We are the European Crafts Alliance!

Our name has changed, but our members’ driven commitment is the same: to represent, support, and empower European crafts.

After careful crafting, we are thrilled to reintroduce ourselves as the European Crafts Alliance (ECA). Our name has changed, but our mission remains the same: to support, represent, advocate for, and empower crafts organisations, craftspeople, and the European crafts sector.

We, the European Crafts Alliance (ECA), are an independent network of 38 member organizations from 23 European countries. Together we represent crafts by connecting crafts organizations on the European level, advocating for the crafts sector and empowering the craftspeople that drive it, as well as ensuring that crafts are positioned as an essential part of Europe’s economy, innovation and heritage landscape.

Advocacy, Training and Support to Crafts

In the past two years, we have conducted 2 ground-breaking surveys of the crafts sector, supported over 50 training and networking activities for our members, facilitated advocacy initiatives across Europe and organised educational activities, two of which included concrete business training for crafts enterprises. We also financially and organisationally supported over 100 events, including exhibitions and presentations during the European Artistic Crafts Days across Europe.

Four Large Projects

This year, the European Crafts Alliance (ECA) is part of four EU co-funded projects focused on driving the potential of European crafts:

CraftsNet: We are leading this Creative Europe co-funded project focused on strengthening and developing the capacitites of the network and accelerating the transformative potential of crafts. The project is set to start in May.
Tracks4Crafts: This ongoing Horizon Europe-funded project is exploring ways to transmit traditional craft knowledge for the future.
Make-a-thek: The Horizon Europe-funded project is starting in February and will address modular makerspaces for sustainable innovations.
Reskilling Crafts: This EU Erasmus-funded project aims to build reskilling labs for a sustainable, digital future.

New Opportunities and an Open Call Coming Soon

In early February, we will launch an Open Call for Grants to support events during the European Artistic Crafts Days 2025. This will be followed by the presentation of the results of two key research studies, uncovering exciting potential for the economic growth of European crafts and organise pan-European knowledge exchanges for crafts organisations.

For now, crafts professionals are invited to check out the open Call for Creative Exchange Residencies for Crafts Professionals, which is open until the end of March 2025.