Culture Fair Work Taskforce minutes: February 2025

Attendees and apologies

Chair

• Briana Pegado, Chair and Independent Creative Practitioner

Members in attendance

• Ayo Schwartz, National Theatre of Scotland
• Alastair Evans, Creative Scotland
• BD Owens, Scottish Artists’ Union
• Iain Hamilton, Highlands and Islands Enterprise
• Lucy Casot, Museums & Galleries Scotland
• Marlene Curran, Equity
• Ola Wojtkiewicz, Creative Edinburgh
• Paul McManus, BECTU – Prospect
• Rosie Aspinall Priest, Independent – advocate for rights of freelancers
• Stephanie Colgan, Glasgow Life
• Marie Christie, EventScotland
• Robert Kilpatrick, Scottish Music Industry Association
• Mark Geddes, South of Scotland Enterprise
• Dr Diljeet Bhachu, Musicians Union (deputising for Caroline Sewell)
• Kathryn Welch, Culture Counts

Observers

• Scottish Government officials.
• Sean Baillie, Scottish Trade Unions Congress

Presenters

• Jen Smith, Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority
• Andrew Medlock, Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority
• Nikki Kilburn, Zya Community
• Stephanie Wilson, Visible Inclusive Accessibility (CIC)

Apologies

• Jenni Minto, Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health
• Jane Muirhead, PACT Council and Raise the Roof Productions
• Lindsey Ross, Historic Environment Scotland
• Mairi Taylor, Birds of Paradise
• Sam Gonçalves, Society of Authors

Items and actions

Introductions and welcome

The Chair (Briana Pegado) introduced the session. She gave apologies for the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health who could not attend due to urgent parliamentary business. The Chair congratulated members whose organisations were successful in receiving multi-year funding from Creative Scotland.

The Secretariat updated that the minutes of the last meeting were circulated on the 6 January, and no comments were received. The minutes were accepted.

The actions from the last meeting are still in progress and the Secretariat are aiming to have the papers ready for the next subgroup meeting on 4 March. The reports commissioned by Creative Scotland cannot be shared at this time.

Updates from the second subgroup meeting and discussion on subgroup proposals

The Chair provided an update on the second subgroup meeting. The group discussed the proposal for a Culture Fair Work Charter, and the wider draft agreement of five draft recommendations.

Feedback on the proposal for a tiered structure was that this may not be appropriate, given the variety of types of organisations in the sector. However, a mechanism to indicate progression was seen as valuable. The Fair Work Employer Support Tool and Place Standard Tool were suggested as models. The Chair asked members to consider what should be included in the proposed charter and our recommendations to the Scottish Government, and any guidance that may accompany the Charter.

There was also discussion on what recommendations could be made regarding dispute resolution, including whether a self-regulation model could be appropriate. The complexities of the legal landscape and existing standards and authorities were acknowledged.

The Chair asked members to consider and submit suggestions for the Charter, as well as further recommendations.

The potential for a transformative justice model was discussed. Members described this as a values-based practice, ensuring that equity is at the heart of any collaborative conversations. The principles of transformative justice were outlined as including compassion, the acknowledgement of harm, focussing on repair and strength in communities. The model acknowledges that conflict is a natural part of life and is based on accountability for self and others. Importance is placed on facilitating participation and control of the person with the least power and the least choice.

It was noted that this model may require a fundamental change in the way the cultural sector currently operates. The question of who would be involved in any proposed arbitration scheme was posed. The Chair asked members to consider whether these principles could be embedded into the recommendations. Members raised that incorporating the social model of disability and racism into the principles of the Charter was also important.

The need to ensure that rural and islands communities were covered in the recommendations was raised. Members also suggested that focussing on positive support for people, especially those with neurodiversity, to enable them to access the sector may be a preferable focus to recommending an arbitration system.

The Chair tasked the Secretariat with providing a platform for members to co-edit proposals for recommendations.

Presentation – Jen Smith and Andrew Medlock – Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority

The Chair then handed over to Jen Smith and Andrew Medlock of the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) for their presentation.

CIISA wish to hold and improve standards of behaviour across the creative industries, and to prevent and tackle all forms of bullying and harassment, including discrimination, with a real emphasis on prevention. Problems with behaviours in the creative industries are exacerbated by power dynamics arising from a majority freelance workforce, and fame. CIISA are prioritizing prevention from harm through advice and sign posting.

CIISA aim to provide tailored and practical support to individuals and organizations on how they can embed and demonstrate the standards in their everyday practice.

As CIISA will operate across all of the creative industry sectors, this will enable a helicopter view to identify trends and themes, and address and report on those.

CIISA will not replicate existing HR processes in organisations, or support provided by unions, nor will act as an appeal service. CIISA will provide sign-posting, advice and support on how people can progress with issues and what choices they can make with regards to resolving their individual concerns.

If CIISA believe there may be a pattern of concern with a particular organisation, then they will issue a standards notice. This will ask the organisation to take action and accountability. CIISA will also look to provide a mediation or arbitration service, as well as carry out its own independent investigations in the most complex and serious cases, where no other process exists.

CIISA aim to publish their standards by this Spring before switching on their other services in a phased approach.

The Chair thanked CIISA for their presentation. Members were invited to ask questions:

• CIISA confirmed that they intend to be a UK-wide service
• CIISA aim to support small organisations without HR functions and individual freelancers
• CIISA operate on a tariff structure, which asks no more than 0.1% of a company’s UK turnover and is capped at the highest level, and free for organisations that have a turnover of under £100,000
• CIISA have existing strong relationships with educational institutions, however, will signpost to existing regulators such as Office for Students
• CIISA acknowledges they are looking at providing similar services to ACAS, however, with a specialism on the creative industries, and a focus on freelancers and the CIISA standards

Breakout rooms to discuss Respect in creative industries

The Chair invited members to take a five-minute break, and on return introduced Stephanie Wilson and Nikki Kilburn who had been invited to lead the breakout room sessions through Creative Edinburgh. Stephanie Wilson is a freelance artist, designer and consultant as a freelancer with accessible design and advocacy principles as well as working as the Director for Visible Inclusive Accessibility (CIC). Nikki Kilburn is the director of Zya Community, which oversees various impactful projects. These include research into the repatriation of artefacts, the Chilli Tree Network, which supports creatives of Colour and the Lemon Pickle Collective, dedicated to empowering female South Asian artists.

The two breakout rooms worked through approaches to scenarios posed by Stephanie and Nikki on:

• Respecting roles, responsibilities and setting boundaries
• Respecting and addressing needs and support
• Respecting and resolving conflict and disrespect

Key themes which emerged from the discussions included:

• ensuring that employers from outside the creative industries understand that creative output needs both time and also resource to get the professional output desired
• lower rates are often offered to freelancers on the basis of the work having social value
• encouraging creative workers to see union rates as a minimum rather than an aspiration
• the importance of having contracts in writing, especially for protecting access requirements
• there are additional costs to be considered for disabled creatives
• having key phrases to support individuals in tricky negotiations
• the importance of transparency when contracting work, especially regarding parameters and limitations
• working from the fringes to understand the needs of the most vulnerable and excluded is a way to improve access and respect
• the issue of “bread-crumbing” was discussed, where freelancers take lower rates in hopes of future work
• there is a challenge for small charitable organisations on whether to provide opportunities that do not meet union rates but do meet the real living wage
• using a co-production model for contractors and organisations
• employers must consider the interaction between the Equality Act and health and safety legislation
• when considering reasonable adjustments, employers should assess the effectiveness of the adjustment as well as the cost
• the entire duration of a project should be considered to ensure the active and fair participation of everybody involved
• the need for systems to be accessible for everyone, considering that different users may have different needs

Reflections from the Chair

The Chair concluded discussions by asking members to consider whether they and their organisations are aware of where employees and contractors can go for support when they need to advocate for themselves, and to think about existing power dynamics. She noted the point made by a member earlier in the session that if you cannot afford to hire someone for a piece of work, it is not ethical to hire them. The Chair encouraged members to think about Respect and the issues raised as the group continues to develop recommendations.

The Secretariat noted that the next subgroup meeting will be held on 4 March, with a full meeting of the taskforce in April to discuss recommendations.

The Chair thanked the presenters and breakout room facilitators, as well as members for their contributions. She encouraged members to reach out with their suggestions and questions and offered to meet with members one on one to discuss issues or proposals.

Actions

• Secretariat to share details of collaborative workspace
• Members to submit proposals for recommendations to the Secretariat

Relevant links shared by members

• Everyday Practices of Transformative Justice
• Fair Work Germany Ratings 2020 Labour Standards in the Platform Economy
• Intersectionality: Kimberlé Crenshaw  
• Museum Association: Anti ableist/ racist policy and practice research
• Musicians Union: Access Riders for Musicians
• Musicians Union: Safe Space
• Principles of trauma informed approaches
• Scope: Disability Price Tag
• Scottish Artists Union - Rates of Pay
• Social model of disability: Drake music explore different models of disability  
• The Fair Practice Culture initiative  
• We are Unlimited: A toolkit for artists and freelancers when asked to work for nothing
• We Are Unlimited: Resources of Support and Guidance