Supporting artists

The Mayor of London’s Culture Team and Creative UK are joining forces in an effort to tackle "systemic inequalities" facing freelancers in creative industries. 

The partnership will hold an event in July where freelancers and organisations working across London’s creative economy will be given the opportunity to test, prioritise and develop ideas for a more sustainable freelance model for creatives.

The guidance and ideas that emerge from the online event will be taken forward and shaped into a robust business case, as part of City Hall's Redesigning Freelancing programme.

Creative UK said the fragility of the freelance model, which the creative industries rely on heavily, was revealed during the pandemic when many parts of the creative industries experienced a sudden, large drop in their volume of work, with freelancers left unsupported.

Evy Cauldwell French, Development & Partnerships Manager for Impact & Change at Creative UK, said: “Creative freelancers working throughout London continue to face an unequal playing field, with many sadly choosing to leave creative occupations due to unsustainable practices. 

"We are pleased to announce our partnership with the Mayor of London’s Culture Team, with whom we are empowering organisations and freelancers working across London’s creative economy to create a more sustainable future for our growing workforce.”

A code of best practice for self-tape and Zoom auditions for commercials is now available.

Launched by Equity, it is the first of its kind for commercials in the UK and follows a best practice guide for scripted dramas released last August.

It includes a recommended two-day minimum turnaround for self-tapes, avoidance of anti-social hours for taping, and safeguarding guidance on requests for artists to audition fully or partially nude. 

The union hopes the guide will lead to improved standards in commercial auditions, which tend to be less regulated than other areas of production, meaning terms and conditions can be less favourable.

It follows notifications from Equity members of short requests for turnarounds on commercial tapings, often coming in late on a Friday and expected to be returned by Saturday lunchtime.

The union says it supports the use of self-tape and video conferencing apps for auditions which, it adds, increased during the pandemic.

“If used well, this can encourage a much wider and more diverse representation of artists to enter the industry, including those who live outside of London.”

Performance arts workers are more likely to experience poor mental health than their peers, according to a global scoping review published by Equity.

Led by Dr Lucie Clements, the review spans 111 academic studies related to mental health and wellbeing in students and professionals within the performing arts.

Two academic papers, one reviewing actors and the other ballet dancers, showed depression to be twice as likely in performers than the general population. A separate study found that 54% of musical theatre students reported a level of depression or anxiety that met the rate for diagnosis of a mental disorder.

A meta-analysis reviewing levels of anxiety in a given week found dancers (24%), opera singers (32%), acting students (52%), actors (60%) and rock musicians (90%) to far surpass the levels observed in the general population (6%).

Across the studies, a culture of unstable work, antisocial working hours, time away from home, and financial fears were cited as the main attributors to increased stress and mental health in performance artists.

In response, Equity has created a Mental Health Charter listing five demands.

The union is calling on producers and engagers to address the harmful impacts of precarious work, adopt relevant safeguards in the workplace and ensure inclusion of historically marginalised groups.

It also demands education providers ensure every young person’s training is conducted with dignity and respect and calls on the government to reform the Mental Health Act.

Equity General Secretary Paul Fleming says the charter puts the responsibility on those that control the creative industry: “They show that our demands for improvements in pay, condition and access to the industry aren’t just about our members’ material wellbeing, but their mental health too.”

A new digital mental health platform for musicians launches today (9 May) to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week.

Music Minds Matter Explore, created by charity Help Musicians, offers mental health help and guidance and signposting to local and national support.

Help Musicians says the resource follows an increase in demand for mental health support from musicians in the wake of the pandemic. Calls to its Music Minds Matter phone service have increased by 34% since the start of the year.

“Sadly, two years of Covid have seriously disrupted careers and we would encourage anyone struggling to get in touch and find the support they need,” Head of Music Minds Matter Joe Hastings said.

Wiradjuri-British artist Jasmine Coe will launch a pop-up gallery in Bristol this summer to celebrate the work of Aboriginal artists. 

Coe Gallery will be Britain’s first indigenous-owned Aboriginal art gallery. It is named for the artist’s father, Paul Coe, an activist involved in campaigns for Aboriginal justice and land rights.

“My art becomes a place where I can learn about the history of my culture and what my family have stood for,” Ms. Coe told the BBC.

She decided to open the gallery in Bristol to highlight the city’s connection to colonialism in Australia.

“Bristol is a city that has its own traumatic colonial history where the historical narrative is now being shifted,” she said. “I believe there is space for the indigenous experience to be heard and to share in how colonialism continues to affect indigenous communities across the world.”

The gallery will hold exhibitions in a pop-up space, with the support of Bridging Histories and the University of Bristol, while Ms. Coe searches for a permanent venue.

Artists scheduled to exhibit include Sandon Gibbs-O’Neill, an Aboriginal artist from Australia.

He told the BBC that it’s important for indigenous artists “to have control over our own narrative”. The new art space will show that Aboriginal communities are “not just surviving, we’re actually thriving,” he said.

A composer development initiative for PRS for Music members is now open.

Inspired by the work of American minimalist composer Philip Glass, the scheme is targeted at emerging composers in the early stage of their career.

Applicants are encouraged to respond to his body of work, and a theme of "refraction" by submitting two contrasting, original electronic compositions.

Four composers will be commissioned by Glass’ publisher, Dunvagen Music Publishers, to write an original composition using Philip Glass source material, to be released as a digital EP by Orange Mountain Music.

Entries must be submitted by May 13.