Craft Hub nominated for European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2023 as National Winner

“Craft Hub” a Creative Europe & Creative Ireland supported project co-ordinated across Europe by Carlow County Council with 8 European Union partners has been announced as a National Winner in the European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2023 and will go forward to the European Final with winners being announced in Spain in November 2023.

 Introduced in 2006, the European Enterprise Promotion Awards reward outstanding achievements in promoting SMEs and entrepreneurship at a national, regional and local level. The European Enterprise Promotion Awards aim to identify and recognise the most successful promoters of enterprise and entrepreneurship around Europe, showcase and disseminate best entrepreneurship policies and practices, raise public awareness concerning the role of entrepreneurs within society and encourage and inspire potential entrepreneurs. The projects are evaluated based on the following criteria: originality and feasibility, the impact they have on the local economy, improvement of local stakeholder relations and transferability of the project to other regions in Europe.

Welcoming the news, Cllr. Andrea Dalton, Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council said, “I am delighted that the work of Carlow County Council is being recognized at European Level and I’d congratulate our Team in the Local Enterprise Office, Arts, Libraries & Finance for their work on Craft Hub”. Andrea continued to say "The European Enterprise Promotion Awards are a powerful tool for driving change and innovation in the European economy. They help to identify and showcase the best examples of entrepreneurship and small business promotion, and they provide a platform for sharing knowledge and best practices. These awards are making a real difference to the lives of people in Europe, and they are helping to create a more prosperous and inclusive society."

Craft Hub is a European project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme focused on Craft in the context of cultural heritage and its continuing relevance in contemporary practice. The project activities involve investigating and documenting craft skills and processes; their differing application in creative practice across Europe; and questions of cultural specificity & individual motivations of practitioners. This will be addressed through a comprehensive and exciting program to allow the creation of new craft work/experimental investigations into process and material supported by 42 transnational maker residencies, 305 days of outreach work, 1 festival, 7 exhibitions and 2 conferences.

Speaking about the nomination, Kieran Comerford, Head of Economic Development & Enterprise said “The European Enterprise Promotion Awards are a testament to the hard work and dedication of those who are committed to promoting entrepreneurship and small business in Europe and for a project led by Carlow County Council is a great honour. These awards recognize the help to raise awareness of the importance of entrepreneurship in our society and the Craft Hub team has been delighted to work with the creative community on the Craft Hub project and we look forward to hosting the Craft Hub International Exhibition when it comes to Carlow later in August”.

Kieran concluded by saying “delivery of project like Craft Hub is a team effort and the project team at local level includes Stacey Phelan (LEO) , Melissa Doyle (LEO) , Aileen Nolan (Arts) , Sinead Dowling (Arts) , Margaret O’Toole (Finance) , John Shortall (Libraries) , PJ Leonard (Finance) under the direction of Head of Finance Pat Delaney & Director of Services , Kieran Cullinane in partnership with University of Wales Trinity Saint David (Wales) , Glasmalerei Peters Studio (Germany) , Materahub (Italy) , Design School Kolding (Denmark) , Craft Scotland (Scotland) , NOVA School of Science and Technology (Portugal) , OECON (Greece) and OSLOMET (Norway). For further information on Craft Hub go to CraftHub European Project – Investigating and documenting craft skills and processes

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For further information contact Kieran Comerford on 086-8252037 or e-mail kcomerford@carlowcoco.ie