Ten concrete proposals for fair pay in culture: respond now!

Call by advisory councils on earning power and guidelines

The earning power of workers in the cultural and creative sector lags behind, the Council for Culture and the Social and Economic Council noted back in 2017. The councils called for the development of guidelines for reasonable compensation. Based on that, a Labor Market Agenda came into being and the Fair Practice Code came into being. But for years it remained fairly quiet around the fair pay component. This will change as of now.

Five subsectors addressed first and now 10 work-field chain tables

After further investigation, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science initially identified five subsectors where the fair pay need is highest and for which practical instruments should therefore be put in place quickly. All the more so because there is no collective bargaining agreement to cover them and there is no organized consultation between employees and workers. These are archaeology, cultural education/amateur art, film/av, freelance music, and the arts.

Platform ACCT has received three years of government funding for the fairPACCT program since 2022.
As part of this program, ten chain tables from the professional field, together with independent (preliminary) researchers, have set to work on criteria plus concrete practical instruments for fair payment. Moreover, given the perspective of the Council for Culture and the State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science, adjacent sectors have always been studied. Two new chain tables are planned for November 1.

Fair pay mandatory for grant applicants at state level

Fair pay must in any case be concretely implemented by institutions that receive cultural subsidies from the state or state funds, the Court of Audit recently determined. The State Secretary considers this important and has included provisions about it in the Subsidy Scheme for Cultural Basic Infrastructure 2025-2028. Among other things, she refers to the products of the Chain Tables and holds out the prospect of financial compensation for the subsidized field. The distribution will be based on the upcoming results of a national survey. The organizations involved can submit their grant applications starting next December 1. It has also called on other governments and private funds to impose similar fair pay conditions. In view of all this, the Performing Arts Fund was the first national cultural fund to announce on October 16 that it will make fair pay an obligatory condition in its schemes for multi-year production and festival subsidies: applicants must demonstrably apply a (related) collective agreement or guideline.

An overview of the current ten fair pay chain table proposals

Seven fairPACCT chain tables, which began in 2022, are now ready to present concrete products. Ten fair pay proposals are currently on the table.
These include fees for freelance classical musicians in seven professional practices, and for pop musicians there is a calculation tool to measure the previously proposed fees for live performances against five career stages. There are rate guidelines for the various activities of art professionals in cultural education and amateur art such as teachers, conductors and others. For the benefit of those working at literary festivals and events, a job manual with primary and a standard regulation with secondary employment conditions has been created.

The breadth of the field has also been carefully considered. For example, archaeologists are among
the lowest paid. Partly on the basis of a new Labor Market Monitor, they now have proposals for secondary employment conditions. There is also a draft job matrix,
which will be developed with the help of a recognized job evaluation agency.

In some professions, especially during and after the corona period, there appeared to be an increasing outflow to other sectors such as marketing and communications. For this reason, a Manifesto and a Whitepaper on the value of cultural marketers are now appearing. In the run-up to a directive, there is also an overview with characterizations of their five job levels and a comparison of remuneration in the cultural sector compared to the Netherlands.

More fair pay proposals in October and two new chain tables by November

Film/av is still working on four practice tools, expected during October this year. A Framework of Terms for Contracts between Workers and Clients, a Guideline for Safe and Healthy Working, an Assignment Compass and a report From Wage to zzp Rate. A rate guideline for performing authors and artists at literary festivals and events is also due in October.

Furthermore, given the current situation and issues, the following new chain tables were recently started: digital culture; photography; music jazz/world/impro. Starting in November, the film festivals will be added, while the fees section of BKNL visual artists will continue as a chain table at fairPACCT from that date. Some other sub-sectors that have registered with us will unfortunately have to wait a little longer for their chain table.