Museum Freelance is evolving...

  • Same core mission

  • Reinvigorated purpose

  • Bolder ambition

  • New look

  • New structure.

where we’ve come from and where we’re going…

Museum Freelance was born of humble beginnings in 2015 with a Twitter account set up following a Museum Hour on freelancing with museums.

Since then Museum Freelance has evolved organically and we’ve delivered a huge range of activities and support for freelancers in a voluntary capacity:

Museum Freelance Conference 2019

Museum Freelance Conference 2019

  • facilitating an online and offline network and developing a freelance community around this

  • 3 annual conferences with subsidised and free tickets to broaden access

  • lobbying of government, sector organisations and clients (most of it behind-the-scenes)

  • the sector’s first ever major survey into freelancers and freelancing (results due out in October)

  • securing a £7,500 grant from a charitable trust which is being distributed to 15 freelancers in need of urgent financial help as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic

  • delivering presentations and participating in panels on how to get into freelancing and working with freelancers

  • running an e-newsletter, a LinkedIn group with over 1,100 members and a Twitter account with over 4,200 followers

  • hosting a website and providing a platform to share freelancers’ perspectives and ideas on the Museum Freelance blog

  • championing freelancers and raising issues they face on podcasts, in articles and in presentations

  • hosting social meet-ups and pop-up meet-ups for freelancers at sector conferences

  • providing advice on a range of issues, from dealing with difficult clients to insurance; from keeping health and wellbeing in check, to marketing your business

  • sharing freelance opportunities

  • and being a Freelance Ambassador Finalist in the 2019 IPSE (Association for Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) Awards.

In addition, we’ve delivered five training courses that we’ve run on a commercial basis.

What’s staying the same

Going forward, we will continue to deliver these actions outlined above. Our mission will remain the same:

To support and champion freelancers working with museums, galleries, heritage sites, archives and libraries.

And we will remain:

By freelancers, for freelancers.

What will change

The results of our 2020 survey into freelancing, the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement have highlighted the need for more support for freelancers in the sector and stimulated the need for urgent action.

They have served to reinvigorate our sense of purpose, our values and drive for positive change.

As a result, we have a bolder ambition for the work that needs to be done including:

  • Providing a platform for more freelance voices and perspectives

  • Improving the diversity and representation of freelancers in the sector

  • Acting on the key issues raised in our research findings

  • Being more proactive and bolder in our actions

More detail on the last two points will follow in coming months.

Our strengthened values

Empowering

We are passionate about our mission to champion and support freelancers. We want to inspire and empower freelancers to start, develop and sustain a freelancing career that meets their goals, whatever those goals may be.

Diversity

We know that freelancers and their goals, approaches, interests, backgrounds and circumstances vary enormously. We aim to be inclusive and accessible, provide a platform for a wide range of voices and cater for a wide range of freelancers.

Responsive

We are forward-thinking and will learn and develop to meet the changing needs of freelancers. We operate with flexibility and agility and can react quickly to issues that spring up. We are bold and will challenge the status quo when needed.

Collaboration

We encourage collaboration not competition between freelancers, and believe a collective voice is more powerful than an individual voice. We collaborate with sector organisations to make procurement processes and working relationships with freelancers more effective and ethical.

Trustworthiness

Running Museum Freelance is a privilege, and representing and serving freelancers is a responsibility we take seriously. We operate with integrity and are open, principled and humble.

Our new visual identity

We have developed a new visual identity and structure to better represent us, our approach and values. The new look is dynamic, vibrant, confident and forward-looking. It was created by freelance graphic designer Nina Brown and we feel it’s a fitting visual identity for our next chapter.

And finally, whilst we will still undertake much of our activity in a voluntary capacity, we have set up Museum Freelance Ltd as a limited company. This will provide a formal structure that will better enable us to deliver our activities and access new opportunities to support the freelance community.

Coming up

This autumn we will:

  • Evaluate our Covid-19 Hardship Fund grants for the scheme’s funder

  • Share the findings of our research on freelancing in our sector in October through live Zoom sessions and report on our website

  • Host a session with Isabel Churcher from Arts Council England on Developing Your Creative Practice grants for freelancers

  • Progress with our commitment to providing a platform and support for diverse freelance voices

  • And crack on with the actions that the survey insights highlighted!

Marge Ainsley