School pupils throughout Scotland will be able to try their hand at a contemporary craft in the coming school year thanks to a £150,000 initiative by the Scottish Arts Council.

This is the second year of the Crafts Residencies in Schools programme and because of its success last year, the initiative has now been extended to 14 local authorities in a bid to raise awareness of contemporary crafts amongst young people in Scotland and encourage a new generation of Scottish craftspeople.

As part of the initiative, 25 crafts professionals will undertake residencies that will cover more than 75 primary and secondary schools in Scotland, allowing children to participate in a number of crafts activities ranging from ceramics and textiles to glass-making and woodcraft.  Teachers from the participating schools will also have the opportunity to refresh their craft skills.

The residencies include:

• A textile-based residency with St Machar Academy in Aberdeen and primary 7 pupils from its associated primary schools.  The artist will work with pupils in the Art and Home Economics departments, and showcase the resulting creations at an end-of-term fashion show.  The artist will also deliver workshops to excluded pupils or pupils at risk of exclusion.
• Pupils from Strathyre Primary School near Stirling working with local wood-carver Kevin Blackwell to establish a woodland playground, comprising of nine new wood sculptures that will create learning, play and community spaces in the school.
• Three crafts residencies that will cover 12 secondary schools in Dumfries & Galloway, contributing to the delivery of the school curriculum, as well as establishing afterschool clubs that will continue after the completion of the residency.
• Pupils from Lochgilpead High School in Argyll and Bute working with a craftsperson to bring new skills and experiences to pupils in art and design classes, as well as working on a large scale project that will become a focal point for the new school opening in 2006.
  

The programme will build on the work that was initiated by previous residencies in schools in the Highlands and West Lothian that enabled artists to work in schools based in high priority areas. 

Helen Bennett, Head of Crafts at the Scottish Arts Council, says: ‘When teachers across Scotland have responded so enthusiastically to the opportunity to host a crafts residency, it is satisfying to have been able to extend the programme for the coming school year.  By engaging with 14 different local authorities, we are enabling school communities from Shetland to Dumfries and Galloway to have a practicing craftsperson working amongst them.

‘The over-arching aim of the programme is to get young people interested in the processes of designing and making. In many of the residencies the pupils will be involved right from the start, participating in the selection process by shortlisting candidates, looking at artist’s portfolios, or actually sitting on the interview panel. We hope the outcome will be young people more appreciative of the creativity of professional craftspeople and the potential of crafts as a career option.’