‘Priority’ for Government to improve poor pay rates in the arts – Sepuloni

Research painting a grim picture of stagnating pay for Kiwi artists is unsurprising, says Creative New Zealand as it doubles down on work to address entrenched issues around pay and policy within arts organisations.

Artists who work for arts organisations were not expected to have pay increases this year, but their managers and other organisational staff were, according to a Creative NZ report released earlier this month, which drew on data from 1566 individuals across 52 organisations.

Despite the growth of arts organisations, artists had very low or no pay increases for the year to November 2021, the report found.

This year, while salaries for management roles in arts organisations were expected to rise by 2%, and other arts organisation staff could expect a 1.7% increase, artists would likely see no increase at all, it found.

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The research also found only 65% of surveyed organisations paid interns, 59% had a named sexual harassment policy, 37% had a wellbeing policy, and 36% had an injury transition policy.

Low numbers of collective employment agreements and unions existed for the surveyed organisations.

Creative NZ chief executive Stephen Wainwright said issues around pay in the arts were entrenched and change would take time.

”All those associated with the arts will have to play their part.”

The authority worked with arts organisations to encourage good governance, financial management and policies. But more work was needed, Wainwright said.

Creative NZ was considering initiatives it hoped would improve the issues, including progressing its sustainable careers and arts resilience work programmes, and developing co-investment and sustainability partnerships across the public and private sectors.

It would continue to measure the impacts of the arts on New Zealanders, and explore the arts’ potential in delivering government objectives across physical and mental health, education, justice, Corrections, tourism and international relations.

This year the authority released a pay policy for artists, arts organisations and those engaging with artists which outlined principles and practice guidelines on employment rights, contracts, fair pay and funding expectations.

Wainwright said arts organisations needed to implement robust policies and practices, however he acknowledged small organisations could lack the capacity to enforce policies.

Those who engaged with artists, including arts funders and central/local government, needed to ensure their policies supported fair pay for artists. Artists also had to advocate for their rights.

While the Government had given significant one-off batches of funding to the arts in recent years in response to Covid-19, core funding levels remained “relatively static”, Wainwright said. That affected the many arts organisations which relied on public funding.

Those in the arts continued to be paid less than equivalents in other sectors across all roles, he said.

Arts Minister Carmel Sepuloni said the Government was aware of economic and career sustainability issues within the cultural sector, and it was a “priority” for it to improve the situation.

Ministry for Culture and Heritage spokesperson Emily Fabling said the report provided critical insights into how arts organisations were faring, and what the current issues, concerns and pressures were.

The ministry tailored its financial support based on data and insights, Fabling said, and it was in regular contact with organisations and individuals across the arts sector to ensure it understood its evolving challenges.

Fabling said the report showed the resilience of creative organisations through the pandemic. Eighty-eight per cent of surveyed organisations were able to maintain full pay during the level 4 lockdown of 2020, it found, and just 3% were expecting to reduce staff numbers this year.