About
The organisation, Craft Australia, has a long and rich history. Originally known as the Crafts Council of Australia from 1971-2003, Craft Australia was active in coordinating the work of state crafts organisations, specialist groups, galleries, education institutions and individual practitioners. It was defunded by the then Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts in 2011.
Support for the craft sector has been fragmented ever since. Many custodians took on the responsibility for maintaining the records, the history, the documentation and the promotion of Australian craft. While work has continued in most Australian states through Craft and Design Centres, a united, national voice for all crafts practitioners, institutions and organisations has long been missing.
Em Frank
Image by Connor Patterson
Craft Australia today
Support for crafts continues to falter, institutional spaces dedicated to making are continuing to close their doors and funding is increasingly scarce.
The defunding of the Australian Design Centre mid-2026 presented a new low point for the craft sector.
Together these issues have prompted the reinvigoration of Craft Australia. Although unfunded and volunteer-run, we are intent on raising the volume of craft in Australia.
One maker is a voice. Together we can put craft on the arts policy agenda.
The board of Craft Australia is comprised of practitioners, curators, academics, policy makers, writers and artists. Our goals are to connect and to advocate. We aim to connect makers to each other, to markets, and to the institutions that matter, and to advocate for the sector at the national level for better arts education, for operational funding for the volunteer organisations keeping craft alive, for intangible cultural heritage and for a proper seat at the policy-making table.