Increasing our support for individuals
About this theme
The cultural sector depends on the talent, creativity, skills and experience of the freelancers that work independently and with organisations across the country.
Although the sector is recovering from the pandemic, it continues to face multiple challenges because of the rising cost of living. Many practitioners are still experiencing ongoing precarity around pay, working conditions and wellbeing. Evidence continues to suggest that freelancers are taking up opportunities in other sectors, resulting in skills gaps and shortages in the cultural sector.
Actions for 2023/24
We will take the following Actions to increase our support for individuals.
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Improving training and development resources
We will provide resources and training to help individuals develop their business skills, gain knowledge on how to keep themselves and others safe and support their mental health.
Date: ongoing
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Improving our understanding of creative and cultural practitioners
We will launch a regular freelancer survey to focus on the composition of the self-employed population, career progression, income and expenditure, patterns of working, employment and financial security and professional practice issues, to help us map the freelance workforce and gather direct insight on current trends and issues.
Date: Q3 2023/24
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Reviewing National Lottery Project Grants to improve its support for individuals
We have reviewed National Lottery Project Grants with freelancers to better understand how well it is supporting individuals, and we will make improvements to the programme as part of its annual refresh.
Date: Q2 2023/24
2023/24 budget: £116.8 million
Actions completed
Find out more about the Actions we completed.
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Evaluating and refreshing Developing Your Creative Practice
We will publish an evaluation of the programme and use it to make improvements to our Developing Your Creative Practice programme in 2023/24.
Date: Q2 2022/23
In 2022/23, we published an evaluation reviewing the programme, and updated the programme guidance which included an increase to the upper limit that applicants can apply for.
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Supporting a symposium for creative and cultural practitioners
We will work with partners to support a symposium to bring together individuals, funders, organisations and wider partners to learn from the pandemic and improve support for individual practitioners in the short, medium and long term.
Freelance: Futures was delivered in 2022, and recordings and resources are available online.
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Maximising the impact of creative and cultural practitioners on the places they live and work
We will develop a toolkit to unlock the potential of creative and cultural practitioners’ contributions to where they live and work and help them build sustainable careers post-pandemic.
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Ensuring our National Portfolio provides better support to individuals
From 2023, we will fund a new National Portfolio of cultural organisations that are committed to providing more equitable and transparent support for creative and cultural practitioners and offer clear progression routes into the industry.
Date: January 2022
We asked applicants to the National Portfolio to ensure they provided better support for freelancers, and published this information sheet to help organisations better consider the needs of individuals.
Our themes & actions
Under each of our five themes, we have set out a series of actions we will take over the next three years to work towards achieving Let’s Create.