DACS provides a briefing for a House of Lords debate on freelancers in the creative industries
DACS, in collaboration with a-n and CVAN, provided a briefing to attendees ahead of a House of Lords debate asking the UK Government what support they intend to give to freelancers and self-employed workers in the arts and creative industries, and what assessment they have made of the case for a Commissioner for freelancers.
70% of workers in the visual arts are freelancers, including artists, producers, curators, writers and technicians. Artists and visual arts workers are poorly served by policy infrastructure, leading to:
- widespread low pay: the total median income of visual artists is £12,500 with only £2,000 coming from art practice
- a lack of access to funding and financial support for individuals: the majority of artists rely on Arts Council England Funding; the application success rate is just 7%
- a precarity of labour when opportunities do arise
Introducing the debate, the Earl of Clancarty said:
The debate addressed the systemic issues of low pay and precarity of labour for artists and freelancers within the visual arts, with Lord Cashman pointing to the recent report by Industria of artists earning an average of £2.60/hour when working with publicly funded organisations. Referring to the Smart Fund proposal supported by The Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), the British Equity Collecting Society (BECS), DACS, Directors UK and PICSEL, Lord Cashman remarked:
Self-employed creatives contribute culturally important work which cements the UK’s reputation as a cultural powerhouse internationally. The UK’s creative economy relies on its freelance workforce, and there is an urgent need to move towards parity for freelance workers in the sector.
Read more
- How DACS advocates for your rights
- Why DACS is calling for a Freelancer Commissioner