Press Echo to General Assembly 2008
in Talavera de la Reina / Spain
updated: November 20, 2008

General Assembly of WCC-Europe in Talavera de la Reina / Spain
October 22 and October 23, 2008

The dates:
October 21, 2008: Arrival of the delegates / Board Meeting
October 22 and 23, 2008, General Assembly
October 24 and 25, 2008, International Crafts Congress in Toledo

The press:
A press interview was given by the WCC-Europe President, Bernd Roeter,
translated into Spanish by Pablo Blanco, Oficio Y Arte:



The echo of the press:

Press Echo: La Voz del Tajo  

World Crafts Council Meeting in Talavera
From 21 – 23 October, Talavera will host the meeting of the Executive Board
of the World Crafts Council-Europe as well as its 2008 General Assembly. The
Talavera Town Council, the organisation of Spanish craftmakers "Fracaman"
and the Vettonia Foundation have been working in close cooperation to enable
the annual meeting of the governing bodies of the European Section of the
World Crafts Council to take place in the "Town of Ceramics".

The meeting of the Board of the World Crafts Council, composed of five
representatives of the crafts sector from Belgium, Germany, Slovakia, Denmark
and Spain, will take place in the meeting room of the "Rafael Morales" Arts Centre.
The General Assembly of the WCC-Europe will be held in the Talavera Arts and
Crafts Promotion Centre on 22 and 23 of this month.

Delegates who participate in these meetings will also take part in the award
ceremony for the national crafts prize, which is conferred every year by the
Department of Industry, Tourism and Commerce. The ceremony will be held in
Madrid in the morning of 23 October.

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Press Echo - ABC

President of World Crafts Council Says
Crafts Sector is Very Healthy, Although it May Look Differently

TALAVERA The President of the European Section of the World Crafts Council, Bernd Roeter,
explained that the Crafts Sector "is in very good health although it may look as if the opposite
were true, since the professional craftmakers work not only with their hands but mainly with
their heads". He added that the future was promising, although he also pointed out that the
major challenge with which the sector is faced is entering into contact with the consumer and
establishing long-term relationships between producer and consumer. "This is the real
handicap of the sector" he said according to the news agency Ep.

Mr. Roeter spoke on the occasion of the General Assembly of the World Crafts Council, the
world organisation for crafts, which was held in the Talavera Arts and Crafts Promotion Centre.
He emphasised how important it was for the sector to make itself visible, go out into the street
to present itself to the consumer".

17 representatives from various countries took part in the Assembly, which provided
participants with the opportunity to exchange information, talk about new projects and discuss
the future of the sector. Furthermore, a new Crafts Fair was announced, scheduled to take place
in June 2009 in Germany and designed to provide a platform for contemporary crafts.

The Institutional Relations Councillor Tirso Lumbreras declared that hosting the World Crafts
Council's European section was an honour and a responsibility for Talavera, with a view to the
town's and the whole region's global reputation and identity.

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Press Echo: La Tribuna de Talavera

World Crafts Council Predicts "Very Promising Future" for the Sector
International crafts organisation is holding its General Assembly in town

President of the European Section of the World Crafts Council points out that entering
into contact with the consumer is the most difficult challenge

The World Crafts Council predicts a "very promising future" for the sector it represents.
This is what Bernd Roeter, the President of the Council's European Section, said to the
media yesterday. The Council is holding its Board Meeting as well as its General Assembly
in town. The meetings started this Tuesday and will end today.

As the meeting commenced at the Arts and Crafts Promotion Centre, Roeter pointed out
that this was a very important event, which had finally returned to Spain after quite a
number of years. 17 European organisations representing the crafts sector of their
respective countries are taking part, exchanging information and talking about their
new projects and the future of the sector in Europe.

According to Mr. Roeter, the sector's current situation is very good, since the people
who dedicate themselves to professional crafts "work not only with their hands but
mainly with their heads", thus creating cultural assets. Therefore, in his opinion there
is no doubt that the future is very promising.

He continued by outlining the most important challenge with which the sector is always
faced: the difficult task of entering into contact with the consumer. This was a question
of being visible, he said, for which reason he encouraged craftsmakers to introduce and
present themselves.

"What we need is for the consumer to become acquainted with our crafts – after all we
are talking about products with an identity of their own", he added. It is exactly this
aspect which is addressed by one of the topics on the agenda of this international
meeting: the presentation of a new commercial platform.

This platform, Mr. Roeter explained, consisted in a new Crafts Fair which will take place
in Germany in June 2009. The people responsible for this event are taking part in the
present meeting in Talavera in order to present the project as well as to talk about the
requirements for participation in this new European level platform for contemporary arts
and crafts.

The Convention started on Tuesday with a meeting of the Executive Board of the European
Section of the World Crafts Council, followed by yesterday's General Assembly, in which
not only the Council's executive body, but also representatives of all the member associations
belonging to the WCC took part. Today, the participants will attend the award ceremony for
the national crafts prize, which is conferred by the Department of Industry, Commerce and
Crafts, and after that they will go on to Toledo to take part in the International Crafts
Congress to be held on 24 and 25 October.

For the preceding meeting, being held at present, they had opted for Talavera as the
venue of choice, as Tirso Lumbreras, Institutional Relations Councillor of the Talavera Town
Council, emphasised. He thanked the World Crafts Council for choosing Talavera for this
meeting – a decision which, in his opinion, recognises the town's identity as a centre of
crafts.

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