NEWSLETTER No. 4. October 1975 WORLD CRAFTS COUNCIL NEWS L o r d E c c l e s , Chairman o f t h e World C r a f t s C o u n c i l a d d r e s s e d t h e A s i a n Assembly o f t h e WCC i n Sydney l a s t May. Many o f the comments he made a r e r e l e v a n t t o I r e l a n d . ' Space does n o t p e r m i t r e p r o d u c t i o n i n f u l l o f h i s remarks b u t w i t h h i s ' p e r m i s s i o n we h i g h l i g h t p a r t i c u l a r l y p e r t i n e n t p o i n t s . R e f e r e n c e had been made t o t h e a g o n i s i n g c o m p e t i t i o n between machine and c r a f t i t e m s . "The f u t u r e o f c r a f t s l i e i n t h e d o m e s t i c market and n o t i n i n c r e a s e d s a l e s t o t o u r i s t s and overseas markets. V a r i o u s r e a s o n s were advanced ( a t t h e Assembly) f o r g i v i n g p r i o r i t y t o t h e home m a r k e t , a government can a c t d i r e c t l y on home demand; a government c a n e s t a b l i s h and s u b s i d i s e c r a f t shops and p u r c h a s e c r a f t work i t s e l f . On t h e o t h e r hand a government cannot c o n t r o l what t o u r i s t s buy or o v e r s e a s department s t o r e s c a n s e l l . Measures t o m a i n t a i n t h e volume and q u a l i t y o f t h e c r a f t s , i f t h e y a r e t o be permanent and e f f e c t i v e , must t h e r e f o r e be t a k e n w i t h i n t h e domestic market". " S e v e r a l s p e a k e r s s u g g e s t e d ways i n w h i c h t h e d o m e s t i c f o r t h e i r b e s t c r a f t s c o u l d be s t r e n g t h e n e d . " -
market
(i)
Governments s h o u l d be p e r s u a d e d t o make n a t i o n a l and l o c a l c o l l e c t i o n s o f both t r a d i t i o n a l and contemporary work.
(ii)
E x h i b i t i o n s s h o u l d be a r r a n g e d a t home and o v e r s e a s where t h e i r b e s t work c o u l d be s e e n .