Following feedback regarding our new Producer advert, it has become apparent to us that elements of the documentation and terms contained gaps, and that some of the language around the role status was potentially misleading. We will seek to address these gaps and clarify the role status below. We welcome any conversation that encourages us to review conditions for arts workers, and are grateful to have the opportunity to provide additional information about our working practices and culture.
TMS funding - TMS enters into its fourth edition next spring. We apply for project funding each year through Creative Scotland’s Open Project Fund. Like many others, we have no guarantee that we can exist from one year to the next. This provides significant challenges to planning and organisational growth, as we attempt to create an annual festival platform, whilst also finding other ways to serve artists and the sector year-round.
TMS freelance team - we are a very small team of three (all working c2.5 days per week), with additional freelancers coming in closer to festival time. All three of our main team (Artistic Director, Executive Producer and Associate Producer) are currently and have always been on freelance, year-long contracts. It is our intention that as we build our profile and reputation, and gain access to more consistent streams of funding, that our team will be given the option to move to permanent PAYE contracts. What we are entitled to at TMS under our freelance contracts and status is stated further below and offered to any new contractor.
Fundraising - TMS independently fundraised for this contract, responding to a sector need and sought out Tramway’s partnership.
Fee - The fee of £23k - 26k is consistent with similar roles across both organisations, and to our knowledge - across the city of Glasgow and other arts organisations in Scotland. The role as originally conceived would sit at c£25-26k (for applicants with at least 2 years experience within the arts). However, we are aware that there are people working within the sector who are passionate about contemporary performance but may not have all the professional experience listed in the specification. Therefore we stated we were encouraging wide-ranging applications and shifted the fee parameters to account for this. Any saving made would be reinvested in the individual, in consultation with them, to establish their development and learning needs.
Maternity/Paternity cover - We can guarantee that any freelance member of our team who leaves for maternity/paternity will have their role kept open for them until they feel ready to return. Freelancers are eligible to apply to HMRC for statutory maternity/paternity allowance.
Flexible working - There is a strong understanding and willingness for workplace flexibility according to team members needs, including family/caring responsibilities. We favour a happy, supportive and responsive working environment that suits the needs of our team and our organisation. We have greater flexibility in our working patterns due to our freelance status.
Time off – Our freelance team take their own responsibility for holiday time. We ensure that the contracts we issue equate to at least 28 days paid within the overall fee.
Illness and incapacity - Within this role, should you be unable to work due to illness, or any other incapacity, we will honour fee payments up to 8 weeks, upon which there will be a review period.
Equipment - Equipment required for this role are a laptop and phone - if this is a barrier for any applicants please advise and we will arrange for these to be provided.
Recruitment process - We liaised with legal, recruitment and equalities specialists to ensure as much input from outside our organisation as possible to get our recruitment call right. We felt this was particularly important within this period of additional precarity for artists, freelancers and organisations, brought about by the COVID pandemic.
Whilst the role was initially offered as freelance, should this be a barrier to you, then we are able to offer the contract as a PAYE position (on equivalent terms) as a fixed term one-year contract.
We are thrilled to be able to expand the TMS team moving forward. If you have any further questions please email us as connect@takemesomewhere.co.uk and we will be happy to speak to you about them.