Funding and rights for performance artists showcased at TUC

Spotlight and the Welsh National Opera dispute were among the industrial performance issues foregrounded at the TUC this week, along with artists’ rights, and the health, safety and wellbeing of workers within the performing arts sector.

The annual conference of trades unionists took place in Brighton 8-11 September, with a lively Equity delegation in attendance. Motions decided at Equity’s Birmingham conference in May were on the agenda, each receiving the backing of Congress, and Congress gave resounding solidarity for Equity campaigns, including our dispute at Welsh National Opera with TUC general secretary Paul Nowak joining us for a photo op and president Matt Wrack providing a solidarity message during Congress.

Spotlight in the spotlight

Equity President Lynda Rooke, moved our motion calling for a ban on upfront fees charged to performers by casting directories. She explained: “Spotlight is by far the most dominant casting platform and is now expanding into the lucrative casting market in Europe, subsidised by actors in the UK and the Republic of Ireland who pay double what European actors pay.”

Lynda referenced the High Court action being taken by Equity to challenge the excessive fees and costs put on job seekers in the performing arts industry. “I am one of the members who will give evidence at the High Court to challenge these excessive fees”, Lynda said, drawing applause from the hundreds of assembled delegates representing more than six million trade union members who voted unanimously to support Equity’s motion. You can read more here.

Arts funding

Marla King, a Dance artist, Equity young members councillor and member of Equity for a Green New Deal Network, explained to Congress that the UK has some of the lowest levels of government spending on the arts in all of Europe, in a debate on arts funding. “The benefits of the arts to our lives and communities are indisputable and widely felt” she said, continuing: “The arts are an essential lever in systemic change, and have a deeply powerful role in shaping society and culture. The arts sector also brings clear economic returns: analysis by Equity showed that for every £1 spent on the arts, £4 is generated for the local economy.

“That is why Equity is calling for the government to raise arts spending from its current level of 0.2% of GDP to the European average of 0.5% GDP. We need a government that finally advocates for artists, and actually acknowledges artists as what we are, workers.” The wide-ranging motion called for a sustainable future for the arts, and received resounding backing from Congress.

Reinforcing the core message on arts funding, and arguing for “money to go into the pockets of unionised sectors”, Equity’s general secretary Paul W Fleming spoke in a key debate on economic growth. 

Telling a ‘tale of two industries’, Paul explained: “Firstly, TV and film: 95% of it is made on a trade union collective agreement; 80% of the people you see on screen and on stage are members of their union. This sector is worth £3.5bn each year to the British economy. … Let me tell you a story of another sector: Video games. Britain is the second largest producer of video games on the planet. We’ve put over £1.2billion in tax credits into it. But there’s not a single collective sectoral agreement. The largest recipient? Microsoft. Money is not going into the pockets of workers.”

Paul amplified this message and the demand for an industrial plan for the creative industries from the new Labour government, in an interview with Left Foot Forward, given during the conference. Commenting on Labour’s key pledge, he said: “If a decade of national renewal doesn’t include an industrial plan for the creative industries, then there’s not going to be a decade of national renewal.”

Mental health and wellbeing

In a powerful debate on suicide prevention and awareness, Equity delegate Eleanor Sutton spoke of the “heady combination of the precarity of freelance work, income insecurity, anti-social working hours and time away from home, puts immense strain on performers’ mental health.” She referenced data which revealed that 87% of performers in film and tv had experienced a mental health problem.”

Equity was seconding the motion, which came from teaching union NASUWT, and calls for mandatory mental first aid training, among other measures.

Fiona Whitelaw, actress, Equity Councillor, and member of the solidarity committee, spoke of the vulnerability of performers to misogyny because of the nature of their workplaces. The motion she was speaking in support of, titled Misogyny in Music, was brought forward by the Musicians Union, and there were shocking examples of inappropriate misogynistic behaviour in workplaces shared from the rostrum. “Misogyny will persist in our society and in our workplaces until structural change is made”, argued. Fiona.

Freedom of speech

Equity’s motion on freedom of speech called for artists and arts organisations to be free to critique institutions without fear of censorship or losing public funding. Moving the motion, Sam Swann, an actor currently at The Globe theatre and co-founder of Equity's Green New Deal network, shared a cautionary tale. 

“In February this year Arts Council England - a supposedly arm’s length funding body for arts organisations and individuals in England -  issued guidance warning against ‘activity that might be considered to be overtly political or activist’.”

Describing this as “a shocking attack on artists’ ability to critique institutions of power”, Sam continued: “Equity, smelling a rat, submitted a Freedom of Information request which then revealed that just as we suspected - at a meeting between Arts Council England and Tory ministers in December 2023 there was a particular agenda item titled: Reputational risk relating to Israel/Gaza conflict.” Sam referenced the work and views of Palestinian artists and climate activists in his speech. The motion gained unanimous support from Congress to safeguard freedom of expression.

Benefits

Moving on to a debate about Universal Credit and the wider benefits system - something that 60% of Equity members rely on at some point during their career, Equity member, voice actor and part of the Equity Class Network, David John said: “Nearly half of our members who have been subject to the minimum income floor are considering leaving or have already left the industry altogether.”

In a strong contribution which foregrounded the barriers for lower income performers, David explained that Equity “is calling for the minimum income floor to be abolished to keep working class creatives in our industry.”  

Congress rallied behind a motion on hate speech, the far right and trans rights, and Equity delegate Giovanni Bienne, an actor, LGBT+ Councillor, and Equity for a Green New Deal member, spoke in support of the motion. 

“We need to take the fight against that rhetoric into our workplaces and into our union structures”, said Giovanni. He referenced shocking statistics that 40% of trans people experience hate crime because of their gender and that 1 in 8 have been physically attacked at work.”

In addition to the debates on the conference floor, Equity general secretary spoke at lunchtime fringe meetings – one on the role of the new Labour government with the Trade Union Coordinating Group, and the second on a panel for Justice for Columbia.