Culture Fair Work Taskforce minutes: September 2024

Attendees and apologies

Co-Chairs

• Briana Pegado, Independent Creative Practitioner
• Kaukab Stewart MSP, Minister for Equalities (11:00 am– 12:00 pm)

Members

• Alastair Evans, Creative Scotland
• Ayo Schwartz, National Theatre of Scotland
• BD Owens, Scottish Artists’ Union
• Rosie Aspinall Priest, Independent – advocate for rights of freelancers / workers in creative sector
• Marlene Curran, Equity
• Marie Christie, VisitScotland
• Lucy Casot, Museums & Galleries Scotland
• Mairi Taylor, Birds of Paradise
• Ola Wojkiewicz, Creative Edinburgh
• Paul McManus, BECTU – Prospect
• Stephanie Colgan, Glasgow Life
• Iain Hamilton, Highlands and Islands Enterprise
• Caroline Sewell, Musician’s Union
• Robert Kilpatrick, Scottish Music Industry Association
• Lindsey Ross, Historic Environment Scotland

Observers

• Shona Riach, Director for External Affairs and Culture, Scottish Government (10:00 - 11:00)
• Scottish Government officials

Presenters

• Amy McGirr, Glasgow Life

Apologies

• Lori Anderson, Culture Counts;
• Jane Muirhead, PACT Council and Raise the Roof Productions
• Sam Gonçalves, Society of Authors
   

Items and actions

Introduction

The Chair welcomed attendees to the meeting and reiterated the aim of the taskforce to provide recommendations to the Scottish Government to support and embed Fair Work practices across Scotland’s creative and cultural industries.

The Chair summarised today’s agenda and asked members to approve the minutes and actions of the previous meeting which were approved. 

Reflections from members on Creative Scotland funding

The Chair noted the recent announcements regarding culture funding and invited reflections from members.

While the recent announcement of the confirmation of £6.6m in funding to Creative Scotland and the subsequent re-opening of the Open Fund for Individuals was welcomed by members, robust concerns were raised regarding Scottish Ministers’ commitment to provide adequate funding for the culture sector despite previous promises of support. 

Shona Riach sought to re-assure members that Scottish Ministers remain committed to supporting the Scotland’s culture sector despite the extreme budget pressures. The First Minister has restated the commitment to £100m in funding for the Scotland’s culture sector by 2027/28 financial year.

Members discussed the need to reframe funding for the culture sector as investment. The creative and cultural industries play an active role in stimulating the wider Scottish economy. Cultural events generate income for other sectors including transport, retail and hospitality in Scotland. This, in turn, generates greater taxable revenue for the Scottish Government. 

Discussion on Opportunity in breakout rooms

Members provided feedback from breakout room discussions on the Fair Work dimension of Opportunity: 

What is working?

• Fair Work First Conditionality in grant funding is a positive development as this creates accountability especially for freelancers working for those organisations. 
• There has also been a cultural shift in recruitment on access policies which is welcome. 
• Training opportunities are improving, for freelancers and other workers. 
• Good resources already exist and more are being developed, including the Musicians Union’s Access Riders, codes of conduct, and important diversity programmes. 
• There is progress in the sector working towards ending zero hours contracts.
• The following organisations were highlighted for their good work on improving opportunity: Neuk Collective - advocates for neurodivergent artists in Scotland; Inklusion Guide; Wellbeing in the Arts CIC 

What is not working?

• Funding is an issue. 
•  Scottish Government opportunities should be tailored to suit different sectors, as a one-size-fits-all approach does not work. For instance, some sub-sectors have a commercial focus while other are community led. 
• Progression remains complex in a small sector. 
• Volunteering opportunities exist but Creative Scotland do not have the capacity to monitor these. 

What needs to change?

• Members noted we need a clear idea of where the sector needs to get to. For example, the National Event Strategy has clear actions informed by industry consultation to attract and retain their talent pool. 
• Members identified a need to re-establish stability in the sector. 
• A new pot of funding could be established to help freelancers and small businesses learn about Fair Work.
• Large national companies which receive substantial Scottish Government funds should be leaders and exemplars of good practice on Fair Work, so that smaller organisations can learn from them on how to implement Fair Work effectively.
• A resource hub could be helpful if put on websites of various organisations in the sector. It could go beyond opportunities and cover what is being done to level the playing field across the sector. Existing examples of resource hubs are hosted by Creative Scotland and Museums Galleries Scotland .
• The Real Living Wage is a baseline but organisations should be going beyond where possible.
• The Joseph Rowntree Foundation highlights best practice which needs attention. 
• Dedicated funding for deaf artists was suggested, as running events incurs extra costs (for example, palantypists or British Sign Lanaguage Interpreters may be required).

Presentation from Glasgow Life 

Glasgow Life gave a presentation on the development and function of their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Steering Group. 

The Steering Group (group) oversees progress on EDI and includes members specialised in EDI and those less experienced in this topic. The group also uses a professional legal adviser to provide guidance on complex EDI legal matters and has established principles which include staying engaged, holding to your truth, accepting non-closure, and being brave.

The group uses the STL sandbox tool to make use of the Orient, Grapple and Act method. It is a non-linear approach and allow for continuous improvement to address issues around EDI. 

The accompanying EDI Strategy focuses on 4 key themes:

1. Compliance and structures
2. Organisation structure and belonging
3. Meaningfully engaging with communities
4. Workforce development

Closing remarks

The Minister gave thanks for the opportunity to co-chair the taskforce, welcoming today’s discussion, and looks forward to seeing the taskforce’s recommendations for a Fair Work agreement for the culture sector by 2025. She highlighted that no one should suffer discrimination or a lack of opportunities at work and welcomed the sharing of good practice in the sector.

The Chair thanked the Minister for attending and suggested the taskforce seek to look in greater detail at what form a Fair Work agreement might practically take for the sector. The Chair noted that the next meeting will focus on the Security dimension of Fair Work and is planned for the end of October 2024.