The Fair Practice Culture initiative is based on experiences and statistics from the Danish cultural sector, which reveal a great need to rethink the sector’s structures in new and ambitious ways.
A concrete and inspiring example of how a more sustainable cultural sector can be created is the Dutch model for fair practice. Since 2016, the Netherlands has developed and implemented a Fair Practice Code, a cultural code or swan label for fair labour conditions, that cultural institutions must follow and live up to, in order to receive funding for operations and activities.
In 2023–24, UKK and the Danish Composers’ Society investigated whether a Danish version of the Fair Practice Code could be a lever for better and safer working conditions in the arts and culture sector in Denmark. Through workshops and meetings with more than 100 artists, producers and representatives of cultural institutions, we have worked with and discussed the Dutch model and the values it is based on, as well as what a Danish version should contain if it is to work for the cultural sector in Denmark.
The model aims to create a common starting point for fair working conditions for artists and cultural workers based on five values and principles: sustainability, diversity, transparency, sol-idarity and trust. How each set of values should be understood has been jointly defined by artists and institutions in the Dutch cultural sector over a number of years, and the code is now the basis for concrete strategies and action plans developed by the institutions themselves.
We have compiled the research in a report that presents the input we have received from the sector along the way and puts it into perspective with Dutch examples of how the Fair Practice Code works there and the difference it makes to working conditions in the Dutch sector. The report also includes recommendations for what the important next steps could be if a Danish Fair Practice Code is to become a reality.
The report “Fair Practice Culture – A study of a code of practice for art and culture” can be read in Danish here and in English here.
Precarious conditions characterise the entire industry
One of the recurring themes in the four workshops that were held, and which we can conclude at this point, is that there are many issues of precariousness that recur across the different art fields. Precarisation is about precarious living conditions that can make it difficult or impossible to maintain a dignified social and cultural life. It therefore makes sense to work together across the cultural field to create better working conditions.
Values are inseparable
Artists and creative professionals across the cultural field agree that all five values of the Dutch model should be taken into account in initiatives for better working conditions, as they encompass all the aspects that should be present in a good and professional working environment – also in Denmark. Working conditions are about much more than just pay, it’s also about the framework of the work, the time invested in the process, whether the work or production can have a continued life, etc., which a code of practice like the Fair Practice Code reflects.
The Fair Practice Code is a tool for action
A code of practice like the Fair Practice Code is seen as a specific tool for action and creating a new norm. Artists and cultural and creative professionals that sign up to this standard commit to creating a strategy on how they will put fair practice into practice and, as in the Netherlands, there should be financial consequences for not complying with the principles they set out.
Green Sustainability must be integrated into a Danish model
When it comes to the value of sustainability, we can conclude that green sustainability must be an integral part of this value if the code of practice is to work in the Danish cultural industry. Everyone who contributed to the study sees the social, economic and green aspects of sustainability as closely linked, and greening as a crucial premise for the arts and culture field. In recent years, the climate crisis has become evident, which is why we as an industry cannot avoid dealing with it.
Codes of practice are gaining ground in the European culture sector
Thinking about decent working conditions for artists and creative professionals based on codes of practice and specific tools is something that is happening in more and more places in Europe. In 2023, the OMC Group in the EU (Open Method Communication) published a comprehensive report, The status and working conditions of artists and cultural and creative professionals, that both describes the precarious working conditions for artists and cultural and creative professionals, reviews the various initiatives that different EU member states are trying out to create better conditions and makes recommendations on what the most important next steps could be. The OMC Group’s report emphasises that none of the models and initiatives they encountered solve all the challenges of precarious work, but that the Dutch Fair Practice Code is one of the most comprehensive models in Europe.
Based on the exploration of the Dutch Fair Practice Code together with a broad group of representatives from the Danish culture sector, there is no doubt that the sector see a great need to rethink and change the sector’s structures, and the Dutch model is seen as an important, concrete and useful tool for creating fair and professional working conditions for artists and cultural workers that can be used as a starting point for developing a Danish version.
A Fair Practice Code can help define a new norm for art and cultural production, as the five values of the Dutch model encompass all the aspects that should be present in a good and professional working environment. A code of practice can help to ensure that a large part of the content of the working environment law that applies to permanent employees also applies to freelancers and contract artists, and thus that what we in Denmark consider to be the prerequisites for decent working conditions for part of the labour force can also apply to other parts – regardless of employment conditions.
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The project is led by Sine Tofte Hannibal, General manager of the Danish Composers’ Society and chair of the Fair Practice working group in the European network ECSA & Maj Horn, artist and former chair and organisator
The report “Fair Practice Culture – A study of a code of practice for art and culture” was published in August 2024 by the Danish Composers’ Society & UKK
Text contributions to the report: Cecilie Ullerup Schmidt, Signe Klejs, Another Life Community, Christian Gade Bjerrum, Rikke Bank & Hande Dogan, Finn Schumacker
Collaboration on report content: Marie Thams, artist and chair of BKF, Jacob Teglgaard, project manager – green sustainability at The Culture Research Institute (Kulturens Analyseinstitut) and the boards of the Danish Composers’ Society & UKK
Graphic design and layout: Hanna Bergman
Photography: Sine Nielsen, Zuhal Kocan, Eduardo Abrantes, Michelle Demant
The physical version of the report can be ordered for 0 DKK at:
The Danish Composers’ Society/Sine Tofte Hannibal
Email: dkf@komponistforeningen.dk
The initiative and the report are supported by the Bikuben Foundation, Augustinus Foundation, the Danish Composers’ Society/Koda Kultur and UKK