CraftHub: European Project Connects Artisans Across the Continent

CraftHub, a project funded by the European Union's Creative Europe program, aims to foster dialogue and community development in craftsmanship across Europe. The initiative includes 42 artist residencies, workshops, a festival, and exchange programs, allowing artisans to explore unfamiliar techniques, hybridize processes, and experiment with new materials. A digital archive of crafts has been created, along with workshops engaging local communities. Partners from education, advocacy, research, and entrepreneurship have been involved. An accompanying exhibition, "CraftHub, Investigating craft practices across Europe," travels through Italy, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and Wales, concluding in Norway in October 2023. The Italian leg, at the Museo Nazionale di Matera in the former Ospedale di San Rocco, runs until April 14. It features 45 international showcase pieces curated by Materahub under artistic director Rita Orlando, curator Antonella Valerio, designer Gabriella Mastrangelo, and producer Becky Riches. A public online vote will award a €2,500 prize at the Wales Craft Festival in September. Side activities include a giant cucù (participatory work by designer Giorgia Garofalo), intergenerational crochet workshops, and talks on circular economy, local artisan empowerment, and craft as social inclusion, involving Made in Carcere, Comunità Emmanuel di Salandra, and Cooperativa Oltre l'Arte.