The UCL School for the Creative and Cultural Industries (SCCI) working in partnership with The Uncultured and Creative Newham are pleased to invite you to join a research workshop to inform the design of a series of professional development activities.
We look forward to hearing from 3 stakeholder groups working in the Creative and Cultural Industries:
- Established freelancers
- Aspiring freelancers
- Employers of freelancers
In this initial research phase, we will host a roundtable with each group to better understand the support they require to sustain, develop and thrive in their professional practice.
Acknowledging the work undertaken by the Freelance Task Force in 2020 which identified training as a key sector need, and the growing concern over ‘skills mismatches’ identified by Creative PEC, this Partnership Lab seeks to explore a methodology that invites stakeholders to feed into and shape practical solutions to these needs.
As a result of your participation, the project team will design and/or co-commission up to six Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities responding to the most pressing needs shared by the groups.
As a participant in this project, you will receive exclusive access to the resulting CPD (representing up to £3,000 of in-kind support) and become part of the SCCI Partnership Lab community, offering a gateway for collaboration with UCL across research, knowledge exchange, pedagogy and community engagement.
Definitions and Frequently Asked Questions:
Note: We welcome and encourage self-identification across all definitions provided in this document. If you’d prefer to discuss which session is best suited for your situation, please contact Leo Burtin: l.burtin@ucl.ac.uk
- For the purposes of this project, a freelancer is defined as someone who spends part or all of their working life working for themselves (including through a Limited Company or other Sole Director structure) and/or on multiple contracts with a range of collaborators, organisations, partners. This may include combining self-employment with ‘on-payroll’ work or a portfolio of short-term contracts for a range of employers.
Furthermore, we define ‘established freelancers’ in opposition to ‘aspiring freelancers’. For the purposes of this project, an aspiring freelancer is someone new to freelancing, or whose engagement with a freelance mode of working is limited in time. To gain the most value from this project, freelancers self-identifying with this category will aspire / have ambition to develop their freelance practice further.
By contrast, established freelancers are likely working for themselves the majority of the time. They will have submitted at least one self-assessment tax return, and be very accustomed to freelance working life and the varying self-employment frameworks.
- For the purposes of this project, we will not provide a fixed definition of the Creative and Cultural Industries, and once again, encourage self-identification and definition. However, the specific areas of expertise aligned with SCCI are currently:
- Art & Technology, Creative Technology, CreaTech and associated disciplines
- Creative Arts and Humanities including: film, performance and creative writing
- Media including creative production, filmmaking (moving image), games design, digital media, emerging media, radio and podcasting
- Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Art Centres and Museums (GLAAM)
- Immersive storytelling, designing immersive experiences
- Creative Health
- Conservation and Curation
- Creative Enterprise / Creative Producing
- Public History and Public Anthropology including creative approaches to Anthropology and Ethnography such as Creative Documentary Filmmaking
- We derive our definition of Continuing Professional Development from the CPD Certification Service as ‘the term used to describe the learning activities professionals engage in to develop and enhance their abilities. CPD is a holistic approach towards the enhancement of personal skills and proficiency throughout a professional’s career.’
About the project partners:
UCL School for the Creative and Cultural Industries
Our interdisciplinary school links teaching and research focused on technology, media, history, heritage, collections and conservation, and art and creativity. It connects three academic faculties: UCL Social & Historical Sciences, UCL Arts & Humanities, and UCL Institute of Education. We foster new research partnerships and forms of innovative engagement with industry partners, cultural institutions and communities, and bring together a range of degree programmes within our cutting-edge facilities at UCL East.
The Uncultured
The Uncultured are freelance arts producers Ash Bowmott and Laura Sweeney. They offer support, resources and mentoring to freelancers, as well as advocating for better freelance working conditions with national organisations and agencies. Recent sector research: Pause: A self-care support for producers (2025, Producer Gathering, Marlborough Productions, Artsadmin), Open Doors: The real cost of artist-led spaces (2023, East Street Arts + Guild), A Freelance Supporters Menu (2020). Artist and arts worker development is at the core of their practice, and they believe freelancers need to be empowered (with money and resources). They create free to access, freelancer-friendly resources to help minimise unpaid labour; from fundraising templates for Arts Council England to financial planners and relationship trackers.
Find out more about The Uncultured
Creative Newham
Creative Newham is an independent alliance of arts, cultural, educational, social and voluntary organisations committed to growing and strengthening cultural mobility in all its forms in Newham.
They aim to provide a strong and connected creative vision for the borough whereby everyone can benefit from creative opportunities - as makers, producers, leaders, audiences and participants - whatever their background or circumstances.