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The cultural sector is rife with individualisation and competitiveness to the detriment of its workforce. The status of creative work is increasingly casualised, in the interest of distributing profits to those at the top.
We want to change this.
Many of us are precarious, overworked and underpaid. We are made to compete against each other for unfair wages, illegal unpaid internships, precarious freelance and temporary work. We suffer under bad management and terrible conditions.
The misconception that creative ideation and production somehow happen without actual labour has allowed unfair wages to proliferate and overwork, stress and burnout to become chronic within the sector.
We demand a cultural shift.
UVW-DCW aims to tackle the individualisation of work-related issues. We educate ourselves about our rights at work, secure legal representation, and organise and campaign to transform our industry in the interests of its workers, with solidarity, community, and equality at the centre of cultural production.
DCW acts as a member support network: we support one another to find solutions to the problems we face and look for solutions collectively.
There is no sense of good practice in our sector, in terms of fees, contracts, workplace environment, freelancing and so on. We worked on a Studio Campaign to support studio tenants across London throughout the COVID19 period; we produced guidelines on employment rights and freelance workers’ rights, and we work closely with Migrants in Culture to develop resources on migrant work in cultural sector.
We hold a member meeting on the first Wednesday of each month (7pm) and an organising meeting on the third Wednesday of each month (7pm), as well as regular Worker Solidarity and Campaigns meetings. Most of our meetings take place on Zoom, and we are starting to organise more hybrid and in-real-life meetings as well.
Member meetings have a different focus each month and include planning and discussing campaigns, exploring ways of organising, education on workers’ rights, and opportunities to discuss issues with fellow workers. All meetings are captioned.
DCW members are also involved in the Trans Creative Workers Coalition and the Art Workers Forum, as well as cross-union working groups focused on Workplace Organising and Worker Status.
To find out more about getting involved, come along to one of our monthly member meetings, which take place on the first Wednesday of each month.
If you have an idea for a campaign or a theme for a member meeting and you would like to start organising – join the branch and get in touch!
Anyone who considers themselves a cultural worker is welcome to join UVW-DCW. Many of our members work in multiple jobs, they do not have a single employer or clear job title, and their employment status can be difficult to classify. Others are employees of large organisations, while some are sole traders carrying out their own cultural businesses. Whatever part of the cultural sector you work in, join our fight to build a more equitable culture from below!
DCW members have the opportunity to connect with others in similar work via our artform Chapels:
Any member is welcome to set up a new Chapel to organise within your area of cultural work. If your artform/sector is not listed above, get in touch!
We aim to create solidarity across the cultural industry and break down the hierarchies built into the sector. We must revolutionize cultural work for everyone and make sure that we take everyone’s needs into account when we build our future.
This is only possible when as many voices from the sector as possible are involved, so we welcome people who work in any position at any cultural institution to feed their ideas into our campaigns.
Members are taking action against exploitative practices, including:
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Join us and fight together for a cultural shift!
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