- 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.
- 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.