Creative Workforce Workshops - Place

Culture Commons worked with freelance, self-employed and atypical workers in the creative and cultural sectors in Truro (Cornwall), Croydon (Greater London) and Rotherham (South Yorkshire) to co-design policies and commission news works of art to support a programme focussed on self-advocacy.

Creative Workforce Workshop series

We have long worked with trade unions, local and combined authorities, universities, sector leaders and key policy makers to develop policy and lead national advocacy campaigns to improve standards for some of the most dynamic and dedicated, yet under-supported, workers in the UK economy.

However, because of the nature of their work, it is often the case that freelancers are absent from these conversations themselves. We therefore developed a concerted programme designed around the needs of freelancers, including paying freelancers for their time contributing to this project.

The series was launched to keep the voices of people working in our sectors elevated and provide material for ongoing advocacy efforts across DCMS sub-sectors.

‘Place’ as a line of inquiry

The connection between the creative and cultural sectors, local democracy and the economy of place is gaining much more attention amongst decision makers.

Central and local government policy increasingly points towards the important relationship between thriving creative and cultural sectors and successful local, place-based regeneration, for example.

This is why we focussed the first ‘Creative Workforce Workshops’ report on ‘Place’. We want to bring policy considerations around place and the workforce together to draw out observations on the lived experiences of creatives living and working in different parts of the country to see what we might discover.

We posed the question:

What is it like to be a freelance, self-employed or atypical worker in the creative and cultural sectors in different parts of the UK today?

Digital report

The digital report - and the new works of art we commissioned from local artists in each of the places we visited - complements the considerable efforts already being made by trade unions, sub-sector networks, trade bodies and individual practitioners. 

Above all, we hope this work provides fresh insights into place-based working and helps keep the lived experiences of freelancers at the centre of the national and local policy discourse.