Yesterday, Margaret Hodge’s long-awaited review of Arts Council England was published. You can read it here.
Freelancers Make Theatre Work welcome this thorough and impactful report, which accurately identifies many of the critical issues facing arts freelancers across the UK. While its recommendations for individual funding are a constructive first step, supporting 500 individual artists would barely scratch the surface of the widespread crisis affecting hundreds of thousands of freelancers across the entire range of creative disciplines. The Employment Rights Bill is about to become law - meanwhile, freelancers still wait for any sign of equivalent reforms for the self-employed. We urge the government to go further and faster in providing legislation, support mechanisms and additional funding to back the arts freelancers on whom Britain’s global creative success story depends.
