- This is a grid that logs work I've done with cultural institutions and spaces since 2017 (the year I graduated from my BA) and fees received.
- It does not include grants, commercial work, side jobs or awards.
- Working for free is fine in my opinion if people involved are working voluntarily.
- There are some categorical differences between for example galleries and publicly funded institutions.
- The amount of days used on each project will surely differ from one person to another.
- 1 day = most of a normal working day (8 hours) is used on the project. I calculate a day per event (talks etc.) because they are usually more time and mind consuming on the day itself than their actual duration.
- The 'costs substracted' field doesn't include own travel and transport costs.
- This is not to expose or criticize individual institutions. Why I started logging the fees was because there are such large and often unexplainable gaps between each institution and each gig in terms of time spent and fees and I wanted to look at the numbers to try and understand the differences better.
- There is clearly a stigma around sharing our experiences with payments and personal finances as artists, and I think we normalize being underpaid/unpaid to the point where our collegues who write budgets aren't always fully aware. Perhaps through sharing more openly, it's possible to get a better grasp on how to fascilitate fair(er), more secure working conditions for cultural workers. This will essentially afford more people the possibility to focus their time on their artistic practices. Which is important because art is about storytelling, and we don't only want the stories from those who can afford working for free.
- I would like to see more fascilitators/intermediaries assume that artists need pay as well as covering transport, material costs, travel if required etc. That means being clear about fees and costs from the get-go and fascilitating a dialogue about expectations. I'd like to see more negotiation of budgeting on behalf of artists.
- This grid is inspired by a few different sources, please feel free to adapt it and please share with me if you do.
- I try my best to be precise, however I'm not a book keeper. Should you notice a mistake or something I got wrong I appreciate that you get in touch.
- Ending on a positive note: since I started sharing the fees publically (2020), most invitations I have received included information about fee and budget. This was not the case previously and makes a huge difference.