Evelyn Tweed MSP has called for stronger support for Scotland’s traditional craft skills, including better integration within education and training, after hosting a reception with charity Heritage Crafts at the Scottish Parliament earlier this month. (Wednesday 7th January 2026).
The event brought together parliamentarians, heritage craft practitioners and cultural organisations from across Scotland, including makers whose crafts have been identified as being at serious risk. Speakers highlighted challenges identified in the UK Heritage Crafts Red List Report, including skills shortages, rising material and energy costs, fluctuating demand, and growing pressure on historic craft spaces from high rents and redevelopment, all of which make it harder for businesses to train new makers and sustain traditional methods.
The 2025 Red List of Endangered Crafts now tracks 285 crafts across the UK, with 72 classed as critically endangered and 93 as endangered, highlighting the increasing pressures facing traditional skills. The reception underlined the need to embed heritage craft skills more firmly within Scotland’s education and training system, building on local traditions, such as weaving and textile making in Stirling, and creating clear pathways for young people to learn and sustain these skills into the future.
Evelyn Tweed MSP for Stirling said:
“I was proud to host Heritage Crafts at the Scottish Parliament and to showcase the extraordinary skill, dedication and creativity of craftspeople from across Scotland. Traditional and heritage crafts are not just part of our past, they are a living, evolving part of who we are, and they deserve to be valued and passed on.
“While the UK Government’s ratification of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage is a welcome and important step, recognition alone is not enough. If we are serious about safeguarding these skills, we must do more to support training and ensure heritage crafts are embedded within our education system. Young people need opportunities in schools to experience practical, hands-on making, to learn from skilled practitioners, and to see heritage crafts as a viable and rewarding future, not something at risk of disappearing.
“In Stirling, where there is a long and proud history of weaving and textile making, it is heartening to see tartan weavers, kilt makers and bagpipe makers continuing to thrive. But their future depends on the next generation being able to access the skills, space and support required to keep these crafts alive. This event was about celebrating what we already have, while strengthening our collective commitment to ensuring Scotland’s traditional crafts remain part of everyday life for generations to come.”
Daniel Carpenter, Executive Director of the charity Heritage Crafts said:
“As the UK charity dedicated to safeguarding traditional skills, Heritage Crafts believes that traditional craft skills are not relics of the past but vital, living traditions. They are central to our cultural identity, providing a tangible and essential link between past generations and future communities, while also enriching our economy. Our mission is to ensure these skills are passed on to the next generation.
“We are seeing a lot of discussion about the impact of artificial intelligence on the creative industries, but we are cautiously optimistic about the future of traditional craft skills. As an embodied form of knowledge, heritage crafts are likely to be more resilient to the rise of AI. This gives us an opportunity to re-establish local economies of sustainable making and to project a vision of Scotland that foregrounds its uniqueness with pride.
“I would like to thank Evelyn Tweed MSP for recognising the value of heritage crafts to Scottish industry and identity, and for providing this platform to raise awareness.”
Heritage Crafts continues to call for greater government support for endangered skills, including more accessible apprenticeship models and targeted training schemes, to ensure Scotland’s living craft heritage can survive and thrive for future generations.
Notes to Editors
- Heritage Crafts is the UK charity dedicated to supporting, safeguarding and promoting traditional craft skills. It is a UNESCO-accredited NGO in the field of intangible cultural heritage and has HM The King as its Patron.
- Heritage Crafts publishes the Red List of Endangered Crafts, the most comprehensive inventory of traditional craft skills at risk in the UK – the first published report being in 2017. The Red List identifies crafts where practitioner numbers are critically low or where training routes are limited or non-existent. Scottish crafts currently on the Red List include bagpipe making, sporran making and shinty caman making. More info here:
- The UK Government announced in December 2023 that the United Kingdom was to ratify the 2003 UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, bringing it in line with the 182 other UNESCO Member States already ratified, and opening the way to greater international cooperation on the importance of the UK’s knowledge, skills and practices as part of our living heritage. Adoption of the Convention opens the way to increased monitoring of the UK’s intangible cultural heritage, including practices that have come here through migrant and diaspora communities, and better safeguarding of the most at-risk examples.
For more information visit the Heritage Crafts Red List report https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Red-List-2025-publication.pdf
