How Creativebug can weave diversity into its craft

My library offers free access to Creativebug, so I've been using their tutorials to learn some new craft skills. The videos are all well made, and I love the presenters, from the intuitive way they present new concepts to their personalities. (Especially Faith Hale - she's got a great sense of humour!)

So I was scrolling through, looking for interesting tutorials to watch, when the names and faces started blurring together. Exactly how many videos was this middle aged brunette present in? Were all these blonde ladies different people?

To be fair, it's a problem that Creativebug has recognised. In their latest LinkedIn post, they said they were planning on prioritising filming Black instructors.

Creativebug would:

• have Black artists represent a minimum of 15% of all instructors on the site by 2023

• offer Creativebug for free to underserved libraries

• create a year long mentorship program to support Black emerging artists

It's a good start, but these actions only address surface level diversity - the numbers - rather than the underlying reasons why racial disparity exists in the first place.

The disparity that is apparent in Creativebug's class offerings is a reflection of the systemic forces that occur within the wider art world. Creativebug is affected by the environment it exists within - but it also has the power to effect change within this same environment.

Let's start with the numbers.

I spent a few hours on a rainy Monday afternoon scraping through the Creativebug website to note down all the instructors and their demographic attributes. It was only after I finished the spreadsheet when I found the webpage with the instructors. Oh well!

It was not a perfect method - I may have missed some people in my pass through. There are several instructor profiles that represent groups of people. These groups were treated as a single entity because, for the most part, the members of each group share the same demographic attributes. The sole exception is the profile for the Creativebug development team, which is a mix of genders and races judging from the profile picture. I chose to exclude this data point for the sake of my sanity. I also excluded three duplicate instructor profiles which represented existing instructors that had collaborated to create a joint tutorial.

I had to make approximations for some instructor demographics where it wasn't blindingly obvious. That's not a bug in of itself. Race, disability and gender may form an integral part of a community's identity, but it does not have to be the forefront of an individual's identity. If an instructor chose not to define their art by their demographics, that was their choice. Guessing someone's demographics based on appearance alone is a road fraught with danger and I'm certain I've made many mistakes.

You can look at the spreadsheet here.

Racial disparity is a major issue

The racial demographics of Creativebug do not represent the American community it serves. 9 out of 10 instructors are white. That's 122 instructors - but only 4 instructors are Black. The percentage of Black instructors falls short of where it should be, as the chart below demonstrates.

The percentages used for American population demographics are approximations taken from the 2019 US Census.

Creativebug does use the occasional Black model in demonstrating finished garments, but that is merely appearance, and not substance.

While the proportion of Asian instructors matches the size of the Asian American population, it also taps into the model minority myth. Asian people are expected to be good at calligraphy, drawing, maths and playing the piano, precise things where we stay within the lines and follow the sheet music. This feeds further into the myth of white superiority, where Black people are only good at jazz and hiphop, and white people can choose to do which ever creative pursuit they'd like.

Colonisation through art

But let's look wider. There were no Native American or Hispanic instructors. None at all. (That I could easily identify.) That is a missing opportunity to tap into the fount of creativity within America's Native American and Hispanic artists and explore America's artistic roots.

It is also another port through which European culture has thoroughly invaded America and, like a parasite, completely displaced indigenous culture. America's lands are fertile with the biodegraded remains of corn husk dolls, woven textiles and handspun wool. None of this is represented in Creativebug's offerings. Instead, America's arts and craft culture is represented by countless videos on quilting and how to make art journals.

The risk of cultural appropriation and the lack of cultural diversity

On the topic of what defines America's craft culture, I had a look at the cultural diversity of the classes on offer. Of the thousands of classes available, only ten did not slot neatly into "traditional" American arts and crafts. These ten classes were all on Japanese topics, things like how to draw manga and furoshiki wrapping. It's not a huge surprise. The western world has been enamored with Japanese culture ever since Japan opened up its borders in the 19th century. Right now, sashiko embroidery and all things wabi sabi are the rage.

Two of these classes are taught by instructors of Japanese heritage. The other 8 are not.

Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with a non-Japanese instructor teaching a class on a Japanese topic. It's not automatically cultural appropriation, especially if the topic is treated with respect and with due consideration to the cultural and historical context.

But this is a foregone opportunity to bring in more culturally diverse instructors to share what runs in their blood. Creativebug is missing out on the breadth of art within the world, and the depth of art as lived by native practitioners.

What other issues are there?

Creativebug's instructors are overwhelmingly female.

Ironically, the one category that has gender parity is cooking, the industry where men can be professional chefs and women are stuck as home cooks.

There are no instructors that identify as transgender or non-binary that I could identify. That doesn't mean that there are none - but the representation isn't clearly there.

There are also no instructors that have a visible disability. That doesn't mean that there aren't instructors with invisible disabilities, but again, the representation isn't there.

So what more can Creativebug do?

Commit to the numbers

Creativebug says that they aim to have Black artists represent a minimum of 15% of instructors on the site by 2023.

If they only film 20 new instructors per year, they will have a total of 198 instructors by 2023 and they will need to have at least 30 Black instructors. This means they will need to film 9 Black instructors per year to reach that goal.

This goal is not solely about the numbers. It's about celebrating the skill and talent that is inherent within the Black community so that Creativebug viewers understand that white women are not the sole owners of creativity. It's about demonstrating the possibilities of a career in art to young Black artists. It's about removing the rose tinted lens through which the wider art community views talent and value.

This means that it is not enough to have the 30 Black instructors present. These instructors must be provided with the opportunity to share their skills through multiple comprehensive tutorials, to share their identity and creativity through a personal video that explores their passions, and to promote their work through social media highlights.

Creativebug needs to be transparent about communicating the numbers and their annual progress. This will prevent annoying pests like me from writing blog posts about their diversity levels. It shouldn't be too hard - I've already made a start for them in my spreadsheet!

Pay emerging artists

During my data trawl, I noticed that a lot of instructors had already published books or presented workshops on their craft. While these accomplishments are a signal of expertise and skill in communication, they are also a sign of privilege. It takes a lot of money, time, head space and external support to be able to build a career in art. These are privileges that people of marginalised backgrounds do not have.

If Creativebug continues to prioritise established artists with a large body of instructional work, it will be difficult to expand the diversity of instructors within the platform. Creativebug needs to support emerging artists by valuing and trusting their skill and passion enough to hire them as instructors and film them.

This is more than just mentorship, which is a short term program for obtaining advice and networks. It's also financial and promotional support. This would give emerging artists a platform to kickstart their career, and also ensure that they have the funds to experience the same opportunities that other established artists have enjoyed.

I shouldn't need to say this, but just in case, emerging artists should be paid at the same rate as every other instructor on the site.

If this is confusing, here is an analogy. Traditionally, librarians are expected to have a Masters in Library Science. This means that librarians are also mostly white and from an upper middle class background - a background that has enabled them to afford a Masters Degree. It also means that the demographics of librarians do not represent the community they serve, and that librarians are limited in their knowledge of how to support the most needy in their community. So now libraries are starting to hire people that do not have a Masters Degree, but may have other life experiences that would make them a wonderful librarian. The library industry has not collapsed as a result of this.

Decolonise the craft world

Creativebug needs to examine the assumptions underlying its definition of "creativity". Is creativity only what comes out of white culture, and maybe also the bits and pieces of Japanese culture that are palatable? Is Native American craft also skill and creativity, or is it merely savagery?

Creativebug needs to acknowledge the importance of Native American art and use its platform to elevate Native American voices. By showcasing Native American crafts and skills, from basketweaving to beadwork and everything in between, Creativebug can expand the nation's understanding of the land it is built upon.

On the numbers side of things, Creativebug needs to film at least one new Native American artist every year, and ten Hispanic artists per year to reach parity with wider US population demographics. This also means that Creativebug will not have any time to film white artists over the next three years. That's fine - they've jumped the queue enough and can wait their turn.

Avoid cultural appropriation

Continuing on the theme of examining the definition of creativity is the idea of exploring art from around the world. From paper making at its source in ancient China to ebru, the Middle-Eastern art of water marbling, there is so much more to learn.

Creativebug can show its appreciation for the origins of these artistic methods by employing culturally appropriate instructors to teach these courses. This wouldn't just expand the diversity of Creativebug's instructors - it would also give Creativebug viewers an opportunity to learn from true experts who can provide nuanced guidance on specific skills.

Do the legwork of reaching out

It's not enough to expect BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) artists to put in the work to fill in a proposal to teach a class. It was Creativebug's actions (or lack of action) that led to the lack of diversity - it should be Creativebug's direct responsibility to act to resolve it. Creativebug needs to be the one to reach out to the artists and offer them the opportunity to contribute.

Many commenters on Creativebug's Instagram post about diversity have made fantastic suggestions of Black and Native American artists to feature.

Here are some of my suggestions:

• Ben Blount is a Black artist based in Illinois who creates letterpress prints dealing with topics like race, inequity and identity.

• Atsushi Futatsuya lives and breathes sashiko stitching, and runs sashiko workshops in the USA.

• Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez is the foremost spokesperson for Peruvian spinning and weaving.

• Wendy Red Star is an Apsáalooke (Crow) visual artist who takes self portrait photographs that examine white America's tendency to misrepresent Native American history.

• Annika Victoria is a Youtuber with a disability who provides sewing resources for beginner sewists and fashionistas of all types.

• I recently discovered Tariro from the Beautarie Youtube channel. She has AMAZING sewing guides. South Africa might be a bit far from the US, but there are plenty of non-US based instructors on Creativebug already so distance shouldn't be a factor.

That is all for now. Continue being your wonderful self. Go forth and diversify.