Code of conduct for fair working conditions in culture

With the new Fair Practice Code of Conduct, the industry gains a common tool to ensure professional working conditions in the arts and culture sector.

The joint organisation, Danish Arts Council, is launching the Fair Practice Code of Conduct as an ethical guideline, demonstrating to audiences and partners that proper working conditions for artists are a high priority.

 

 

By signing up to the code, you commit to following the five core values:

  • Fair wage
  • Sustainable working life
  • Diversity
  • Transparency
  • Trust

From now on, anyone who hires, collaborates with, or provides grants to artists, such as cultural institutions, government authorities, municipalities, foundations, trade unions, organisations, and companies, can subscribe to the principles and their associated values.

Why a Code of Fair Practice?
Studies show that artists in Denmark constitute a low-income group, with most being freelancers, self-employed sole traders, or working multiple jobs. Artists typically have fluctuating employers and assignments, and their working lives are characterised by unpredictability, financial insecurity, and often unregulated working conditions.

The code does not replace, but supplements, supports and underpins existing agreements and collective bargains in the precarious labour market that artists navigate. This makes it possible to identify all the circumstances that should be taken responsibility for when entering into fair agreements on professional artistic work.

Ethical benchmark

The Danish Council of Artists' Fair Practice Code of Conduct as an ethical guide, showing the public and collaborators that proper working conditions for artists are a high priority.

The code was drafted in dialogue with subject matter experts and representatives from the Arts Council's 22 member organisations, which represent approximately 20,000 artists and cultural creators across the arts and cultural sector.

The code is reviewed and updated at least every two years.

Read more about it her.