The Future of Freelance...
Freelance work is often pressured, precarious and undervalued. It is also often undertaken by people who experience racialisation, ableism, lower socio-economic status, insecure legal status, and who have caring responsibilities.
While for some freelancing is a conscious choice that works well, for many it comes with experiences of isolation, a lack of emotional support and legal protection, burn out and ultimately leads to the decision to leave the sector.
When we speak about the precarity of freelance work, we are speaking about the inequities inherent in how the arts and culture operates as a sector, and who gets to sustain a fulfilling and creative practice and career over a lifetime.
These inequities, exacerbated by Covid, have been sharply highlighted by freelancer-led activism, but they cannot be resolved – or be expected to be resolved - by freelancers alone. Nor can they be solved by employers alone, funders alone, policy makers or unions alone. The working conditions of the arts and culture are systemic, and require a systemic response, involving us all…
A call for change
Working as a coalition of freelance-led networks, Freelancers Make Theatre Work, Inc Arts, Migrants In Culture, MAX Musician and Artist Exchange, people make it work, Something To Aim For, What Next?, have been building FREELANCE : FUTURES - A summer programme of learning and action for equitable conditions in culture. It is a free 9-week programme of online events and resources running from Monday 16 May until Friday 15 July for independent practitioners, cultural organisations, unions, funders and policymakers.
As a coalition we have said:
“We are coming together from different perspectives and across artforms and communities to create a sector-wide space to learn, resource and build more equitable conditions for freelancing. As working in isolation will not bring the scale of change we seek, this programme is a call for us all to work better together to change the conditions in which we work, create and support arts and culture.”
FREELANCE : FUTURES builds on existing advocacy, research and campaigning across culture, to focus on four themes: organising for equitable freelancing conditions; understanding freelancer rights and resources; transforming organisations to create equitable freelancer conditions; and policy making to support equitable freelancer conditions.