spoke about how if all money goes to community arts (forever and ever) then a lot of skills are going to be lost. maybe the only people who will know how to do very fine paint work will be in the restoration field. maybe special architecture that’s fallen into disrepair will be knocked down because no one is trained in that specific craft to know how to fix it. and it’s sad if communities never get together, but then we’ll be sad in other ways –

and it just reminded me of the Red List, which I thought I should share. it’s something I think about all the time, and then do nothing about, but maybe someone else reading will be called to action. The Heritage Crafts Red List assesses the ‘viability of heritage craft’ based on how many craftspeople are about to share their knowledge with the next generation. Some things have already gone extinct in the UK, like hand stitched cricket balls. There is a lot critically endangered – fair isle straw back chair making, point shoe making, rattan furniture, watch dial enamelling. The website links you through to information about each craft, the living people who know the skill, and training organisations you can get involved with.

i don’t want these things to die out. i hope if you find something you’re interested in, you can help keep the knowledge going.

let’s all become diamond cutters or something idk

well maybe not diamonds but you know what i mean