Elena Lo Presti

@elenalopresti

I'm a multidisciplinary artist and creative and managing director of Craft Forward, a community interest company based in London that facilitates craft workshops focused on wellbeing. Our vision is to be an inclusive, accessible, community-based organisation, where arts and crafts are approached as smaller actions towards tackling bigger social issues. Our mission is to disrupt the current elitism within the contemporary arts and crafts worlds by providing a range of accessible and inclusive workshops that purposefully value connecting and socializing above skills. We started our journey working with communities in South London, and we now aim to open creativity to all, prioritizing people with barriers and to promote collaboration, social interactions and wellbeing, going against fast, capitalist structures of production and artmaking.

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British cultural policy has been hindered by decades of protectionist infighting between opposing special interests (Hewison 1995). Instead we need a more balanced under- standing of the role and worth of the arts in our society – one which simultaneously embraces their aesthetic, cultural, economic and social values, and allows for the differ- ent

François Matarasso • Use or ornament? The social impact of participation in the arts

Eleven propositions to the question: What is contemporary about craft?

Julia Bryan-Wilson arts.berkeley.edu

art and

Use or ornament? The social impact of participation in the arts

François Matarasso • 3 highlights

artshealthresources.org.uk

art and

Bringing people together: Almost without exception, the projects studied have made a significant contribution to bringing people together. At a simple level, more than nine out of ten respondents made new friends as a result of their involvement. This is such an ordinary outcome of participating in the arts that it can easily be underestimated:

François Matarasso • Use or ornament? The social impact of participation in the arts

A podcast about community ceramics and clay as a force for good. Clay Commons is a six-part podcast hosted by artist and educator Eva Masterman, co-produced by AiAi Studios. Each episode presents conversations with teachers, artists, activists and community leaders, all using clay as a tool to build community. Focusing on the UK and America, Clay

Eva Masterman • Clay Commons

The Great Pottery Throw Down

channel4.com

Craftsmanship and

The Exchange

theexchangeerith.com

Craftsmanship and

Craft is contemporary because it importantly maintains its tactile, bodily component in the face of computer technology. It connects people in the flesh and provides a much-needed alternative to the incessant push of digital interfaces, mediatization, and screen culture. Current stitch-and-bitch circles or knitting groups provide a respite from

Julia Bryan-Wilson • Eleven propositions to the question: What is contemporary about craft?

Clay Commons

open.spotify.com

art and