Supporting artists

Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) distributed more than £2.6m in Artist's Resale Right (ARR) royalties from July to September this year.

The figure brings DACS’ total royalties paid to artists and estates so far this year to almost £7.5m.

Median ARR payment in the third quarter was £280, with more than 60% of royalties under £500.

Of the 862 artists and artists’ estates receiving royalties during the third quarter of the year, 53 artists were paid ARR for the first time.

Since the right to ARR became law in 2006, DACS has now paid out almost £123m to 6,079 artists and estates.

DACS Chief Executive Christian Zimmermann commented “ARR is more than just a royalty payment”.

“For many artists and estates, it is an enduring connection between artists and the evolving ownership of their works; simultaneously creating a robust and transparent provenance trail, adding depth to the stories behind each work.”

Fenland District Council has launched a grant scheme to support arts, culture and heritage activities across the region.

The programme offers up to £2,000 funding to local creatives and community arts organisations.

Successful projects must demonstrate that they benefit communities or artists in the district and meet one of the four criteria of the Fenland Creativity and Culture Strategy - “building new relationships, reaching more people, improving the quality of your work and supporting artistic ambition”.

The scheme is backed by the government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Arts Council England.

Hazel Edwards, South-East Area Director, Arts Council England, said: "We're thrilled to see the Fenland Culture Fund gearing up to welcome its first applications and to have supported the small grants programme with £25,000 of our own Strategic Investment Funding.

"Fenland is one of Arts Council England's 54 Priority Places from across the country, where we are working extremely hard with local authorities and partnerships to increase access to creativity and culture.”

A series of artist development initiatives focused on practice rather than performance-based outcomes have been launched by Sadler’s Wells.

The initiatives include artist-led programmes, a mentoring scheme and programmes for South Asian dance practitioners and disabled artists.

The mentoring programme will see 10 early-career choreographers or dance artists paired with an established choreographer from the Sadler’s Wells network to explore a specific creative question, provocation or idea.

The South Asian Dance Development Programme is a two-year programme for emerging choreographers whose practice is based in a South Asian dance style. It will be delivered in partnership with Akademi and take place through a range of creative exchanges, skills sharing, peer-led learning and mentoring support.

The Disabled Artist Programme is a rolling programme focused on practice development opportunities for disabled artists. Participants will be invited to join a practice-based session each month, collaborating with artists who have worked on Sadler’s Wells’ stages. 

And Sadler’s Wells Time and Space Commissions will offer three more established choreographers £7,000, studio space and producing support, with “no pressure to deliver a production at the end of the process”. 

Sadler’s Wells Associate Artistic Director Rob Jones, who devised the initiatives, said: “We want these programmes to be spaces where we can have a consistent dialogue with developing choreographers and dance artists.

“The majority of our programmes are open call outs, and some are targeted in recognition of underserved areas of the dance ecology. These initial strands are focused on holding space for development without the pressure of production-based outcomes.

“We’re really excited to have a different kind of conversation with the dance ecology and this first step will build a strong a foundation for the work Sadler’s Wells is doing to support the future of choreographers and dance artists.” 

A new fund has been launched to support artists working in the independent music sector.

As part of Music Gateway's Ignite fund, eligible artists will be offered advances of up to £50,000 to help them cover recording costs and promote new releases in a variety of ways, including merchandise production, playlist promotion, radio and press campaigns, digital marketing strategies and sync optimisation and representation.

The fund is designed for artists and rights-holders who have an existing portfolio of released songs and a proven track record of income across a period of more than six months. 

Artists participating in the Ignite programme will work with the in-house team at Music Gateway on release strategies, royalty registrations and representation for sync licensing. 

They are not obligated to use the company’s promotional services during the Ignite term – which lasts a minimum of 12 months – but digital distribution and publishing admin has to go through Music Gateway.

The company will be responsible for registering and distributing music, running campaigns and pitching for sync. It will recoup the advance through royalty earnings. Artists will retain 100% of their rights.

“Our team have been fortunate enough to develop and support some incredible talent over the years,” said Sophie Small, CEO of Music Gateway. 

“This fund is designed for us to continue to do this in a way that increases the level of support we can provide outside of services for specific representation or campaigns and bring it all together in a way that still keeps the artists in control of their ownership, which is at the heart of what we do.”