Shelanu 'Belonging To Us': Refugee and Migrant Women Working with Craftspace to Develop a Craft Social Enterprise

Abstract

Craftspace is a crafts development organisation promoting opportunities for makers and participation for all in contemporary crafts. It is known for quality, innovation and sustainable partnership working. In 2002 we formed a long term partnership with Community Integration Partnership (CIP).
Together, we delivered a series of high quality arts projects to enrich the lives of refugee women. We exhibited the women’s work widely including at Origin, the Crafts Council’s London fair in 2007. Buyers and general public were interested in quality craft objects enriched by socially engaged content and narrative. This inspired us to create a crafts social enterprise which would enable women to progress from being recipients and beneficiaries of arts activity to producers who can contribute to the creative economy and develop a more diverse offer to the marketplace.
The development began with a three year grant from the Baring Foundation Refugee Arts Programme and a two year grant from Arts Council England towards the core cost of establishing a craft social enterprise through a residency programme. In November, 2010, CIP was sadly forced to close down but Craftspace has continued the project from its base at the Custard Factory in Birmingham.
Over the two year programme we aim to explore the potential products/artefacts and creative activities that might sustain a social enterprise through a series of innovative collaborations with makers. The first residency was led by jeweller Kathryn Partington and ceramicist Rosanna Martin. Kathryn has continued to lead on the second residency. In parallel to developing craft knowledge and skills, women are learning relevant business skills to take on roles within the enterprise.
To date this developing social enterprise has been exhibited in the Community Gallery at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and has work for sale in the We Are Birmingham artist led pop up shop in Birmingham. The women will also be participating in and promoting the social enterprise at the Contemporary Craft Fair at Bovey Tracey in June. Here they will launch the brand Shelanu a craft social enterprise to the crafts sector.
This approach to collective making is unique within the UK crafts sector and Craftspace is the leading organisation nationally within this sector for community, participatory work. In particular we value a subtle approach, creating a space for refugee and migrant women to be themselves, which enables audiences to connect to the contribution of the women without overt political agendas.
In the paper we would like to explore how using a particular art form can meaningfully engage refugee and migrant communities in building confidence and integration and can connect through its outcomes to the wider community.
There are also challenges with this sector which would be considered: short-term and unreliable funding, time and capacity to develop a sustainable infrastructure, the transitory nature of contact with refugees and asylum seekers, the longer-term reduction of this sector and changing government policy and the difficulties of providing evidence based measurement.