They talk about it on the tennis circuit and the golf circuit, so why not on the craft·design circuit? Leaving the safety of training and amateur status and 'going pro' that is, going professional.

But taking that leap to set up as a professional craft·design practitioner isn't as simple or as straightforward as it might have looked from the safety of art school.

Youth@craft·design, the online forum presented by Craft Australia during the last quarter of 2006 was a response to the perennial problem of taking those first steps beyond training. It provided access to information from the other side - from a group of successful emerging professionals who have only recently taken many of those steps themselves. The forum was devised to provide information and advice about "going pro" for emerging makers and graduating students. It provided a platform for discussion via a series of blogs on subjects dear to the hearts of struggling, young artists and designers across the topics of career pathways, manufacturing, marketing and export.

The regular diary entries of the bloggers addressed issues both big and small and acknowledged the pressure which young, establishing practitioners feel about coming to grips with that hoary old professional chestnut - "balancing the demands of earning a living with a rewarding creative practice". The bloggers' conversations demonstrated the diversity of ways of dealing successfully with this issue

The bloggers were hand picked for their breadth of skills and experiences. The stories they had to tell and the lessons they had learned along the way. The forum was well received with over 10,000 visitors to the forum site during the four months it was live. Its target audience was current tertiary students and recent graduates. It was widely publicised in the craft·design sector through the network of the Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools (ACUADS) and the network of Australian Craft and Design Centres (ACDC).

Youth@craft·design was co-ordinated for Craft Australia by Gaida Macs and kept lively by regular updates on the lives of the bloggers who chatted about what was going on in their widely varied art practices, answered questions and offered useful tips and practical advice. The forum will be retained on the Craft Australia website as an education resource and career guidance resource providing an informative insight into becoming a professional craft·design practitioner and maintaining a successful professional practice.

The expert bloggers were from a wide spectrum of disciplines and from across Australia. They were Blanche Tilden and Phoebe Porter, two young jewellers who have set up Studio Hacienda in Melbourne; glass artist Tom Moore from Adelaide who is getting into video and animation; the fashion design sisters, Rowena, Juliana and Angela Foong that make up High Tea With Mrs Woo from Newcastle; Cesar Cueva, silversmith and owner of the gallery metalab in Sydney; Bianca Looney, ceramicst and designer from Melbourne; Oliver Smith, silversmith and metalworker from Canberra; Pippa Dickson, furniture designer from Hobart; Kris Brankovic, who was at the time the Industry Development Manager at FORM in Perth; and staff from the JamFactory in Adelaide.

There is much information to be gleaned from the blogs. They are presented as informal chats between friends and make very easy reading but they are full of valuable nuggets of wisdom. This wisdom learned from experience and sometimes 'the hard way'. The subject matter is wide ranging and touches on areas such as setting up a studio, establishing a gallery, mounting an exhibition and showing at trade and art fairs; approaching commercial galleries, linking with manufacturers and suppliers; issues around working locally, regionally, interstate and globally; building clientele; acquiring essential small business skills; making sound commercial decisions; developing planning skills; building professional networks.

Feedback on the Youth@craft·design forum from the target audience has been positive, with strong support for the informality and mode of presentation as well as its informativeness. The value of the forum is, that in its entirety, it provides a window into what the experience of actually living the professional craft·design lifestyle is like for emerging practitioners with widely divergent careers who are currently negotiating their many and varied career choices.

Another popular part of the Youth@craft·design forum was the online gallery. It allowed visitors to upload images of their own artwork. Over 60 emerging artists took the opportunity to do so. Participation in the gallery, once again, demonstrated the divergency of craft·design practice. There was a competition attached to the gallery that provided the promotional opportunity for artists to be featured in Craft Australia's online newsletter, 716 craft·design. These promotional profiles are featured in this issue. Congratulations to joint winners of the student category Rosary Coloma and Eleisha Nylund and to Rhonda Lyn who won the emerging artist category. And thanks to all who uploaded images as well as all who just enjoyed reading the blogs themselves.

Jenny Deves
June 2007

Jenny Deves is currently the Research Officer at Craft Australia and freelance writer. Jenny has a background in arts management and is a past Executive Director of Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre.