Ornamentum visit to SIT trail and Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen

A group of Ornamentum members visited Gloucestershire on a research visit during the SIT festival. We are a group of makers all working within Leicestershire and have been working together since 2012 to create exhibitions, collaborate on new work and share knowledge with other makers in the area.

Our aim was to explore different models of collaborative practice for makers working in the same region in order to develop a plan for how Leicestershire makers networks could develop.

We chose to visit Gloucestershire during the SIT festival so we could visit a number of open studios and see how such a trail works for both audience and artists. Speaking to artists directly was very productive; all involved were enthusiastic and supportive of the open studio trail, as it allowed shared marketing to support all and introduce new audiences to everyone. It also creates a feeling of connectedness amongst the artists involved. Alongside the trail, exhibitions are put on, both professional and artist-led. This demonstrated the effectiveness of organisations collaborating and working together. The trail guide is professionally-produced and co-ordinated, which gives the audience confidence that the trail is going to be worthwhile and sets the tone for a higher price range.

Visiting the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen gallery was very inspirational. The gallery is beautifully-designed and located in a council-run gallery in the centre of Cheltenham. The location, the shop design and the professionalism of the operation allow the makers to charge the right price for their work. We acknowledge that it would be hard to create such a space in Leicester, as the market is nothing like as advanced as Cheltenham but there was much to learn from the model. We spoke to other guild members during our visit too and found that they all took different things from the membership, from sense of community to sales and exhibition opportunities. Membership organisations have their challenges, as we know ourselves, but the benefits can be very significant. For us the most interesting aspect was the guild being a charity and therefore having access to funding streams we do not. This is not a route we were planning to explore but it gives us food for thought. The guild members were generous in sharing both information and experiences.

 

Spending time together as a group, visiting exhibitions and meeting makers was highly inspirational to our members, gave us reflection time and enable members to see high quality exhibitions of the type we rarely get in Leicestershire.

We have been working closely with Creative Leicestershire and agencies within the county to develop provision and opportunities for makers and this research will continue to shape the way forward. We have also shared our findings with Design Factory membership and local groups, so hope to continue to build strong, resilient and effective networks in Leicestershire and beyond.


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