The latest news and research from the craft sector
Our October policy brief takes a deep dive into all the latest news from across the sector. Read on to explore the following:
- Craft export trends
- The latest craft participation figures
- Art & Design exam participation and new reports on supporting creative education
- New programmes supporting arts and culture
- New evidence to help you to make the case for arts and culture
- Artists’ earnings and creatives’ recruitment
Craft export trends
DCMS’ latest export figures show that craft exports make up 35% (£3.5bn) of creative industries exports (£10.2bn).
Exports have fallen in recent years (crafts exports were £4.8bn in 2017), in part because the free movement of people and goods and services between the UK and the EU ended.
In 2017 crafts exports made up 17% of total creative industries exports and 1.4% of total UK exports. However, by 2023 the proportion of crafts exports compared to other creative industries exports doubled to 35% (but down to 0.8% of total UK exports). Note that the value of craft exports is significantly influenced by the export of gemstones and precious metals through the jewellery trade.
Most craft exports continue to go to the US, Europe, Switzerland and China.
Latest craft participation figures
The DCMS participation survey for 2024 to 2025 shows that attendance at crafts exhibitions and participation in craft has remained stable at 11% and 20% of survey participants respectively (see fig. 2.4). This contrasts with data from the 2021-23 survey which showed growth in craft attendance from 5% to 11% and in craft participation from 15% to 20% of survey participants.
A new MIND and Hobbycraft report The Power of Making looks at how hobbies and crafts support the nation’s wellbeing. Findings are slightly higher than the DCMS survey, showing that around 8.8 million British people use arts and crafts to actively improve their mental health, with over a quarter (25%) taking part in these hobbies weekly or monthly. Over half say this improves their mood. 80% of respondents wanted to see crafting on school curriculums. The report gives some information on participation by gender, age, disability and region, but not ethnicity or race.
Art & Design exam participation and new reports on supporting creative education
The Campaign for the Arts’ analysis of 2025’s GCSE and A-level results shows that the share of total entries in arts subjects (visual and performing) has shrunk again, reaching a new low – but the rate of decline appears to be slowing. Design & Technology GCSE entries fell from 5.35% in 2010 to 1.4% in 2025, although the rate of decline is also slowing.
Art & Design subject entries have stayed stable over the last two years at 3.4% of all GCSEs (see NSEAD for a full breakdown by demographics) and have remained relatively stable since 2010.
The University for the Creative Arts (UCA) has written an open letter to parents and carers urging them not to discourage young people from choosing a creative subject in higher education. This follows a UCAS Project Next Generation report, which says parents want to guide their children towards the pathways that they consider have the best capacity for earning and stability.
Creative UK’s Perception & Potential Public Attitudes Towards Creativity in the UK finds a generational and class divide in perceptions of creativity. Young people aged 18-24 are less likely to recognise the creative sector’s economic contribution or to see creative careers as viable, compared to over 55s and those in higher socio-economic groups. The report recommends strengthening how creativity is seen as an economic asset and equipping teachers and careers advisors better to champion creative futures.
The creative sector needs to be better supported to embrace apprenticeships and skills programmes. Apprenticeships in the Creative Sector from Birmingham City University and the University for the Arts recommends that creative industry clusters and corridors should drive coordinated approaches to skills programmes, responsive to sub sector, regional and future skills demand.
And a new Edge campaign, Apprenticeships Work, will encourage more small businesses to take on apprentices. Small businesses (SMEs) represent 99.8% of UK businesses, but only employ 37% of apprentices. As craft businesses will know, small businesses often have trouble engaging with the current apprenticeship system.
New programmes to support arts and culture
Crafts Council is a partner in the second year of the Primary Arts Programme. The London schools programme is designed to support teaching and inspire pupils through teachers’ skills development, creative classroom materials, and free tickets for art events and experiences.
In a boost to freelancers in the creative industries, DCMS has said it will appoint a Creative Freelance Champion to advocate for the sector’s creative freelancers within government. This follows publication of the Government’s Creative Industries Sector Plan (p25). Crafts Council, together with partners, has argued continuously for better support for craft freelancers and sole traders, so we will be monitoring action closely. Creative UK’s Proposals for a new freelance champion role argue for regular inquiries, better evidence and support across government departments and reform of how industries are measured by government.
Youth services will expand as the Prime Minister has announced new funding to help young people to re-connect with the world around them. The £88 million package of support will include tailored enrichment in up to 400 schools, including access to extra-curricular activities such as art and music. (CLA has a very useful briefing on policies in development across several government departments to ensure that children and young people are supported outside statutory school provision, many using arts, culture and heritage as effective tools.)
New funding includes help to increase young people’s access to attending and participating in art, creativity and culture. In June the Government published its Dormant Assets strategy which confirmed that £132.5 million will be allocated to support provision for young people in a range of ways. Funding will be delivered by the National Lottery Community Fund.
DCMS has announced that applications are open for a share of £4 million for regional museums and galleries. The money is available through a partnership between charity the Wolfson Foundation and DCMS.
The Government has published a list of 75 local authority areas across the country which will receive money as part of the Plan for Neighbourhoods prospectus. Local Neighbourhood Boards will be set up to help ‘ignite growth’. Makers in those areas may be interested to contribute to local plans so they offer creative opportunities, for example pop-up shops in town centres.
The National Arts in Hospitals Network has produced new guidance to help people plan, deliver and grow arts programmes in hospitals.
New evidence to help make the case for arts and culture
Artists are essential to technological advancement, catalysing technological advancement across sectors, according to the British Council’s report Why technology needs artists: 40 international perspectives. The case studies of artist-led innovation show how creative innovation is a national asset.
Skills England, the new Government agency for skills, has published sector evidence on the Growth and Skills Offer which may be useful for supporting funding applications. The report notes how:
- ‘over two-thirds (69%) of employers in the creative industries said they expect their employees will need to upgrade their skills, with the most frequent driver being the introduction of new technologies or equipment and the development of new products and services.’ (P11)
- ‘Practical, hands-on skills and experience were also highlighted as particularly valuable within creative industries’. (P17)
- ‘inadequate career guidance is considered a significant barrier for young people, stemming from a lack of awareness of the routes available into the sector, limited resources for advisors, and weak industry connections.’ (p19)
- ‘shorter apprenticeships may be a better fit for employers and learners looking to upskill on emerging practices or technologies, or as an entry point into the sector, particularly when prior learning or experience can be recognised. (P25)
The Public Value of Arts and Culture from UCL describes how arts and culture should be a goal of economic policy as well as a precondition for economic transformation.
Greater use of innovative creative health approaches can help the UK meet its complex health and wellbeing challenges, says a new report by Creative Industries Council (CIC) Health & Wellbeing Forum and Arts Council England. The findings show how creative health programmes can promote healthy behaviour, support prevention of ill health, and aid treatment and management of specific health conditions.
Artists' earnings
From 'Hand to Mouth' to Bread and Roses highlights the precarious financial situation of many artists. Over half are earning under £15,000 annually across all types of work.
The Artists' Union England (AUE) shows that a significant portion of its members earn below the UK median wage and struggle to make a living solely from their art practice. Cuts to both cultural funding and welfare have severely impacted artists’ financial stability.
Arts Professional’s Arts Pay Survey 2025 shows that freelance and self-employed arts workers are earning earning a median average of £20,000, 20.5% less than the benchmark set by the Living Wage Foundation’s ‘Real Living Wage’. This is just 1% more than their average annual salary in the last survey in 2022.
Ireland is extending its Basic Income for the Arts Pilot scheme for a further six-months. Participants have devoted more time to their art, produced more pieces of work and experience a boost to their wellbeing through greater life satisfaction.
Creatives' recruitment
The Creative PEC finds that creative industries employers are less likely to recruit workers over 50 and are less likely to engage with training routes like apprenticeships than UK employers overall. Creative industries employers’ perspectives on skills initiatives: 2025 also highlights a range of barriers holding back creative employer engagement with the skills system, such as time, cost, and the difficulty in customising initiatives for the sector. (Note that many makers are self-employed and not recruited by employers, so the report may not reflect trends in the craft sector so well.)
Creative UK’s Leadership Diversity in the Creative & Cultural Industries report shows a lack of diversity and representation in leadership roles across the creative sector. At this point, however, there is no data on the craft sector.
The number of UK creative full-time jobs has fallen while freelance numbers are rising, according to DCMS data. The number of full-time creative jobs stood at 1,713,000 in December 2024, compared with 1,744,000 in December 2023. In the same period, freelance creative roles rose from 675,000 to 696,000.
Can arts activities reduce crime?
Students who are more engaged in arts activities showed fewer antisocial and criminal behaviours, according to the Cultural Learning Alliance's focus on research. However, the researchers could not say whether arts engagement actually causes a reduction in problematic behaviour, or whether young people who are already less inclined toward antisocial behaviour choose to participate in arts activities.
And arts and culture programmes can improve aspects of youth crime, according to a Manchester University review for DCMS of the effects on youth crime. There is an improvement in compliance with Youth Justice orders, and self-reported improvements in wellbeing, attitudes towards offending, and engagement with Education, Training and Employment, as well as a reduced likelihood of carrying a knife. However, there is still insufficient evidence to confirm the wider impact of the programmes on youth crime.
Changing faces in Parliament
Following the Government reshuffle, Ian Murray MP is now Minister of State for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. He was previously the Scotland Secretary. Murray replaces Sir Chris Bryant MP, who is now Minister for International Trade and Economic Security at the Department for Business and Trade.
Nigel Huddleston, the Conservative MP for Droitwich and Evesham, has been appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Under the last Government he was the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and before that a Minister of State for Business and Trade.
And lastly…
Shoemakers Museum has just opened in Somerset. The museum celebrates the craft, community and stories behind Clarks shoes.
