October/November 2021

EVENTS
RIGHT: Ceramic lighting maker Amy Cooper
took her business online during lockdown
Going Hybrid
Susan James talks to the director of Craft Festival,
Sarah James, about how Covid-19 opened up a
world of digital opportunity
Sarah James, director of Craft Festival
ESTABLISHED IN Bovey Tracey, Devon,
in 2003, Craft Festival was created as a
not-for-profit enterprise, originally known
as The Contemporary Craft Fair. Its aim,
using start-up funding from the European
Union, was to create an event to stimulate
rural regeneration in the local area, a small
town on the edge of Dartmoor with a rich
heritage in pottery making.
Craft Festival brought together existing
local craft businesses, extending the
shoulder periods of the traditional summer
season whilst celebrating British handmade
products. Bolder, longer-term aspirations
were to create a national platform for craft.
Today, it is a multi-award-winning events
production business, curating both craft
and food events across the South West
of England. Most recently it achieved
Champion of Champions and the Gold
Tourism Event of the Year in the South West
Tourism awards 2018.
Craft Festival events comprise an
independently curated selection of Britishbased
designer markers exhibiting their
work direct to the consumer, live craft
demonstrations, workshops for visitors,
free children’s craft making workshops,
music, street theatre and artisan food.
Driven since its formation by Sarah
James, a passionate entrepreneur,
campaigner and former ceramic artist, it is
led by a small, dedicated team of event and
marketing professionals.
Its flagship event is Craft Festival Bovey
Tracey, where over 200 of the UK’s finest
designer makers showcase their work in
a beautiful parkland setting. The event
typically draws 10,000 affluent visitors over
three days each June. But as the impact
of the pandemic struck in spring 2020, this
demanded some agile and radical thinking.
CREATING NEW RETAIL PLATFORMS
In response to the pandemic, Craft Festival
thoroughly embraced hybrid technology
to extend and connect its audience in
new ways. Building upon its strong social
media platform of over 30,000 followers
on Facebook and Instagram, and a rich
customer database of both consumers and
designer makers, curating events online
was the natural next step.
“We’re always evolving Craft Festival,
but the impact of the pandemic demanded
an immediate change of strategy,” says
Sarah. “Thankfully we were well placed to
innovate and create new digital platforms.
“With just 10 days to go to our third Craft
Festival Cheltenham in March 2020, we
had to pull the plug. It was devastating.
Over 100 small businesses were ready and
prepared, and of course we had all our
commitments in place and the budget
spent. Like so many other event directors, I
was unsure if we’d survive. The future was
bleak.
“We started experimenting with
Instagram Live, and in those early sunny
spring days of 2020 our online live
broadcasts and interviews with craft
businesses were receiving some terrific
engagement and feedback. Our customers,
the hundreds of designer maker businesses
across the UK, valued the community and
connection we created online – a shared
experience during very uncertain times.
From the feedback I received, our online
broadcasts provided some reassurance
that we were all in this together. It also led
to me creating our podcast, The Capital of
62 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM