CEO of the Craft & Design Institute (CDI)

Erica Elk is the founding CEO of the Craft & Design Institute (CDI), established in 2001. In the 23 years since then she has been the strategist, programme designer and innovator of CDI’s interventions, which have catalysed the growth of the craft and design sector. The CDI stands out as having stimulated the development of a sustainable creative sector comprising thousands of SMMEs in South Africa. She has also driven the CDI’s digital strategy facilitating market access and online learning for its 6 800+ members. A visual artist by training, Erica is passionate about the transformative power of the arts and the role it can play in stimulating inclusive economic development. She has served on many boards including the National Arts Council and was a long-standing curator for the Design Indaba Expo. She maintains her own artistic practice and has participated in a number of group shows including, in 2022, a group exhibition on the subject of Water in the Context of Climate Change: The Ripple Effect: Dialogues with Water.