The Minority specialist subjects project has been led by the University of Cumbria Faculty of Arts and Plymouth College of Art.

The University of Cumbria concentrated on:

1. Producing a working definition of 'Endangered/ Minority Specialist Subjects';

2. Examining the experiences of institutions in relation to the Minority Specialist subject areas and producing a report on their experiences and strategies;

3. Documenting case studies and examples of good practice at each institution that target these specific subjects (workshops, portfolio advice days, progression agreements, artist in residence schemes, exchange programmes, industry focus groups, research initiatives, resources investment, organised visits);

4. Conducting research to substantiate the factors that influence students to study, or not study, a specific set of identified ‘at risk’ or declining subjects at FE and HE level;

As a result, the project has produced the following documents:

  A Review of Practice at Seven Leading UK Universities  

  A Review of Crafts Practice by Case Study 

  Recommendations and Advocacy for Crafts Practice 

  Contacts and References for Crafts Practice

Associated Documents presented at the conference, Making Futures, The crafts in the context of emerging global sustainability agendas.

  Crafting Sustainable Minds from Practice Based Education

  Only Connect 21st Century Practice 

Power Points of these papers presented at the Making Futures conference are also available. Please contact Elizabeth Wright to receive a copy: elizabethwr@lineone.net  

For more information and links to the Making Future conference, follow the links from Plymouth's research page.