How we’ve been advocating for artists' rights and royalties this Autumn
It's been a busy few months working with the newly elected Government and the wider visual arts and creative sectors, to actively campaign for the protection of artists’ rights and royalties. Over the past few months, we have been campaigning for our 3 top policy priorities: the Smart Fund, a Freelancer Commissioner, and AI regulation that safeguards artists’ rights and livelihoods.
Below is a snapshot of what we’ve been up to in the Autumn.
4000+ artists and arts professionals sign our letter to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
In September, DACS, CVAN and a-n coordinated a letter to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy MP – in support of our Visual Arts Manifesto. The campaign received national news coverage in the Observer and The Art Newspaper.
The Visual Arts Manifesto is backed by 27 visual arts organisations, and asks the government to consider short-term policy recommendations including:
- the introduction of the Smart Fund, a private copying scheme that could generate around £300 million/year in copyright revenues for creatives and visual artists.
- the appointment of a Freelancer Commissioner to advocate for the working rights of freelancers in the visual arts sector and across the creative industries.
In the longer term, the manifesto calls for the extension of the Museum and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief, a new Creative and Cultural Agreement with the EU, and planning reforms to incentivise the creation of artists’ studios and creatives spaces. In addition to economic support, our manifesto calls for a curriculum that fosters creativity, stressing the importance of investing in creative education.
Bringing artist’s rights to political party conferences
DACS attended meetings and events at both the Labour and Liberal Democrat party conferences in September to highlight the recommendations in the Visual Arts Manifesto.
We took part in the panel ‘Income for Creatives’ with the Association of Photographers, CVAN and Lord Bassam of Brighton, as part of the Creative UK Cultural and Creative Industries Pavilion at the Labour Party Conference.
All-Party Parliamentary Group for Visual Arts and Artists
In October, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Visual Arts and Artists was reconstituted, with a new Chair – Cat Eccles MP – and new officers. The APPG has 26 members in total and was established to champion artists and the visual art sector within government.
DACS, together with a-n and CVAN, provide the group with secretariat support.
Chair:
Cat Eccles MP (Labour)
Officers:
Manuela Perteghella MP (Lib Dem)
The Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench)
Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative)
DACS and 35000+ others sign statement on AI training
DACS is among the signatories of a public statement, affirming our commitment to protecting creators' rights. The statement reads:
“The unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works and must not be permitted.”
DACS signed this statement as we believe it highlights the need to respect creators' rights and ensure they are fairly compensated when their work is used to train AI models. This initiative comes at a crucial moment, as the UK Government wants to consult on copyright law in the context of training AI models.
Collaboration with the Art Business Conference at Art Market 2050
DACS invited artist Adelaide Damoah and journalist Lanre Bakare at The Guardian for a fireside chat at Art Market 2050, a conference exploring how technology is transforming the art world, taking place during Frieze Week.
We also co-convened a panel exploring the latest developments in AI policy, with Lord Holmes of Richmond.
A write up of the two panels from the conference will be available to read soon.
