Lina Mendoni on Greek craftsmanship: Its revival is a priority for the Ministry of Culture

The prospects of Greek craftsmanship, the sector’s sustainable development, and its integration into modern taste and economical beingness are the absorption of the planetary league titled “Greek Craftsmanship: Contemporary Trends and Prospects,” organized by the Ministry of Culture successful collaboration with the University of West Attica, the University of Western Macedonia, and the University of Thessaly, from April 16 to 18 astatine Acropole Palace.

The league is portion of the Ministry of Culture’s Strategic Revival Program for Greek Craftsmanship, titled “Educational Program for the Development of Skills Related to Craftsmanship,” which created 19 trade structures nationwide utilizing resources from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

“The revival of Greek craftsmanship has been a strategical argumentation precedence of the Ministry of Culture since 2019. It is not lone astir preserving intangible taste heritage—an plus of invaluable worth—but besides astir transforming it into a modern improvement model, fueled by accepted practices, truthful that it becomes a operator of growth, employment, and the revitalization of determination Greece. The revival of Greek craftsmanship holds tremendous potential, which is lone present opening to emerge. It concerns the preservation and transmission to younger generations of a immense taste superior embedded successful age-old practices that technological advancement and modern techniques endanger with extinction. For centuries, craftsmanship has been some a means of endurance and a signifier of aesthetic expression,” Minister Lina Mendoni emphasized during the opening of the conference, adding:

“Our extremity contiguous is to make a sustainable exemplary for improvement and concern enactment successful the sector, a caller procreation of artisans with nonrecreational training, certification, concern support, planetary networking, and the empowerment of related tiny enterprises. In this context, and with the backing made disposable done the Recovery Fund, the Ministry of Culture implemented aviator programs successful weaving, ceramics, and woodworking, which are present being completed. We proceeded with programmatic agreements for taste improvement with the universities of West Attica, Western Macedonia, and Thessaly, focusing connected aviator acquisition programs lasting 4 semesters, nether the supervision of the Lifelong Learning Centers of the collaborating universities. The programs had a full duration of 260 hours and covered the 3 aforementioned trade sectors, crossed 19 grooming structures established successful regions with corresponding trade traditions. At the aforesaid time, we focused connected studying the worth chains of the 3 accepted earthy materials—wool, wood, and clay—whose usage dates backmost thousands of years. The acquisition programme is present being completed, but it is already being evaluated and the adjacent steps for its continuation are being planned. Our volition is for the programme to continue, arsenic it lies astatine the halfway of the revival of Greek craftsmanship, enabling existent trainees to instrumentality the adjacent step—either by securing employment successful related fields or, ideally, by launching their ain businesses.”

The archetypal time of the league concluded with the inauguration, by the Minister of Culture, of a radical accumulation featuring graduates from the 19 Craft Training Structures. A full of 208 graduates are participating, presenting works successful weaving, ceramics, and woodworking created during the acquisition programs (November 2024 – December 2025) implemented by the Lifelong Learning Centers of the 3 universities.

The league volition proceed for 2 much days, during which topics specified arsenic mapping and investigation of earthy worldly worth chains successful craftsmanship, champion practices and planetary experiences, the aggregate dimensions of craftsmanship, museums and collections, concern models, and the challenges and prospects for the sector’s sustainability volition beryllium presented and discussed.