South Africa’s National Art’s Council (NAC) and the Gauteng Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture have combined to develop the Gauteng Provincial Crafts Fair to coincide with the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. Part of the National Craft Development Initiative, the fair has been billed a landmark activity on Johannesburg’s cultural calendar, and is said to bring lifestyle to crafts production and selling, with more than one hundred of Gauteng’s leading crafters displaying their creativity through pottery, ceramics, beadwork, candles etc. Each of the crafts are made of sustainable or recyclable materials. The project is said to be targeted towards the empowerment of rural women and the Small to Medium Enterprises (SMME) development initiative, with the NAC noting that there is no doubt that the craft industry has a huge potential for job creation and economic development. CEO of the National Arts Council, Doreen Nteta, has commented that collaboration between the Council and the Gauteng Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture is aimed at ensuring a positive future for the crafts sector at a national level. 'This inaugural craft fair launches a national program developed for the benefit of those disadvantaged crafts entrepreneurs who have a market they can not reach due to limited opportunities. We therefore undertake to consistently engage relevant stakeholders to jointly build this sector into a deservedly bigger economic player and job creator,' Nteta said.