Who are we?
"To expose the scandal of global poverty, and human rights injustices though the power of craft and public art. This will be done through provocative, non-violent creative actions."
HISTORY:
Set up in 2008 by Sarah Corbett who started off doing craftivism projects in 2007 under the name 'A Lonely Craftivist’. Lots of people started commenting on her blog, talking to her in person or on Facebook askihg if they could join in so she decided to create the Craftivist Collective to cater to this need/want.
Now we have 2 groups (Manchester and London), deliver presentations and workshops all over the UK (Sheffield, Manchester, Glasgow, London etc), work in partnership with organisations we admire (War on Want, LadyFest, Sheffield DocFest, People and Planet, Oxfam etc) and we have craftivists all over the world crafting our craftivism projects to make people stop, think and act to make the world a better place. As well as across the UK, we have craftivists in Melbourne, Copenhagen, LA, Berlin to name a few.
About Us:
We're a peaceful, friendly bunch but we're looking to get heard, make people think about their global neighbour and show that you can put an important message behind anything visual you create. We hope that our projects encourage others to duplicate them all over the globe:)
"We want to show people that making people aware of the injustices and poverty in the world can be fun, fulfilling and can build friendships all over the world. It doesnt have to be stressful or elitest. Anyone can be a craftivist whatever their skill or understanding."
We sometimes have guest craftivists in our meetings who bring a project for us to become part of. If you have a craftivism idea or a project you want our support with please contact us before our meetings so we can designate time and resources for your guest appearance.
You don't have to be creative or an experienced campaigner. We work together on projects to make people more aware of injustices in the world and encourage them to act to make the world a better place.
We are all still learners and would love to learn from new members, discuss new ideas and help build a craftivist army!:)
If you dont live in London or Manchester and therefore can't join a craftivist group, why not set up your own or do the projects from home. We can post you kits, contact you with advice and are happy to support you as much as possible. If you would like to set up a Craftivist Collective in your area all we ask is for you to let us know and also hope that you implement the existing projects or come up with your own that fit into the manifesto above.
THE LONDON GROUP: meet every 3rd Thursday of the month at the Royal Festival Hall (fairtrade) cafe, Southbank, London 6:30pm-8:00pm. Sometimes the 'meeting' will be doing a certain craftivism project, listening to a talk by a craftivist or NGO we support or just planning future projects and events, craft together and just have a chat about injustices we are passionate about and how we want to craft something to make people area of injustices in the world.
MANCHESTER GROUP: will be starting up in September 2010. Watch this space for more info.
Finally if you still have questions please feel free to contact us at craftivist-collective [at] hotmail dot com
For more information on us:
+ For photos of projects we have done check out our Flickr account:
www.flickr.com/photos/craftivist-collective/
+ For videos of what we have done check out our YouTube channel:
www.youtube.com/user/craftivistcollective
+ To join our Facebook group find us at:
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=41493477857
+ To comment on our blog find us at:
craftivist-collective.blogspot.com/