The Crafts Council of Ireland, after having postponed voting on this issue at their last AGM, are proposing to change their name to include the word 'Design' somewhere. Though they do not intend to change or extend their remit, they feel amending the organisation's name will better reflect the part of their membership which works between craft and design. They're currently running an online survey for members of their Guilds, Associations, Networks and Societies as well as registered members of the Crafts Council to express whether they're for or against a name change and if they're for it, what the name should change to. Based on the results of the survey, this issue could be voted on by the Crafts Council's membership at the next AGM in June 2012 or at an EGM at another time.
Renaming the Crafts Council to include the word 'Design' may well better represent a small proportion of the Crafts Council's existing members, but this proposal has much wider, much more negative ramifications than that. Currently, Ireland's craft community has proper representation and support from the Crafts Council and Ireland's art community has the same (if not better) from the Arts Council. Ireland's design community, however, has no such government-level recognition, representation or support. There's no government body to go to for funding, there's no organisation engaging in the promotion of Irish design nationally and internationally, and nobody is pushing for the education of designers, nor for that matter the education of the public on the value of design. Ireland needs an actual Design Council, one that will represent all design disciplines: from fashion to graphics, interaction and app design to medical devices, furniture, products and lighting to interiors, landscapes and urban spaces. If, as proposed by the Crafts Council, we get an organisation with the words 'Design' and 'Council' in its title, Ireland will never get the actual Design Council it needs and deserves, and all of these creative disciplines will continue to go unrepresented and unsupported.
The Crafts Council's online survey closes today, so I would urge you - if you're a member or associate member of the Crafts Council, or if you have an affiliation with any of the Crafts Council's registered networks or societies (there's a list of them at the start of the survey) - to take a few minutes to fill it out and say NO to the proposed name change! Even if you feel the inclusion of the word 'Design' in the Crafts Council's name might better reflect what it is you do, think about all the other creatives who will be left without proper representation - our celebrated fashion designers, our talented web and graphic designers, our burgeoning community of game and interaction designers, our urban, landscape, interior, product, furniture and lighting designers....the list goes on...
Postscript: Following the results of the survey, the Crafts Council of Ireland announced in April 2012 that they had decided not to pursue a name change at this time. You can read more here.
Renaming the Crafts Council to include the word 'Design' may well better represent a small proportion of the Crafts Council's existing members, but this proposal has much wider, much more negative ramifications than that. Currently, Ireland's craft community has proper representation and support from the Crafts Council and Ireland's art community has the same (if not better) from the Arts Council. Ireland's design community, however, has no such government-level recognition, representation or support. There's no government body to go to for funding, there's no organisation engaging in the promotion of Irish design nationally and internationally, and nobody is pushing for the education of designers, nor for that matter the education of the public on the value of design. Ireland needs an actual Design Council, one that will represent all design disciplines: from fashion to graphics, interaction and app design to medical devices, furniture, products and lighting to interiors, landscapes and urban spaces. If, as proposed by the Crafts Council, we get an organisation with the words 'Design' and 'Council' in its title, Ireland will never get the actual Design Council it needs and deserves, and all of these creative disciplines will continue to go unrepresented and unsupported.
The Crafts Council's online survey closes today, so I would urge you - if you're a member or associate member of the Crafts Council, or if you have an affiliation with any of the Crafts Council's registered networks or societies (there's a list of them at the start of the survey) - to take a few minutes to fill it out and say NO to the proposed name change! Even if you feel the inclusion of the word 'Design' in the Crafts Council's name might better reflect what it is you do, think about all the other creatives who will be left without proper representation - our celebrated fashion designers, our talented web and graphic designers, our burgeoning community of game and interaction designers, our urban, landscape, interior, product, furniture and lighting designers....the list goes on...
Postscript: Following the results of the survey, the Crafts Council of Ireland announced in April 2012 that they had decided not to pursue a name change at this time. You can read more here.
