Welcome to the Glass Age

148 allows more equitable or inclusive access to glass is unclear. Since the inception of the studio glass movement in the 1960s, glass education has spread widely throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, North and South America, the Antipodes and Asia. However, is Art Glass education accessible to all? Many European Higher Education Institutions offer reasonable fees or free education to resident students, however, international fees charged to study glass can be extremely high. It is this factor that has always restricted and inhibited access to those who wish to study glass, which has resulted in a lack of diversity and inclusivity. In the UK, widening participation schemes are in action, campaigns such as the Crafts Council Make Your Future [2] recognises that craft education in the UK is in crisis. The project has made considerable contributions to the field since its launch in 2014. The recent Crafts Council England 2021 report, Making Changes in Craft [3], laid bare a review of racism and inequality within the UK Craft sector. The key findings in the report revealed the narrowness of the craft canon, the lack of alternative histories and narratives in craft; an urgent need to de-colonise the craft curriculum and the Figure 9.7. Maria Bang-Espersen, International Glass Prize in Lommel, Belgium (2012). Source: Kristof Vrancken.