This year The Crafts Council are delivering the sixth year of their highly successful Hothouse programme, providing creative and business development for up-and-coming makers.

We’re proud that this year Yorkshire Artspace is one of the delivery partners for the Northern Cohort.

Fortyone maker businesses, already displaying a high level of technical craftsmanship and originality, have been selected from across the UK to take part in Hothouse 6, including Yorkshire Artspace Studio holder Victoria Dawes!

Victoria, who is in her second year of the Ceramics Starter Studio programme, says;

I am absolutely thrilled to be one of the makers selected as a part of the North Cohort of Hothouse 6. I had never visited Sheffield before I moved back to the UK in October of 2014. The move was a HUGE leap of faith.

With the space provided in year one of the Starter Studio for Ceramics, the support of the creative community across the Yorkshire Artspace studios, and business mentoring from Patricia at The Design Trust, I was able to confidently take risks and push myself to explore a wide variety of opportunities for my business.

Heading into the later stages of the Starter Studio Programme, I am excited about the content of The Crafts Council’s Hothouse scheme.. I am looking forward to expanding my network of creative contemporaries across the UK, reflecting upon my experiences over the past year, and honing in on the aspects of my business that I would like develop as I transition out of the Starter Studio.

Over the last five years, 163 participants have taken part in the Hothouse programme, with 100% of makers in 2015 stating that the programme had enabled them to think differently about the direction of their career. Hothouse will next open for applications in the summer of 2016.