Members Newsletter December 2020

New Members Discounts

We have added another two suppliers to the list of Members Discounts available to our members. They are Bawn Textiles and Gulabi Photo, Independent Film Lab. The full list can be seen on our website here. If you have any suppliers who you think might be interested in offering a discount to our 1500 members please let us know.

Up Coming Events

Sign up for the last of our Learning Events this year 

A Sustainable Visual Arts Sector: Climate Change Adaptation on Thursday 10th December, 7-8pm

Our third and final session will share the research undertaken by Catriona Patterson from Creative Carbon Scotland. Through adaptations in technology, behaviour, practical responses to the change in climate artists can change how they work to become less vulnerable in the future. You can find more information about this event

Universal Basic Income

A BIG THANK YOU to SAU member Ana Hine, for contributing to the event "Could a basic income better support Scotland’s arts?" on Wednesday 2 December 2020 which was organised by Basic Income Network Scotland, CBIN. 

Here's information about another upcoming event, this time from Canada, a free online event on Thursday 10^th December, 5pm (GMT). 

Basic Income Hamilton - Women + Work and the Case for Basic Income

Artist and creator of the Humans of Basic Income project, Jessie Golem, will be speaking at this event.

(Please note this event is taking place in Canada and will start at 5pm UK time)

More information about UBI

UBI Lab Arts : UBI Lab Network have created a FAQs to the common arguments for and against UBI www.ubilabnetwork.org/faqs

SAU Sub Groups

Watch out for more information in the New Year about SAU Sub Groups! These currently take the form of 

Finance     Staffing   Intersectional   Newsletters/Campaigns   Sustainability/Climate/Green issues

In development:   Young Artists/Graduates   Health & Safety

UPDATE on HARDSHIP FUNDING 

The second round of Hardship Funding for Creative Freelancers reopened on Tuesday 10th November with an additional £3 Million added to the fund by the Scottish Government. This fund is apparently still available so there's still time to apply......

Those applying through Creative Scotland and delivery partners can do so through the online portal available on the Creative Scotland Hardship Fund for Creative Freelancers page. Applicants will be asked to register before being channelled to the relevant funding partner to complete their application. This Funding will be distributed by :Visual Arts Scotland; The Crafts Council and Craft Scotland; Society of Authors;  Help Musicians; BECTU and by Creative Scotland.  A summary of information about the funding can be seen on our blogpost here. It will be in the form of a one off payment in amounts between £500 and £2000. Eligibility requirements will be an ability to prove that you are a creative freelancer, being resident in Scotland, being in immediate financial difficulty due to the pandemic, and not being eligible for other forms of support.

The Hate Crime Bill 

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill is currently being scrutinised by the Justice Committee at Stage 1. At its meeting on 10 November the committee heard evidence from a panel of artists and writers along with the Humanist Society of Scotland.

The following people gave evidence: Lisa Clark (Scottish PEN); David Greig (Royal Lyceum Theatre); John McLellan (Scottish Newspaper Society); Fraser Sutherland (Humanist Society Scotland)

Here is link to the official report that contains their evidence official report                

On 17 November there was a further evidence session with a number of equalities organisations etc: further evidence

There is a short readout of the meeting here (as well as other meetings around the Bill): short readout

BLM Mural Trail Crowdfunder  

You can make a donation to the Black Lives Matter Mural Trail Crowdfunder                                                    

Seeing Red Campaign:

We want to thank all our members who have sent us their pictures and quotes, and participated in our #SeeingRed Campaign; by posting Red images on social media with the hashtags #SeeingRed and #SeeingRedSAU; also giving us quotes about how hard things are for creative practitioners due to the pandemic.

It has been great seeing your artworks and we will continue to push this campaign over the coming months, so if you have any red images please send them to us by email at [email protected]. Please feel free to encourage other artists to get involved.... Together we are stronger !! So GET INVOLVED!! Over the coming weeks we will continue to circulate your images and we will be creating a template to enable you to write letters to your MP/ MSP's, in the run up to the Scottish Government Elections next year. Keep sending us your images and any quotes about how tough life has become. We intend to create a showcase on our website, so let us know if you would like to be featured.

Seeing Red – our campaign to highlight the ongoing difficulties facing artists and makers due to the impact of Covid-19.

• 81% of our members are self-employed or freelance

• 53% did not qualify for government support during Covid-19

• 83% earn less than £10k per year

• 88% do not get contracts consistently

• 61% receive less than the industry standard rates of pay

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the limitations of government support for those not able to work, and the chronic underfunding of the arts in general, with an infrastructure weakened by years of austerity and Local Authority budget cuts.

We have been advised by the politicians that we need to "make more noise" about the difficulties experienced within our sector and we need you to get involved to help us raise awareness of the precariousness of the arts and culture sector, and the Visual Arts and crafts sector in particular.

If we are going to 'build back better' and have a thriving arts community beyond this period, we need to act now to call for support for creative freelancers, many of whom feel forgotten and are wondering how they can continue to sustain a professional working life.

We are calling for you to support our campaign and you can get involved in a number of ways:

• Send us your Red images and quotes about the importance of the arts so that we can circulate them on our social networks - please send a JPEG image (of less than 2 MB) or your quotes  to us at [email protected]
• Post your Red images on your own social networks with the hashtag #SeeingRed or #SeeingRedSAU
• Share the Seeing Red logo on social media and post a ‘red’ image on Instagram
• Download and print our Seeing Red poster image 
• Donate to the Scottish Artists Union here https://www.artistsunion.scot/donate_sau
• Write to your MP/MSP/Councillor
• Support our Fair Work Contract
• Support our campaign for Universal Basic Income
• Join the union or encourage a friend to join here

Check out our social media posts and please share on Twitter: @SCOArtistsUnion | FB: ScottishArtistsUnion | Instagram: artistsunion.scot

Support Your Union!!  Together We Are Stronger!!

There’s never been a more important time to be part of a union, help us fight for a new ‘normal’ that supports the arts and culture!!

If you want to help SAU further please encourage fellow artists to join up, or get involved with the Executive Committee by attending our meetings (all currently online!). Email us and we will send you the link. 

Please help us promote the activities of the union on social media by following us and sharing posts.

We are here to help. We are a small team of part time workers and a voluntary executive, currently email is the best way to get in touch as we are all currently working from home. 
Stay safe & healthy everyone.  

Yours in Solidarity, 
 
Everyone at Scottish Artists Union

Together We Are Stronger!!