Grants available to help save heritage crafts from dying out
Project seeks to save traditional skills like flint knapping
The Heritage Crafts Association (HCA) and Sussex Heritage Trust areworkinginpartnershiptosave endangered heritage crafts from extinction.
They are offering grants of up to £2,000 to applicants based in Sussex to help save skills such as brick making, masonry flint knapping and hurdle making.
MaryLewis,HCAendangered crafts officer, said: “During the Covid-19pandemicourcraftskills are at more risk than ever before.
“We are delighted to be working in partnership with the Sussex Heritage Trust to address the specific challenges of Covid-19 to endangered skills andknowledgeinSussex,aregion renowned for its craftsmanship and material heritage.”
Last year the HCA published thesecondeditionofitsHCARed List of Endangered Crafts.
Itisthefirstresearchofitskind toranktheUK’straditionalcrafts by the likelihood that they will survive into the next generation.
Thereportassessed212crafts to ascertain those which are at greatest risk of disappearing, of which four were classified as extinct, 71 as ‘endangered’ and a further 36 as ‘critically endangered’.
Simon Knight, chairman of the Sussex Heritage Trust, said: “Excellent architecture and design, traditional building skills and craftmanship are an importantpartoftherichheritage of Sussex.
“This partnership with the Heritage Crafts Association will addresstheparticularchallenges of these crafts and facilitate the transfer of endangered crafts, building skills and knowledge to the next generation.”
The Sussex Heritage Trust has recently received funding from the Ian M Foulerton Trust, alongside other donations, to fund Sussex-based grants, which will be administered through the HCA’s Endangered Crafts Fund.
The Ian M Foulerton Trust supports the conservation, protection and restoration of buildings of historic, architectural,artisticorscientific interest and importance.
Craft practitioners and organisationsareinvitedtoapply for small grants to fund projects that support and promote endangered crafts (the craft must be listed as endangered or critically endangered on the current HCA Red List of
Endangered Crafts).
Sussex-basedapplicationswill bering-fenced,sotheywillonlybe competingforfundswithprojects in the counties of East and West Sussex and Brighton and Hove, notwithprojectselsewhereinthe UK,whicharealsoinvitedthrough the UK-wide scheme.
Thereisamaximumof£2,000 available for each project and the HCA will work with applicants to develop and support their work.
Projectscouldincludetraining to learn a new craft or technique for the applicant or their apprentice,specialistequipment that will enable them to continue practising a craft or add a new product to their business, materials and equipment to start running workshops, or other innovative approaches to supporting and promoting endangered crafts.
Eligible projects will be invited to progress to the next stage in collaboration with the HCA and SHT and all applications will be judged by a panel of representatives of both organisations.
Organisersexplainedthatthis isacompetitiveprocessandnotall applicationswillreceivefunding.
Potential applicants who would like to talk over a project idea are encouraged to contact
Mary at mary@heritagecrafts. org.uk
The Endangered Crafts Fund is now open with a deadline of February 26, 2021.
An application form is availabletodownloadfromwww. heritagecrafts.org.uk/ecf-apply
The UK-wide Endangered Crafts Fund is supported by the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Dulverton Trust, Allchurches Trust, the Radcliffe Trust and individual donors.
For more information about the Fund, email HCA Endangered Crafts officer Mary Lewis at mary@heritagecrafts. org.uk or SHT general manager, Helen Reeve at helen.reeve@ sussexheritagetrust.org.uk