Elevenses, Wednesday 1 July, How To Be A Craftivist in the art of gentle protest
If we want our world to be more beautiful, kind and fair, can we also make our activism more beautiful, kind and fair?
Join Sarah P Corbett who will explore how handicrafts can be a powerful and successful tool for museums to engage diverse audiences in social change without polarising or oversimplifying complex and sensitive topics.
Sarah will be delivering craftivism talks and workshops at Chester Cathedral in June, as part of a National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) project. An aim is to promote community engagement through delivering a wider range of cultural activities and events. Cathedral staff Anthony Lees-Smith and Anne Bell will discuss in general how craft can be a powerful and successful tool for positive change, and also to review how the cathedral team approached running the workshops – what audiences did it attract, what worked well and the links to the wider NLHF project.
If you would like to find out more in advance of the Elevenses, you can register for Sarah’s (free) talk on 9th June, using this link.
About the Speakers
Sarah P Corbett is an award-winning activist and author, Ashoka Fellow and is the Founded the now global Craftivist Collective in 2009. Her unique ‘Gentle Protest’ approach to activism has helped to change hearts, minds, policies and laws around the world. She has worked with organisations including Tate, V&A, British Museum, Save the Children, The Crafts Council, Scouts, The Climate Coalition, Girlguiding, Helsinki Design Week, BBC, SkyArts and Secret Cinema amongst others. She’s an Honorary Fellow at Goldsmiths University of London, a Brother of the Art Workers’ Guild, a Service Designer trained at the Royal College of Art and part of Brian Eno’s Hard Art Collective. The Craftivist Collective Handbook was awarded Mixed Media Book of the Year 2025 by The Creative Book Awards.
She is particularly passionate about engaging introverts and non-activists in gentle protest and social change issues, helping stop activism burnout in activists and mitigating risk of polarisation through campaigns whilst helping people see how they can be loving changemakers using their own unique skills and in their unique contexts.
Anthony Lees-Smith is Canon Missioner and Anne Bell is the NLHF Project Manager at Chester Cathedral.
There’s no need to book, just click the link below on the day:
If you have any access queries, or any other questions please contact Sue Hughes at: sue.hughes@museumdevelopmentnorth.org.uk.