Freelancers & Community Resources

Another spreadsheet doing the rounds is this one called Freelancers & Community Resources, which is unlikely to get you a job but is full of creative inspiration such as ‘a big Google drive folder of zines’ called Quaranzines and printable coloring-in pages.

Anti-viral work for Freelancers and Small Businesses

Facebook’s push into Groups is coming to the fore with a raft of communities set up to offer support, tips and job leads. One is ‘Anti-viral work for freelancers and small businesses’, which has grown to more than 11,000 members in the space of the week.

The Garden

Another is The Garden – a private group for members of We Are Rosie. Kiana Pirouz, head of marketing at the network, explained: “The group will be a call and response of what the community needs and how we can be of service beyond our ability to connect to jobs, whether that's Zoom lunch breaks, sharing work, meditations, etc.”

The Professional Freelancer

The Professional Freelancer, Anna Codrea-Rado’s weekly newsletter, may be angled at freelance journalists, but it still features lots of useful advice and opinions on the world of contracted work. Similarly, Sian Meades-Williams’ Freelance Writing Jobs newsletter regularly includes copywriting and branded content work, and the jobs featured are often exclusive to subscribers, too.

Format - Online Portfolio

Format is an online portfolio platform that’s launched a $25,000 fund for freelance photographers and visual artists who have lost work off the back of the pandemic and are likely to struggle financially. It’s offering assistance of up to $500 per person but is looking to partner with other companies to increase the total amount. You can find the application form here.

The Dots

Created by former MTV marketer Pip Jamieson, The Dots has been a destination for a diverse crowd of working creatives since 2014. Its job board currently lists more than 100 freelance gigs based primarily in Europe. It’s also started new chat thread called ‘Coronavirus support’, which is filled with advice and moral support for those who have lost jobs or work.

Marguerite

Marguerite, a club for women who work in the visual arts, has started a ‘seeking work’ jobs board and is encouraging creatives to think about the diversity of their skillset. It’s an easy sell-in for employers who can scroll through the list and pull out freelancers’ contact details straight from their posts.

Work Notes

Work Notes is doing a similar open call for freelancer pitches on this Twitter thread.

The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed (IPSE)

The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed (IPSE) has put together a comprehensive guide for UK-based freelancers worried about the impact Covid-19 will have on their income. This includes links to special HMRC helplines and broad advice on dealing with clients.

Muros

Chicago-based out-of-home art agency Muros has launched #MakeWithMuros, a campaign that provides artists with a platform while they’re prevented from taking to city walls. Muros will be spotlighting an artist a day on its Instagram page for 30 days – paying them to create a piece and helping them sell it afterwards. There is no restriction on medium, a spokesperson said “Muros will accept canvas, sketch, digital, animation, play dough, cleverly arranged refrigerator magnets ... The only requirement is that it spreads joy.”

The Freelancers Union

In the US, the Freelancers Union has produced a raft of useful guides on everything from health insurance to non-payment (you just need to register). Rafael Espinal, the president and executive director of Freelancers Union, has also published the letter he sent to New York’s Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio demanding that “any and all financial safety nets that are implemented in this moment of economic crisis must include freelancers”.

Fishbowl

Industry app Fishbowl can feel like the high school cafeteria at the worst of times, but the Freelancers pool is currently highlighting how helpful an anonymized forum can be. Handy posts from the last week cover filing for US unemployment benefits with a freelancer status and advice for budgeting in a “dry spell” of work.

A collective of freelance artists has created an aggregated list of free resources, opportunities and financial relief options available to artists of all disciplines across the US. It’s a mix of official advice, guidance and topical articles that will resonate with freelance commercial creatives too.

The Tripartite Standard for Contracting Self-Employed Persons

For a start, NAC and NHB will adopt the Tripartite Standard (TS) for Contracting Self-Employed Persons, and we will be working with other cultural institutions to progressively roll this out over the course of the year. The TS will support freelancers in establishing fair contractual terms. For example, it aims to address payment issues upstream by encouraging businesses to have proper written contracts. This creates a baseline of accountability for engaging freelancers, while addressing freelancers’ immediate financial concerns arising from late or non-payment.

Resource Center for Arts & Culture Freelancers

We will also establish a Resource Centre dedicated to supporting the professional needs of freelancers across the arts and culture sector. The centre will offer physical and digital space to aggregate resources, training programmes and materials important to all freelancers including individual rights and responsibilities, access to shared services (i.e. legal, HR, finance) as well as job and networking opportunities. We will continue to work with key stakeholders to develop further initiatives that can support the needs of our freelancers.