Crafting Tomorrow: Goldsmiths’ Foundation launches five-year strategy focused on creative and technical craft skills
Relaunched in 2025 with a focused purpose and a new Trustee Board, the Goldsmiths’ Foundation is today marking its first anniversary by convening its charity partners at Goldsmiths’ Hall to celebrate the impact they have achieved in the last 12 months, and mark the announcement of a bold new five-year strategy (2025-2030) focused on creative and technical craft skill.
In an environment where creative and technical craft skills are in sharp decline, funding for arts and vocational education has contracted significantly. Centuries of accumulated knowledge and technique are at risk of being lost, with no one in place to inherit them. Against this backdrop, the strategy sets out a vision for a thriving creative ecosystem fuelled by skills – where traditional craft, manufacturing excellence and technical innovation create exceptional opportunities for the next generation of makers.
The Goldsmiths’ Foundation plans to achieve this by equipping people with exceptional skills in silversmithing, jewellery and across the wider creative industries. It will do this through the provision of grant funding and by convening and championing the organisations and people that deliver this vital work.
The initial impact of this new strategy is celebrated through the Foundation’s 2026 Impact Report. The report covers the second year of the Landmark programme, the first full year of its open grant-making, and the conclusion of its three-year partnership with organisations working to reduce reoffending through training and mentorship.
“Our vision is a thriving creative ecosystem fuelled by skills where traditional craft, manufacturing excellence and technical innovation create exceptional opportunities for the next generation of makers.
This report is early evidence of what pursuing that vision looks like in practice, already reaching communities across the UK, building training pathways that didn’t previously exist, opening spaces where creativity can take root, and placing investment in organisations to shift not just their reach but the systems around them.
We measure our success by the change our partners collectively achieve. By that measure, this has been a year to be proud of and the foundations for what comes next are firmly in place.”
“Look across the pages of this report and you will find something remarkable. A young person in Birmingham imagining a career in the jewellery industry. A nine-year-old in Bradford, visiting a cultural venue for the first time, finding her own words to describe what she sees. A maker in Cornwall generating his first wholesale sales. An apprentice stonemason learning the craft of restoring a cathedral that has stood for over 300 years. A learning-disabled artist in London showing her work in a public exhibition seen by tens of thousands of visitors. A person in prison developing needlework skills that bring purpose, progression and, for some, a route into work on release.
At first glance, these stories seem entirely unconnected. But they are all part of the same story about what becomes possible when dedicated, specialist organisations are given support to nurture a thriving creative ecosystem fuelled by skills that create opportunities for the next generation of makers.
One year on from establishing the Foundation, we couldn’t be prouder of the impact our partners achieve.”