Sector support
Celebrate and build the making skills of staff and volunteers
Heritage at Risk
Raising awareness in heritage craft skills and offering opportunities to engage
There are a broad range of factors which have contributed to the decline of our heritage craft skills, some specific to individual industries, others more generic.
The reasons for the decline provides an important part of our storytelling as well as additional sources of investigation for our creative programme.
Supporting capacity development
BIRDAS (Business, Industry, Research, Development, and Skills) is an integral component of the wider Derbyshire Makes programme, focusing on bridging the gap between businesses, research institutions, and skills development.
This two-year programme will engage heritage sites, local businesses and educational institutions to ensure that heritage skills/crafts/stories are passed down to the next generation. BIRDAS will work closely with Project Managers to identify key areas where heritage skills gaps exist and will recommend training programmes or partnerships with local colleges and universities to address these needs.
Peer to peer mentoring
Six mentoring pairings will be set up. They will be part self-guided and part focused on key needs, including diversifying the workforce, building volunteer and trustee base, approaches to carbon net zero.
Volunteer and Trustee development
Connecting with local manufacturers and their employees, via a programme of engagement activities. This strand will forge closer links with the sector and build their volunteer and Trustee base.
Specialist support will be commissioned to research and connect with businesses and invite them to a launch event, to showcase heritage organisations and launch the programme of engagement activities for business employees.
Heritage Crafts Bursary
Working with Higher and Further Education providers, we will launch a new bursary to support heritage craft skills. We are looking to support four practitioners.
Derbyshire Makes History is set up to complement the wider three-year Derbyshire Makes programme, with an exclusive heritage focus, which is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, to champion and support the heritage sector.