Crafting Ahead: A National Strategy for the Artisan Sector in Malta
Whether for their aesthetic beauty or their practical use, artisanal products have been an integral part of Maltese heritage and local traditions for centuries. Yet, a holistic strategy that addresses the challenges of the artisan sector and explores opportunities that ensure its long-term sustainability has to date never been published locally.
As part of its role to enable the preservation and appreciation of local crafts, the Malta Crafts Foundation has immediately recognised this lacuna and has thus been working on the publication of a national strategy for the past months.
To ensure this strategy truly reflects the needs and challenges of the local artisan sector, the Malta Crafts Foundation sought to incorporate feedback from various stakeholders, particularly from a large number of artisans. Data was collected through a questionnaire that was sent to the 752 artisans registered with the Commerce Department, as well as during a national conference focusing on the artisan sector and subsequent focus groups.
A total of 141 artisans submitted their feedback, meaning the views of one in every five registered artisans are taken into consideration. While there are undoubtedly other artisans who are not yet registered, the respondents nonetheless represent a good cross-section of the entire sector, considering their distribution in terms of age, gender, geographic region, level of education, and whether their engagement in the craft is on a full-time or part-time basis.
The research findings led to the identification of priority areas within the artisan sector that require attention, namely Financial Aid and Support, Protection and Regulation of the sector, Business Support, Awareness Campaign, Promotional Efforts, Education and Training, Adaptability, Sustainability and Collaboration, as well as Sector Innovation.
For each of these priority areas, based on the feedback gathered from the artisans and subsequent public consultations, the strategy proposes targeted actions that would transform the challenges into opportunities, thereby contributing to the long-term sustainability, viability, and growth of the sector, as well as the survival of those crafts that are currently at risk of extinction.
In parallel to this work, the Malta Crafts Foundation has not been idle and indeed it has already been working in collaboration with other stakeholders, particularly the Commerce Department, on various actions mentioned in the document, especially in the fields of Education and Training, Innovation, and Promotion. Such initiatives include an additional publication complementing the strategy, the Red List of Endangered Crafts, which sheds light on those crafts that are in danger of being lost, thereby spurring initiatives that would protect and safeguard them for posterity.