WORLD CRAFTS COUNCIL

usha Greetings…I am honoured to have been elected President of the WCC at the 16th General Assembly held at Hangzhou, China on 7th Nov, 2008. As a member of the Crafts Council of India for over three decades, I bring to the presidency my passion for the crafts and respect for the craftsperson.

As I look at the crafts sector today, I am concerned that many crafts communities still endure a marginalized existence. Theirs is a faint voice, barely heard amidst the commercial noise of today. WCC urgently needs to amplify this voice, to engage the crafts communities in creative dialogue, and to bring the world of crafts into the mainstream of life. Only through dialogue and creative interactions can we begin to understand the vital contribution crafts can make to world economics, and to perpetuate the tenuous link between tradition and modernity. Through these engagements, we can hopefully resuscitate the dignity, economics, and social status of the artisan community.

I am excited about the next few years. I see this as a time when we “Collaborate to Capture” ...a time when countries, regions, and world bodies reach out to each other, collaborate, and capture the attention of policy makers.
This is the time when WCC strategizes to implement various programmes. The WCC task is multifold. We need to:

· Bring new technologies to the service of the artisans and institute quality in the craftsperson’s mindset, by involving them in training programmes.

· Create channels of collaboration between designers and artisans so that craft and design go hand in hand.

· Centralize dispersed knowledge bases and encourage sharing of these resources.

· Use the value of tourism for the benefit of crafts and capture world markets with aggressive and innovative strategies.

· Engage our youth in arts and crafts and sensitize them to their cultural heritage.

· Focus on members - conduct surveys to understand reasons for flagging interest and find ways to augment member engagement.

There is so much to do, and I am confident that as a global community working efficiently, we can do it all. I remember here the words of former WCC president, Sir Paul Reilly, who said that "the WCC is the only body set up to support the aspiration of the world's craftspeople, whether in maintaining honourable inherited traditions or in extending frontiers by experiment and innovation...skill and vision are the two essential qualities that WCC encourages."

And with that skill and that vision, I am confident that we can not only enable but also empower crafts and craftspersons to make a difference.