Slow Craft Social at Kids in Museums Conference 2025
At the beginning of the year we were invited by Kids in Museums to share our practice and present a case study of our Slow Craft Social, within the context of tackling youth loneliness.
Here’s what we shared…
Who are we?
Chan; an artist, DJ and arts programmer who runs the Young People’s Programme at Nottingham Contemporary. Chan's focus within the youth programming consists of events for young people, co-ordinating our 1525 collective and partnership work.
Emma; a multidisciplinary textile artist and Visitor Services Supervisor at Nottingham Contemporary, where she regularly runs Craft and Print Fairs. Emma’s practice adopts an experimental approach to making and to mixed media textile design.
Together Chan and Emma coordinate and deliver our Slow Craft Socials as part of our FREE Youth programme offer for 15-25 year olds.
What is the Slow Craft Social?
The Slow Craft Social is a drop-in crafting session that draws ideas from Craftivism and Mindfulness. Craftivism is a term coined by Betsy Greer and is portmanteau of craft and activism, utilising craft as a form of gentle protest.
In the sessions young people can explore relaxing crafting techniques in a pressure-free contemplative space, techniques include embroidery, collage and printing.
Craftivism can inspire change in both the outcome and the process. When the time is taken to hand-make crafts, more time is spent thinking about the craft subject matter. This mental focus and involvement in making can highlight the issues craftivism aims to tackle and help us to feel more involved as individuals. The aim of craftivism here is inviting people to stop, think, look and learn by taking a greater interest in what it is they are making.
Betsy Greer defines it as:
“A way at looking at life where voicing opinions through creativity makes your voice stronger, your compassion deeper and your quest for justice more infinite.”
Mindfulness can be defined as “Living in the present moment. Essentially, it means being (intentionally) more aware and awake to each moment and being fully engaged in what is happening in one's surroundings – with acceptance and without judgment.”
Drawing ideas from Mindfulness, we hope attendees can use the sessions to explore relaxing techniques whilst taking the time to approach making in a contemplative space. Our drop-in workshops focus on enjoying the process of making as opposed to producing a finished piece.
Why did we start the slow craft social?
Our 1525 Collective were provided with their own stall at our renowned 3-day Craft Fair, giving the group the opportunity to experience selling their work in an institutional setting - something they might not ordinarily have the opportunity to do because of costs. This opportuntity also provided a chance to watch how other more established makers and artists manage their work at fairs, and gave them the opportunity to be involved in this aspect of the local creative community.
After chatting with the young people Chan encounters throughout the Youth programme, it was identified that there was a lack of creative opportunities for young people to create and make without the pressures of educational deadlines and tutor critique. Post-pandemic, there seems to be an increase in social isolation and the social landscape for young people has changed, largely moves into digital spaces. The impact of these varying factors on young people’s mental health has elevated the feeling of being ‘overworked’ and in need of spaces and opportunities that promote positive wellbeing and connection alongside learning a new skill.
How does it work?
It all begins with how we prepare the space for the session. We set up 3 different crafting stations full of lots of materials and tools, e.g. embroidery station, carbon paper monoprinting station, and a collaging station. We provide info-guide books so the session becomes self-led with a gentle offering of direction, e.g.“perhaps start with this, try layering with this, you could add to that with this...”. We find this gentle offer of support helps ease people into the room and aids their overall process.
We avoid using a step-by-step process to remove any pressure from the experience, instead we use craft to build creativity, fostering experimentation and play.
The crafting stations have chairs around them so you can work at a station or take bits somewhere else within the space that feels more comfortable to work in. We also have beanbags and cushions for more comfy and relaxing seating. We have a big TV screen with soothing visuals and low volume music. In the future we hope to offer refreshments and add more plants to our set up.
Our sessions run at the end of the week on a Sunday afternoon, they do require pre-booking, however the sessions are set up as drop-in so you are welcome to join whenever is convienent between the session start and end time.
What have we noticed in this time?
Our sessions tend to be fully booked and on average we see a 60% turn out rate. Some young people do attend alone and are happy to craft quietly as they enjoy in their own company, others like to speak to new people and make friends. The young people that attend these sessions are often those who don’t usually get to do something creative and are not always from art backgrounds. We’ve also noticed that attendees usually stay for the full session!
We’ve had some really great feedback about the sessions – they have been rated overall of a ‘very good’ quality.
"Therapeutic, open, confidence...well equipped with lots of space but also enough encouragment" - Attendee
Keep an eye out for our upcoming events over the next couple of months!