The Centre for Folk Art Production (ÚĽUV) has a mission to safeguard and develop traditional crafts and home-made production in Slovakia. Both in the past and today, it focuses mainly on looking for, mapping out and protecting crafts that are dying out; it then develops them by means of various activities, connecting the information and skills of the best producers with the knowledge of ethnologists and the vision of designers. The result is an original artist’s work which respects traditional craft processes, patterns and materials.
ÚĽUV mainly concentrates its activities in the following areas:
- Cooperating with producers and expert advice on maintaining traditional production
- Developing interfaces between traditional production and contemporary design
- Monitoring and analysing sites of folk art production in various segments of today’s society
- Documenting the presence of traditional crafts and folk production, looking after museum collections and documentation collections
- Organising craft courses for children and adults
- Organising creative craft workshops and excursions for school groups and teams of employees
- Publishing specialist books and a magazine on traditional production and contemporary design focused on craft
- Library and information services
- Promoting folk art production
- Organising exhibitions, festival and presentations of crafts
- Cooperating on an international level with partner institutions