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Based at Birkbeck between July 2009 and June 2013 and undertaken in partnership with Instituto de Lengua y Cultura Aymara in Bolivia, the AHRC funded research project `Weaving Communities of Practice' has made a substantial impact on cultural life by creating new systems of cataloguing and digitising collections of Andean textiles and developing a digital, online database to manage complex visual information. Two museums in the UK and 10 in Latin America (Bolivia, Chile and Peru) have directly benefited from the project both in the development of the database and in the training provided; rural communities in Bolivia have also benefited from the recognition and recovery of their traditional craft.
The production of hand-knitting is of key economic and cultural importance in Scotland. University of Glasgow research on the history of hand-knitting has: helped to enhance a significant textiles collection at Shetland Museum and Archives (~88,000 visitors each year) and contributed to the growth of public interest in and understanding of this craft activity and its history. Glasgow research has also informed the work of contemporary knitwear designers who have found inspiration in the traditional designs and colour ways and has engaged the wider public, promoting greater appreciation of the cultural significance of hand-knitting and its role in the rural economy of the past and present.
Textile-heritage research at the University of Leeds has informed and improved public awareness and understanding of textile heritages among target audiences, especially school children, community groups, volunteers, interns and teachers. Through hands-on workshops, conventional publications, talks and lectures, a strong website presence and public exhibitions, the research has engaged and inspired audiences, and has underpinned a `best practice' resource for other museums and archives. Impact is demonstrated through direct feedback from workshop participants, evidence of community engagement, commentary in the visitors' book, website hits, and also from accreditations, awards and endorsements from key national arts organisations in recognition of initiatives enhancing public appreciation of textile heritages.
The University for the Creative Arts has a longstanding commitment to the history, practice, and theory of craft. The research of the Crafts Study Centre (CSC) and Anglo-Japanese Textile Research Centre (AJTRC) has long championed the work of craft practitioners in order to find new ways of thinking through creative practice. This curatorial work, public facing in nature, has contributed to the personal, professional and creative development of a range of craft practitioners by offering an enquiry-led platform for the exploration of craft as profession. Though this research has brought numerous benefits to a wide range of people and organisations, this case study explains specific qualitative and quantitative benefits brought to a number of craft practitioners by this work.
Warwick's Global History and Culture Centre (GHCC) is internationally renowned for its ground-breaking research into the study of globalisation and global material culture. The GHCC has established unique collaborative partnerships with leading heritage institutions in the UK and overseas, which facilitate sustained exchanges of knowledge and expertise between historians and curators. This has enabled new approaches and methodologies in global history to be utilised in the culture sector, leading to marked changes in practices of interpretation and display of material objects in museums. In addition, sustained dialogue between Warwick scholars and the art world has enriched the tools and analytical skills art consultants draw upon in interpreting objects and collections, enhancing their commercial value.
Deborah Wynne's research into nineteenth-century literature's engagement with material culture is internationally recognised. Her latest work on textiles underpins the Textile Stories Project, a celebration of the rich heritages of fabric, fashion and costume, particularly in literary contexts. The project is designed to appeal to members of the public with an interest in textiles, crafts, fashion, and the costume drama and has influenced public understanding of the significance of nineteenth- century literature. By demonstrating the role of textiles in literary contexts, the project also creates opportunities for general readers to enhance their understanding of, and pleasure in, the literary culture and screen adaptations.
`Threads of Feeling', a major exhibition of the textile tokens left with abandoned infants at the London Foundling Hospital in the mid-eighteenth century, was curated and based on original research by Professor John Styles. Displayed at the London Foundling Museum in 2010-11, it received 19,132 visitors in six months. A permanent online presence from 2011 extended its reach, and when it travelled to the USA in 2013, a further 46,619 people saw it over two months. Its public popularity, enthusiastic critical reception and role in inspiring textile practitioners in particular have all ensured significant public awareness of this previously little known aspect of social history.