Warrior Group Arms and Armour Conservation and Craft Skills Prize

The Warrior Group of Livery Companies have committed £40,000 to support endangered conservation and craft skills and knowledge, funding five biennial prizes of up to £8,000 on an equal basis.

The prize is to recognise and reward exceptional practical and meaningful contributions to the field of Warrior conservation and craft skills, and to encourage the development of exceptional individuals and endangered skills reflecting those embodied in the traditional crafts of the companies.

I warmly endorse the London Warrior Livery Companies Arms and Armour Conservation and Craft Skills Prize. This initiative responds directly to an urgent need within a highly specialised and vulnerable field: to sustain the practical knowledge, technical understanding and craft expertise required to care for, interpret and preserve arms and armour heritage. By supporting exceptional individuals and encouraging collaboration between conservators, makers, researchers and allied disciplines, the prize has the potential to strengthen professional capacity and ensure that these endangered skills are passed on with confidence to future generations. It is a timely and very important contribution to the preservation of our shared cultural heritage.

Laura Bell

Director of Collections, Research and Learning, Royal Armouries & Chair, ICOM (International Committee for Museums and Collections) Arms and Military

BACKGROUND

Almost 800 years of arms and armour heritage

The Warrior Group have a common heritage and are closely linked to the City of London and its iconic fortress, the Tower of London. With origins and traditions reaching back many centuries, the companies span almost 800 years of arms and armour heritage. Working in concert, they have identified a unique opportunity to contribute to the preservation of this heritage by both practical support and advocacy. They have recognised the need to sustain and improve practical arms and armour conservation in conjunction with warrior craft skills, to deepen and protect the preservation and understanding of heritage arms and armour.

The conservation and craft communities are very small, and fragile. Arms and armour conservators are frequently competing for recognition, subject understanding, and resources in settings dominated by fine arts, heritage and museum professionals. Craft practitioners are in small modern markets, and it can be difficult to make a living using traditional materials and skills. The skills and knowledge to preserve and understand arms and armour are at risk, as are the objects, the cultural and technological knowledge and meaning they represent.

Arms and armour have been forefront of reshaping the geopolitical, religious and cultural map of the globe for millennia and continue to shape it still. Arms and armour and their development have had far-reaching impacts on science, technology and manufacture and they are often items of superlative craftmanship or works of art. The existence of and consequences of the use of arms and armour is inseparable from the story of humankind and cannot be ignored.

THE VISION FOR THE PRIZE

Advancing knowledge through exchange and rotation

The underlying vision for the prize is that it will advance technical knowledge, conservation and craft skills for arms and armour heritage objects by encouraging research and learning and permit knowledge exchange on a ‘rotation’ modelled on medical training. It also has the aim of developing mutual understanding between the conservation and craft communities and closely related disciplines including the hard sciences and to increase the recognition of the value of conservation and craft knowledge and skills as part in the preservation of this important component of cultural heritage.

The prize will be targeted towards those at mid-career and students showing exceptional promise. The approach to the prize will be flexible given that it is related to the career development of individuals.

Successful applicants are expected, armed with £8,000 and within an agreed timeframe, to complete a project/piece of work that will advance defined aspects of Warrior heritage conservation and craft skill/s, with the potential to increase the sustainability of these skills and build the capacity of the profession/s through their application by others.

Image supplied by and copyright Simon Metcalf

THE APPLICATION PROCESS

Who can apply, and how applications are judged

We will encourage applications from individuals passionate about the preservation of conservation and craft knowledge of historical arms and armour. The prize aims to make a significant difference to such individuals by empowering them to make a step change in their capabilities, for example by a ‘rotation’ to an internationally recognised centre of excellence, to create bridges and synergy between conservation and traditional craft practitioners or by initiating collaborations with complementary fields such as the sciences.

Applicants for the prize will be expected to complete a four-page proposal. These will be screened by a Selection Committee made up of Warrior Company nominees and other stakeholders with Dr Charles Spicer, Past Prime Warden Fishmonger, as a neutral chair. Applicants passing the screen will be invited to an online interview. It is anticipated that awardees will have an identified mentor. If a candidate is in employment, it is essential that any proposal is submitted with their employer's permission.

THE WARRIOR GROUP OF LIVERY COMPANIES

Cutlers · Armourers and Brasiers and the Gauntlet Trust · Bowyers · Fletchers · Blacksmiths · Gunmakers and the Gunmakers Trust

STAY INFORMED

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