Sarah Corbett
An award-winning activist, Ashoka Fellow, author and founder of the global Craftivist Collective. Sarah has dedicated over a decade to the Craftivist Collective, honing her unique ‘Gentle Protest’ methodology, combining neuroscience, positive psychology, campaign strategy and beautiful handicrafts.
Born 1983 into an activist family in Everton (inner city Liverpool): fourth most deprived ward in the UK, Sarah was involved in local campaigns from the age of 3 squatting in social housing with her community (they won!) and seeing first hand our community battling against the effects of inequality. At secondary school Sarah created a successful campaign to gain lockers for her peers and implemented recycling bins before they became mandatory. Sarah learnt even more from her failed campaign to eradicate ‘gym knickers’ from her sports uniform. She went on to work for international development agencies including Christian and as Activism Manager at Oxfam GB.
In 2008, burned out from too much confrontation, slactivism and clicktivism, and doubting the effectiveness of many elements of conventional activism, Sarah started looking for alternatives.
Sarah discovered the term ‘craftivism’ in 2008. A word coined in 2003 by Betsy Greer as a “way of looking at life where voicing opinions through creativity makes your voice stronger, your compassion deeper and your quest for justice more infinite.”
There are many ways people interpret and do craftivism. Sarah calls the Craftivist Collective approach ‘Gentle Protest’: she doesn’t mean gentle as in passive or weak, but gentle as in compassionate and nuanced. It is slow, quiet, calm, focused, ego-less, hopeful and humble. A form of Soft Power, appealing to and attracting audiences to social change. Sometimes it’s lovingly challenging ourselves to practice our values, not only proclaiming them for others to embody. Sometimes it is influencing members of the public to change their own behaviours or thoughts. At other times it’s holding decision makers accountable for their actions or inactions by encouraging them to be part of the change our fragile world needs.
With no craftivism projects or groups to join, Sarah was given permission from Greer to create her own craftivism projects. Soon Sarah had developed her own unique ‘Gentle Protest’ approach to craftivism, and had gained a following of friends and strangers around the world who wanted to get involved. And so, in 2009, the Craftivist Collective was born.
Sarah has worked with national and international charities, museums, galleries and unusual allies such as Secret Cinema for their Shawshank Redemption series of epic events. She was included in the Crafts Council 2018 ‘Power List’. She helped create the Girlguiding Craftivism badge (2018), had solo exhibitions in Stockholm (2015), Helsinki Design Week (2016) and part of group shows in Design Museum Denmark (2022-2024) amongst others. She received an Honorary Fellowship from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2022 for her ‘contribution to design activism and public engagement’' and her TEDxTalk ‘Activism Needs Introverts’ was chosen as a TED Talk Of The Day on TED.com.
She will join us at our Summer Camp Craft Weekend in 2025!
