Flashback to the Launch of the

CRAFTOUR Initiative

On the 25th October 2024, the Salon International du Patrimoine Culturel hosted the official launch of the CRAFTOUR , an initiative coordinated by Mad’in Europe as part of the Craeft project consortium. For the first time, six EU-funded projects – Craeft, Tracks4Crafts, Culturality, MOSAIC, Hephaestus, and Colours4Crafts, involving organisations from 21 countries – are united to support and promote the revitalisation of the crafts sector.

This initiative was encouraged by members of the European Commission who were represented at the conference and are following the development of the initiative.

The conference raised a critical question: how can EU funding effectively drive the revival of the crafts sector?

CRAFTOUR aims to tackle this challenge by offering impactful solutions and actionable recommendations.

The six projects involved in CRAFTOUR can count on the expertise of 75 partners in fields such as research, digital technologies, anthropology, education, economics, social sciences, and of course crafts and cultural heritage. During the next months dedicated working groups including partners from the six projects will share their knowledge and results and work together on 5 main pillars :

Understanding and valorisation of crafts
Safeguarding crafts
transmission of skills
business models
documenting crafts

Here’s a look at the conference highlights, where CRAFTOUR partners introduced the initiative's five key pillars:

Following CRAFTOUR's successful launch, a significant milestone in 2025 will be a policy roundtable. At this event, the six projects will come together to present joint recommendations to members of the European Commission and the European Parliament, focusing on securing legal and financial support. These recommendations aim to establish a clear, actionable strategy to collaboratively bolster and sustain Europe’s crafts sector.