Crafting Futures South Caucasus is a partnership between Plymouth College of Art, the British Council and a range of government, academic, VET, higher education and development agencies in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The Crafing Futures South Caucasus programme addresses developmental needs in two closely related aspects of crafts in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia: craft education and research. The programme aims to: 

• Provide an increased understanding of craft production and its relationship with craft education in each country
• Establish new educational provision to support the development of the craft sector in each country through sharing to the UK expertise and experience
• Improve the viability and sustainability of the craft sector in each country through the provision of increased production, business and marketing skills for practitioners from the UK experience
• Improve the UK/international profile and reputation of the craft sector in each country

 Research

The project will research learning in craft.  It will examine culturally specific pedagogic practices across both the formal and informal sectors, with a particular emphasis on trans-generational and home and community learning. Existing entrepreneurial skills and methods will be investigated and proposals made to increase the financial and entrepreneurial sustainability of the craft sectors, and therefore their access to international markets. The research will use as a starting point the Survey „Heritage Crafts Study in Georgia – Challenges and Development Strategy” conducted by the Georgian Arts and Culture Centre  (GACC) as part of EU EPCP I project “Strengthening Creative Industries in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia: Heritage Crafts – Common Platform for Development” (2014)