The Paying Artists campaign calls for artists to be paid to exhibit their work in public galleries. It is about valuing art and artists, maintaining diversity by ensuring that finance is not a barrier to talent and securing equality of opportunity for all artists now and in the future. This, at the moment, represents a significant culture change and added financial burden for galleries already suffering from reduced public funding, but without artists there is no art and if large numbers of practitioners are driven out of the sector because they can’t make a living it will trigger a gradual erosion of the cultural economy and the civic distinctiveness that makes art in the UK so special.
Over the next month Ruth Claxton Associate Director of Eastside Projects and Cheryl Jones, Director of Grand Union, are working as advocates for the campaign in Birmingham.
There are a number of ways to get involved:
- Find out more and sign up to support the campaign at www.payingartists.org
- Tell everyone! Get tweeting (#PayingArtists) and sharing. Write to your MP and your local councillor. Tell all your friends.
- Come and say hello at Digbeth First Friday on 1 May when they will be distributing badges and flyers and encouraging people to sign up to support the campaign.
- Come along and contribute to:
Not paying artists is bad for you… Discuss
Tuesday 19 May, 6.30 – 8.30pm. Eastside Projects.
An evening of quick fire provocations by speakers including Dorothy Wilson (Director, mac Birmingham, Gavin Wade (Director, Eastside Projects), Toby Watley (Director of Collections, Birmingham Museums Trust), and artists Stuart Whipps, Elizabeth Rowe, Anna Horton and Sophie Bullock; followed by a public discussion as we begin to explore what a fair pay policy for artists in Birmingham might be.
Places are free but booking is essential. Spaces will go quickly so book a place here now.