Category: “Source”

Advo­ca­cy to DCMS

This sub­mis­sion was made in June 2020 to the DCMS Com­mit­tee con­sid­er­ing the impact of Covid-19 on any sec­tors under the Depart­ment for Dig­i­tal, Cul­ture, Media and Sport’s remit. It con­tex­tu­alis­es artists’ liveli­hood frame­works and sec­toral artis­tic and eco­nom­ic oppor­tu­ni­ty, high­light­ing key chal­lenges and bar­ri­ers faced by this par­tic­u­lar sub-sec­tion of the cre­ative indus­tries. It evi­dences the dis­tinc­tive lim­i­ta­tions of short-term emer­gency mea­sures from Gov­ern­ment and the Arts Coun­cil to alle­vi­ate imme­di­ate Covid19 cir­cum­stances. Although arts pol­i­cy mar­gin­alised sup­port for artists’ liveli­hoods after the 2008 reces­sion, the exam­ples of artists’ indi­vid­u­alised resilience strate­gies illus­trate the scope and val­ue of sup­port­ive inter­ven­tions by pol­i­cy rel­e­vant to fore­cast­ing new strate­gies for ame­lio­rat­ing the medi­um and longer-term effects of the pan­dem­ic on this vital, dis­tinc­tive cre­ative indus­tries sub-sec­tion. The ratio­nale for struc­tur­al changes in imple­men­ta­tion of arts pol­i­cy and fund­ing is to remove known bar­ri­ers and bet­ter in future cap­ture and ampli­fy the assets that artists cre­ate for their own resilience and bring to social well-being over a life-cycle. 

Read “Support for artists' livelihoods in a Covid-19 world” in full

50 Per­cent Rule

Although 77% of visu­al artists are reg­is­tered as self-employed (CCS, 2012), this bald sta­tis­tic belies the nuance of how liveli­hoods are made up. This short text in the Covid19 port­fo­lio con­tex­tu­alis­es artists’ income sources and con­cludes with a call for arts fun­ders, arts organ­i­sa­tions and the High­er Edu­ca­tion sec­tor to advo­cate strong­ly to ensure visu­al artists receive the sup­port they deserve dur­ing the Covid19 emer­gency and in future. 

Read “An exceptional case: visual artists and self-employment” in full

Susan Jones

Although nego­ti­at­ed rela­tion­ships forms one of the three core con­di­tions enabling artists’ pur­suit of liveli­hoods over a life-cycle, the over-com­pet­i­tive and dis­parate nature of con­tem­po­rary visu­al arts acts as dis­in­cen­tive to achiev­ing them. This sem­i­nar on offer to artists aims to pro­vide ratio­nale and tac­ti­cal tips for achiev­ing a ​‘win-win’ situation.

Read “Negotiating better - seminar for artists” in full

2016 Cov­er Full

This Research paper com­mis­sioned by a‑n The Artists Infor­ma­tion Com­pa­ny is part of a series which first began in 2007 as a means of pro­vid­ing on-going evi­dence and insight on the con­text for, and nature of, employ­ment for visu­al artists. By ref­er­enc­ing data from pri­or years, Artists work in 2016 iden­ti­fies the impli­ca­tions of changes in the con­di­tions for artists’ employ­ment and liveli­hoods and pro­pos­es some areas for con­sid­er­a­tion by those charged with for­mu­lat­ing pol­i­cy and mea­sur­ing the eco­nom­ic and social impact of the arts.

Read “Artists work in 2016” in full

Key stud­ies and quan­ti­ta­tive sur­veys evi­denc­ing artists’ income and employment

Read “Artists’ economic status: evidence 1985-2017” in full

Being asked a while back to pro­vide some advice to artists on pay and pric­ing mat­ters for a new web­site was the gen­er­a­tor of this short text. It begins with sum­maris­ing some of the issues and ends with a few sug­ges­tions for what artists might do to improve their chances of mak­ing a liv­ing while steadi­ly mov­ing their art prac­tice forward.

Read “Let’s talk about pricing” in full

An artist — Evan­ge­line Neo (Eva­comics)

Fol­low man­ga artist Evan­ge­line Neo (@evacomics) on Twit­ter and Instagram.

This resource that includes com­men­tary, evi­dence and advice is intend­ed for indi­vid­ual artists, arts organ­is­ers, com­mis­sion­ers, train­ers and pol­i­cy­mak­ers intend­ed to achieve equi­table and inclu­sive con­di­tions in which indi­vid­u­als can flour­ish. It’s a basis for explor­ing fric­tions and mis­as­sump­tions about artists and pay and under­stand­ing why indi­vid­ual nego­ti­a­tion is a vital to ensur­ing pro­duc­tive exchanges and collaborations.

Read “Artists and pay - 20+ inspiration and information sources” in full