Work by Jenny Deschenes and Laura West

Making Progress: A mentoring programme for mid career makers.

Making Progress is a HI-Arts mentoring and business support scheme for mid career and established makers who seek support on how to develop their work, and who will welcome critical and practical advice.

The makers for the programme have now been selected and we are delighted to welcome Jenny Deschenes, Lucy Woodley, Laura West and Daniel Kavanagh who have all been successful in achieving a place. 
 

Work by Daniel Kavanagh and Lucy Woodley

Running from December 2009, each maker will be assessed individually and we will work with them to develop a programme that reflects their aspirations, be it exhibition work, developing a product range or achieving a place at a top retail show.

We are fortunate to have two of the Highlands most talented makers to work with the participants as main mentors, Eileen Gatt and Gilly Langton. As each maker has different needs, we will also be working with other top makers such as Ingrid Tait.

All four makers will be writing updates and blogging on their experiences during the programme - to read their blogs so far please click on the following link: http://crafts.northings.com/

To further develop this programme we have been fortunate in being able to work in partnership with the Highland Council Exhibitions Unit to secure the use of their small gallery at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery (IMAG) for 4 spotlight exhibitions for the makers on the programme.

This will allow the makers to focus on developing their work towards an exhibition and give valuable training and experience in curating, marketing and management.

The first exhibition will open in May 2010 to coincide with our designated Craft Month and Craft Festival Scotland events. We are also planning a related ‘in conversation’  and makers event around the same time, and will update this page with further details in the near future. Find out about events so far on the Craft Festival Scotland website.

Further updates on the project will be added regularly so keep coming back to follow our makers progress!