Andrew Whyment, Chinonyerem Odimba and Vicki Mortimer met with two of the ‘relationship management’ team at ACE. We hoped to get an insight into what the Arts Council have been doing and the work that is currently in progress with regards to connecting with freelancers.
Contact between freelancers and ACE has been through their usual channels (existing relationships with companies and organisations). Given the importance of freelancer contribution to the projects and buildings funded by ACE, we explained that it was essential new efforts are made to integrate freelancers into the ongoing conversations about the industry future.
We also talked about how existing funding structures did not help diversity and representation in the industry.
We were able to ask questions plainly and share where we’re at with our project and thinking.
We agreed to meet again and share resources (including the results of the BIG FREELANCER SURVEY from our side, and a link to the ACE data dashboard from theirs).