By Robert Atler and Adrianne Harte
In this article, IPEN members Robert Atler (Visitor Services Manager) and Adrianne Harte (Visitor Services Officer) at the Scottish Parliament explain how Crafternoons – a roster of different craft activities linked to the work of the Scottish Parliament that runs every Saturday – developed out of a desire to connect with local communities and help make the Scottish Parliament an everyday part of life for those in Scotland.
Introduction
The Visitor Services team at the Scottish Parliament delivers a wide range of functions throughout the year—from guided tours and educational talks to managing public access to parliamentary business.
In recent years, we’ve been exploring new ways to connect with our local communities and develop services that make the Parliament a more welcoming and inclusive space for our closest neighbours. Among these initiatives, our craft activities have become a cornerstone of community engagement, offering creative and meaningful ways for visitors to interact with the Parliament.
Can we do something like this?
This one question started a chain reaction that we could never have anticipated. Well one of us did anticipate it, and that is where this all begins.
During the February recess in 2024 the Visitor Services team at the Scottish Parliament visited The Burrell Collection in Glasgow. A wonderful experience to say the least, but one part of the experience stood out. In the main hall a table had been set up with crafts, swarmed with enthusiastic children, and even more enthusiastic members of Visitor Services.
I caught up with my colleague Adrianne, busily working away on a valentine’s card and asked, “Can we do something like this?”. Her response was a wry smile and an emphatic “yes”.
After the fact this interaction slipped my mind, little did I realise the chain reaction that had started.
The next time that Adrianne and I spoke on the matter, she had produced an extensive series of resources with over fifty parliamentary themed craft concepts that brought the idea of craft and parliament together.
Adrianne had spoken to visitors and connected with visitor attractions across Edinburgh who were already delivering similar programmes to ensure these activities would meet the accepted best-practice standards. Every question I raised was met with a carefully thought-out response, every challenge countered, until at the end I was left with one notion. We could do this. We had a plan, but we needed a chance to trial it.
Craftivity
The Debating Chamber is the heart of the visitor experience and visitors come from all over the world to get the chance to experience this unique and outstanding architectural wonder.
Learning that your star attraction is going to be closed for seven days is never the highlight of anyone’s calendar, but on this occasion, it was an opportunity. We took this chance, and trialled a week of “Craftivity”, a mix of crafts and craft-adjacent activities. We surveyed every attendee and the feedback was unanimous; this was a wonderful experience.
Based on this feedback, we refined our offer and in December, we went live with a weekly craft offering aimed at families and young people, or “Crafternoon”. The feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive and we went from thinking ‘is this something we could do’, to ‘how can we take this further’.
We continued to invest and survey. By March 2025 we had added additional resources and new activities, and pushed ourselves further than we had previously with any other engagement activity. So when I was asked about investing in a laser cutter to create further resources – including a smaller model parliament – what would have been historically a “no”, became the more pleasantly curious, “Maybe”.
Every craft we have delivered has been based on the work that occurs in the parliament, the history and culture of Scotland, and explicit requests from visitors. Indeed, we have included new activities, such as our Duplo blocks, as a direct response to this feedback. Our offer, which was initially limited to Saturdays, has now expanded to include parliament recess periods and school holidays.
We ended up welcoming over five hundred people to Crafternoons during the Easter break of 2025 – a mix of families with young children and travellers looking for free experiences – and most importantly, we were seeing return visits from people in our community. I’m reminded of a letter that was sent to the last governor of Queensberry House when it was a care home (now part of the parliament complex) that talked about how it had served the community and one line has always stayed with me, “they all vote, that’s a lovely place they’ve found”.
Our commitment to creating a resource for people to come in, and enjoy parliament, to understand that this is a place where they are welcome and wanted is all part of us aiming to meet this important legacy and hoping that they all leave thinking “that’s a lovely place they’ve found”.
A bumpy road
This is not to say that there have been no challenges.
The launch of Crafternoons initially drew thirty-seven people, mostly families who had wandered into the building and happened to see there was something going on, total across four sessions in its first month. This modest success felt like a failure in the face of our ambition. There was doubt within our team that it would be a sustainable offer long-term.
The target demographics for Crafternoons had no idea it existed. The solution was an inter-departmental effort with our Parliament Communications team. Through a mix of sustained social media advertising, listings in local ‘what’s on’ websites and utilising trusted sources of information for the Edinburgh area for parents, it really resonated with local families and younger people looking for something relaxed to do on a weekend, and our numbers steadily started to grow.
Along with a growing network of word-of-mouth recommendations we now average forty visitors a session, mostly local families, and some curious tourists.
As much as this project began with an idea in one person’s head, its success is due to a willingness to collaborate not only within our team, but with others in the organisation and the community we are trying to serve.
By keeping community and collaboration at the heart of this project, we have found an eager and enthusiastic audience who have discovered that they are not only allowed to be in the parliament but explicitly wanted there.
This project helps normalise the Scottish Parliament as part of daily life in Scotland. We are very excited to see how this project will continue.
About the author and Visitor Services at the Scottish Parliament
Robert Atler is the Manager of Visitor Services at the Scottish Parliament and co-founder of the Parliament’s craft activities initiative, alongside Adrianne Harte, the creative lead and fellow member of the Visitor Services team.
With extensive experience in the wider tourism sector, both Robert and Adrianne bring a wealth of knowledge and creativity to their roles. Together, they have developed innovative and engaging ways to connect visitors with the work and spirit of the Scottish Parliament.
Find out more about Crafternoons at the Scottish Parliament.
Images
Photos © Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB).
Crafternoons poster and image courtesy of the Scottish Parliament.
Article published: 27 June 2025