Active practice
A working site where making, production, repair, conservation or applied craft takes place regularly.
Where skill
stays active.
Guilds, studios, workshops, forges, schools, mills and production sites—recognised for what they do, not what their building is called.
Centres for Craftsmanship · ACA network
06.1What is a Centre?
A working place of practice.
A Centre for Craftsmanship is a place where skills are actively practised and transmitted. It may be an independent studio, shared workshop, guild, production enterprise, conservation practice, museum with active making or research and teaching facility.
Recognition connects existing places rather than asking them to become something else. The national network makes practitioners, equipment, teaching, production and collaboration routes visible.
Skills transmission
A place that teaches, mentors, demonstrates or provides structured access to practical learning.
Documented capability
A centre can describe the practitioners, materials, equipment, methods and knowledge it holds.
Open and findable
It maintains a public point of contact and a reliable route for participation, referral or collaboration.
Regional connection
Higher-capability centres can connect teaching, conservation, equipment, enterprise, producer groups, research and regional capability mapping.
06.2Centre types
Local practice. Regional reach. Specialist partnership.
The Mapping report proposes a tiered network in which different places remain distinct but connected. Recognition follows demonstrated function and capability, not a single building type or institutional model.
Centres for Craftsmanship
Studios, guilds, workshops, farms and enterprises providing active practice, public access and skills transmission.
Regional Centres
Higher-capability hubs combining advanced teaching, shared equipment, enterprise support, conservation, producer-group development and regional mapping.
Research & industry facilities
TAFEs, universities, museums, manufacturers, pilot facilities and testing environments connected according to the capability they contribute.
Centre recognition
Place, protection and trade
Learning and transmission06.3Recognition routes
Accredited Centre
National listing, connection to provenance pathways and participation in the Centres network.
Featured Centre
Expanded visibility and participation for organisations taking an active role across the national field.
Flagship Centre
For leading sites holding significant capability, reach and contribution to sector development.
06.4Regional & shared infrastructure
Capability lives in relationships.
A workshop without specialist materials, maintenance knowledge, teachers, trainees or demand can be as vulnerable as a region with no workshop at all. Regional mapping therefore follows the complete capability system.
ACA connects local practice sites with higher-capability regional hubs, research and technology infrastructure, manufacturers, producer groups and buyers. Operating support must recognise teaching, coordination, equipment maintenance and productive use as infrastructure costs.
Already teaching and making?
Your studio, guild, workshop, conservation practice, mill or production site may already perform the function of a Centre for Craftsmanship.
Current service portal. ACA information and guidance sit on this site. Until the independent transaction system is migrated, secure applications and payments continue through the CWA Secretariat portal and open in a new tab.