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An excep­tion­al case: visu­al artists and self-employment

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. 

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Explod­ing myths: the future of artists’ livelihoods

Pre­sen­ta­tion for CAMP (Con­tem­po­rary Art Mem­ber­ship Ply­mouth) 13 Feb­ru­ary 2020 that address­es some of the myths about artists’ prac­tices and liveli­hoods, the con­di­tions most con­ducive for sup­port­ing the per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al lives of many artists over a life-cycle and pro­vides some rad­i­cal propo­si­tions for achiev­ing them.

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Enforce­ment, equa­nim­i­ty and an after­word – thoughts on sus­tain­ing fair pay for artists

Intro­duc­tion to fees to artists for exhibit­ing in pub­lic with exam­ples indi­cat­ing that sus­tain­ing such schemes is depen­dent on wide­spread and con­tin­ued accep­tance of the prin­ci­ple and rig­or­ous self-reg­u­la­tion with­in the sec­tor, and on gain­ing suit­able lev­els of pub­lic sub­sidy to the visu­al arts. Three financ­ing options are con­sid­ered in sup­port of equa­nim­i­ty. An after­word con­sid­ers whether in a polit­i­cal cli­mate of reduced sub­sidy to the pub­lic sec­tor, some new strate­gies are need­ed to finance the arts and artists’ contributions.

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Artists and pay — 20+ inspi­ra­tion and infor­ma­tion sources

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.

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Rethink­ing artists: the role of artists in the 21st Century

This essay for the 2014 Seoul Art Space, Seoul Foun­da­tion for Arts and Cul­ture Inter­na­tion­al Sym­po­sium briefly cov­ers UK arts poli­cies for sup­port to artists’ devel­op­ment, com­ments on their impact on artists’ social and eco­nom­ic sta­tus and sug­gests a rethink­ing of the artists’ intrin­sic role in soci­ety as a vital part of secur­ing and sus­tain­ing con­tem­po­rary visu­al arts in the future.

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Bite the hand that feeds you

This provo­ca­tion com­mis­sioned by Stoke Air­space for an Artists’ Soup Kitchen address­es and con­firms the impor­tance of the role and val­ue of artists with­in cul­tur­al and social change. The four sec­tions are designed to open up a dis­cus­sion on what now?’ and – more impor­tant­ly – what next?’ for Air­space and artists and future artists locat­ed in Stoke.

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Are there too many artists?

This paper used com­par­a­tive data as a back­drop to a com­men­tary designed to illu­mi­nate a dis­cus­sion on whether there are Too many artists?’, rais­ing a range of issues, ques­tions and (mis)perceptions — in part about the role of artists in life in gen­er­al and impact of state inter­ven­tion and arts pol­i­cy-mak­ing in particular.

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