Endangered craft of last making. Photo by Steven Lowe.
Deadline: Friday 6 October 2023, 5pm
Thanks to support from the Sussex Heritage Trust, Ashley Family Foundation and Essex Community Foundation – Heritage Crafts invites craft practitioners and organisations in the UK to apply for small grants to fund projects that support endangered crafts (the craft must be listed as endangered or critically endangered on the current Red List of Endangered Crafts). A number of grants are ringfenced for East Sussex, West Sussex, Brighton and Hove, Essex and Wales, but those outside of these areas are also eligible to apply.
Heritage Crafts published the fourth edition of its groundbreaking Red List of Endangered Crafts in May 2023, the first research of its kind to rank the UK’s traditional crafts by the likelihood that they will survive into the next generation. The report assessed 259 crafts to ascertain those which are at greatest risk of disappearing, of which four were classified as extinct, 84 as ‘endangered’ and a further 62 as ‘critically endangered’. As a result of this alarming threat to our cultural heritage, Heritage Crafts set up its Endangered Crafts Fund in 2019 and 59 grants have been awarded nationally in that time.
Applications may, for example, include:
- training for yourself to learn a new craft or technique;
- training for an apprentice so that you can pass on skills and knowledge;
- investing in more efficient tools and machinery;
- developing reduced-carbon routes to market;
- exploring the use of alternative materials while maintaining the heritage character of your practice; or
- innovative approaches to supporting and promoting endangered crafts.
In addition to the funding you will also receive support from the Endangered Crafts Manager and the Heritage Crafts team to ensure that your project is a success. This will be unique to your project but it could include mentor support, business support or signposting to other opportunities.
See the projects that were successfully funded in the previous application rounds
Supported by: the Sussex Heritage Trust, Ashley Family Foundation, Essex Community Foundation and the generous support of individual donors and HCA members. Previous donors include The Radcliffe Trust, The Pilgrim Trust, The Dulverton Trust, The Garfield Weston Foundation, The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund, Benefact Trust and The Ernest Cook Trust.
