The 3rd National Arts and Crafts Education Conference opened in Beijing

On September 27, 2025, the "Third National Arts and Crafts Education Conference" jointly hosted by the Academy of Fine Arts at Tsinghua University and the China Arts and Crafts Society opened in Beijing. Cai Daying, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the China Arts and Crafts Association, and Ma Sai, Dean of the Academy of Fine Arts at Tsinghua University and Director of the Education Committee of the China Arts and Crafts Association, delivered speeches at the opening ceremony.

In her speech, Cai Daying mentioned that the reform and implementation of Chinese arts and crafts education in the new era is entering a "deep water zone", and cultivating talents that are "suitable" for the needs of the new era has become the main responsibility of current arts and crafts colleges. The proposition of moving from "subject education" to "ability education" is in front of us to meet the needs of the times. The theme of this conference is "Innovation Inheritance and Dual Empowerment", aiming to explore innovative models for talent cultivation in Chinese arts and crafts colleges in the digital economy era from an international perspective. The conference focuses on how to enhance the innovation and competitiveness of colleges and universities, and directly faces the pain points and difficulties of the current arts and crafts education and teaching system, in order to make a positive response to our future mission.

Marseille mentioned in his speech that this education conference focuses on the core task of "discovering and cultivating arts and crafts talents with both cultural heritage and innovative abilities", promoting in-depth exchanges between arts and crafts disciplines in universities across the country, jointly exploring the integration path of traditional crafts and modern design, and modern technology, and opening up new horizons and depicting new prospects for arts and crafts education. I sincerely hope to take this conference as an opportunity to gather consensus, inspire wisdom, and explore the future. Let us work together to promote the prosperity and development of arts and crafts education, and contribute to the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture.

Wang Jianliang, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of the China Arts and Crafts Society, introduced the evaluation process, standards, and overall situation of the "4th National College Students' Graduation Season Arts and Crafts Excellent Works Competition", and supervised the evaluation work of the competition throughout the process.

Zhang Jian, Vice Dean of Xiamen Institute of Arts and Crafts at Fuzhou University and Deputy Secretary General of the Theoretical Committee of the China Arts and Crafts Society, announced the list of bronze award-winning works in the "4th National College Students' Graduation Season Arts and Crafts Excellent Works Competition".

Xie Yong, Vice President of Shenyang University and Director of the China Arts and Crafts Association, announced the list of silver medal works in the "4th National College Students' Graduation Season" Arts and Crafts Excellent Works Competition ".

Qin Chuan, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design at Tsinghua University, announced the list of gold medal winning works in the "4th National College Students' Graduation Season 'Arts and Crafts Excellent Works Competition".

Cai Daying, Marseille, Qin Chuan, Dong Zhanjun, President of Shandong Academy of Arts and Crafts and Executive Director of China Arts and Crafts Society, Sudan, Deputy Director of China Arts and Crafts Museum and member of the Academic Committee of China Arts and Crafts Society, Rachel Dickson, Vice President of Glasgow Academy of Fine Arts in the UK, Akito Morino, Minister of Fine Arts at Kyoto University of the Arts in Japan, Zhao Lu, Vice President of Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, and Zhang Yin, Vice President of Hainan Normal University, jointly launched the "Third National Arts and Crafts Education Conference".

Wang Xiaoxin, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts and Secretary General of the Education Working Committee of China Arts and Crafts Society, presided over the opening ceremony.

After the opening ceremony, the "Academic Forum of the President of the Arts and Crafts Academy" will be held. The forum has the academic theme of "Innovation Inheritance and Dual Empowerment" and is hosted by Marseille. Rachel Dickson， Akito Morino, Sudan, Professor of Humanities at Tsinghua University and Vice Chairman of the China Arts and Crafts Association, Hang Jian, Zhao Lu, Zhang Yin, focused on creative design, technological innovation, cultural tradition, and skill inheritance around the theme, exploring the path of cultivating innovative talents in arts and crafts in the new era.

Next is the "Academic Dialogue" segment, which follows the theme of the President's Academic Exchange Forum and is divided into two parts. In the first half of the "Academic Dialogue", Xie Yaping, President of Chongqing Vocational College of Culture and Arts and member of the Academic Committee of the China Arts and Crafts Society, Cui Rongrong, Dean of the School of Fashion at Zhejiang University of Technology, Zou Feng, Dean of the School of Art and Design at Beijing University of Technology and Director of the China Arts and Crafts Society, and Chen Rihong, Vice Dean of the School of Handicraft Art at Hubei University of Fine Arts, focused on the theme of "skill inheritance" to "intelligent innovation", focusing on the positive empowerment of craft and art skill inheritance on innovative design, aiming to explore how the cultural value of handicrafts can contribute to the development of industries in the technological era. Sheng Wei, a researcher in the Department of Art History and Theory at the Academy of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University, serves as the academic host.

In the second half of the "Academic Dialogue", Li Jie, member of the Expert Committee of the China Arts and Crafts Association, Tian Haiying, Chairman of Beijing Qingshang Architectural Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd., Rong Zhihong, Deputy General Manager of China Arts and Crafts Group Co., Ltd. and Executive Director of the China Arts and Crafts Association, Chen Lihua, former Vice President of the Palace Museum, and Liu Hongpeng, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Mint Co., Ltd., focused on the theme of "thinking innovation" to "humanistic inheritance", focusing on the reverse empowerment of cultural heritage by innovative thinking in arts and crafts, aiming to explore how innovative thinking can bring new vitality to handicraft education in the digital age. Yue Song, Director of the Department of Arts and Crafts at the Academy of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University, and Executive Secretary General of the Fiber Art and Design Committee of the China Arts and Crafts Society, served as the academic host.

Guests attending the opening ceremony and other activities include Chen Hongjun, Secretary of the Party Committee of Hunan Vocational College of Arts and Crafts and Executive Director of the China Arts and Crafts Society, Qi Zhe, Dean of the School of Arts and Crafts of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and Executive Director of the China Arts and Crafts Society, Wei Jie, Dean of the School of Design of Jiangnan University, Zhang Qi, Dean of the School of Art of Beijing Union University and Executive Director of the China Arts and Crafts Society, Chen Rihong, Vice Dean of the School of Handicraft Art of Hubei Institute of Fine Arts, Tang Tingqiang, Dean of the School of Handicraft Art of Shanghai Vocational College of Arts and Crafts and Executive Director of the China Arts and Crafts Society, as well as more than 200 representatives from universities, industries.

Reprinted and edited from the official account of the Education Work Committee of China Arts and Crafts Society