Ireland has begun a scheme to pay 2,000 creatives weekly payment of €325 over a 3 year pilot project; a scheme I previously highlighted back in July 2019 and June 2021. The selected group includes musicians, actors, writers and dancers; and includes practicing artists and those recently trained. The scheme will cost around €25 million.
Here, two recently published reports show that the situation for UK creative freelancers is not improving. Freelancers Make Theatre Work published Big Freelancer Report 2022, the second in a series of five annual reports looking at the effects of Covid, but also at the underlying pre-pandemic issues of insecurity and low pay. FMTW conducted the survey in the Spring of 2022. The extensive report looked at representation, pay & conditions, cuts to arts education & the continuing devaluation of creative work.
Two key issues stood out for me, concern at widespread career insecurity and the challenges of affording to stay in the industry:-
16% of respondents were considering leaving the industry
a further 35% were still working in the industry but considered this a temporary situation or were unsure if this was permanent.
Second, the issues around mental health, with multiple references to a growing mental health crisis in the industry, as one respondent put it..”I really do think the toll on mental health is a silent epidemic in the industry – so many people are suffering in silence…”
The Job Juggling Report 22 was produced by Creative Freelancers: Shaping London’s Recovery (CF:SLR) and published with Freelancers Make Theatre Work. It looks at the reality and challenges of creatives having to juggle multiple jobs to survive in the industry, a topic I have written about before and know well. Notable findings were:-
98% of respondents have at some point depended on other income outside of their earnings as a creative freelancer, the issues of needing to take low paid zero hour flexible jobs in order to attend auditions/interviews but that those jobs would barely cover living costs;
88% had another source of income outside creative work and many needing financial support from family or a partner.
For non-creative jobs, 78% had experienced unstable work, such as casual or temp jobs.
Furthermore, the report debunks the myth that job juggling is for young or emerging artists, 75% of respondents had been working in the industry for 5 years or more, 68% were 30+, and 50% were 35+.
Both reports are a sobering reading of the current state of the sector and come amid growing reports of a talent drain in theatre.
Two quotes from the Big Freelancer report have stuck in my mind…
“The industry is in a freelance retention crisis… It’s five minutes to midnight…”
“… that we’ll be gone and nobody will care.”
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