Fair Work

LUX Scotland aims to be a fair organisation to work for, and a fair organisation to work with. We respect the Fair Work Convention​’s framework, and follow the five ​‘dimensions’ of effective voice, opportunity, security, fulfilment and respect, as follows:

Effective Voice

We support the concept of effective voice and embed this at all levels of the organisation. This includes encouraging openness, transparency, dialogue and tolerance of different opinions.

How we work internally:

We have a number of structures (both formal and informal) in place to allow real dialogue (both individual and collective) to take place. These include:

• Weekly Team Meetings

• Monthly Programme Meetings

• Annual Reviews

• Annual Away Day

• Biannual Advisory Group Meetings

• Quarterly Board of Director Meetings

• We also organise additional support meetings for staff whenever necessary

How we work with artists:

We recognise and respect the Scottish Artists Union’s voice and use their guidelines on artists rates of pay (see ​‘Security’, below).

We seek feedback from artists and audiences across our programme and we review this information on a regular basis. We collect feedback through surveys that are sent out to audiences after each event and annual surveys that allow participating artists to comment on the experience of working with us. We also invite artists to participate in evaluation work with third party organisations which provides an opportunity to provide more in depth feedback.

Opportunity

We are conscious of the workforce profile of our organisation, and our sector, and we are keen to identify barriers to opportunity.

How we work internally:

We aim to ensure that all opportunities we offer are made available to as wide a range of people as possible, and that there are no barriers to opportunities or participation.

All team members have an annual review meeting with the Director to discuss their role and responsibilities, achievements and challenges, and identify upcoming goals or ambitions. The full team undertakes an annual away day to discuss organisational issues together, and address the wider context in which they are working.

The team undertakes a range of training and development throughout the year and in previous years this has included:

• Equalities, diversity and inclusion

• Unconscious bias

• Inclusive recruitment

• Mental health

• Neurodiversity

• First aid

How we work with artists:

We use a ​‘career stage’ approach when advertising opportunities to encourage applications from artists of all ages. When we request a certain number of years’ experience, this does not have to be consecutive years of practice and can begin from a point in an artist’s career that is deemed to be the beginning of their working practice. There is no age restriction to any of our opportunities and we do not require artists to have been in formal education, art school or university. This applies to employment opportunities as well as opportunities for artists.

Security

We aim to support widespread awareness and understanding of employment rights across the organisation.

How we work internally:

All members of the LUX Scotland team are offered PAYE contracts and we do not offer any zero hour contracts.

Our rates of pay for 2023/​24 are as below:

LUX Scotland team:

• Director (full-time) £40,000 per annum

• Managers (part-time) £30,000* pro rata per annum

• Freelance /​fixed term fees are based on salaried roles, and a daily rate is calculated on the basis of an annual salary + 30% /​220 working days. i.e a £30,000 salary works out as approx. £177 per day.

* Most of the LUX Scotland team work part-time and salaries are pro rata, meaning staff salaries are proportional to the days they work.

** Salaries for the LUX Scotland team are based on sector-wide research and comparisons, including: Arts Professional’s Arts Pay Report (2018); Tate’s Salary Benchmarking (2019 – 20); Museums Association’s Salary Research and Recommendations (2022) and a pay benchmarking exercise for arts organisations in Scotland (2022).

LUX Scotland does not offer any voluntary roles or unpaid internships. We currently work with Glasgow University and Glasgow School of Art to provide accredited work placements for post-graduate students, and we aim to make these opportunities are as transparent and accessible as possible.

We acknowledge the need for stable employment and job security (despite the precarity of the sector and the economic context) and aim to provide transparency and agency where possible. We also acknowledge the difficulty of working in a precarious sector and not being able to plan ahead. To support this we encourage the team to contribute to major funding applications and provide clarity and transparency around terms of employment.

We acknowledge the impact of workload, the need for clarity around roles, the importance of sharing responsibility across the team, and the necessity of appropriate time off.

How we work with artists:

All workers are paid at least the Living Wage (as calculated by the Living Wage Foundation) and we aim to pay all artists in line with Scottish Artists Union (SAU) rates: https://www.artistsunion.scot/rates_of_pay

We actively advocate for these rates across our programme, including partnerships and international projects.

Our rates of pay for 2023/​24 are as below:

Artists:

• Occasional work (under 10 days) is paid at SAU rates*

• Regular work (over 10 days) is based on the equivalent of a managers’ salary.

• Commissioning fees are based on the estimated number of days the work will take, based on SAU rates or the equivalent of a manager’s salary.

• Residency fees based on SAU residency rates.

• Screening fees are either based on LUX’s recommended screening fees (for one-off in-person events) or on SAU rates (for a month-long online screening) based on a minimum call out to cover the labour and lost income incurred .

• Studio visits are based on a minimum call out of 4 hours based on SAU rates.

* All SAU rates are based on the guidelines given at the point a funding application is submitted. We don’t have sufficient resources/​contingencies to increase these if guidelines change after the application has been submitted.

We are clear with artists and collaborators about the precarity of our organisation and we don’t offer work that is yet to be funded without being absolutely clear about the nature of the offer.

Fulfilment

How we work internally:

• We aim to build job satisfaction into all roles and create a culture where staff can make a difference to the sector in which we operate.

• We invest in training, learning and skills development for current and future jobs (see ​‘Opportunity’ above).

• We provide clear and transparent opportunities for career progression and personal development both within and outwith the organisation.

• Our expectations of performance are realistic, and achievable without creating a negative impact on wellbeing.

• We aim to develop a programme that can be delivered fairly, ethically and realistically, with the appropriate support structures in place.

• We aim to create an environment where the mental health and wellbeing of employees, collaborators and participants is taken as seriously as their physical health.

The way we operate, both internally and externally, affects the mental health and wellbeing of our staff and the individuals that we work with. Periods of lockdown in 2020 – 22 changed the way we worked and when working from home we encourage the team to set appropriate boundaries for:

• The number of online meetings per day

• The duration of an online meeting (max. 1.5 hours) with regular breaks, both on and off line

• The duration of breaks between them

• The length of their working day

• We also encourage the team to use alternative ways of meeting whenever possible (e.g. phone/​walk).

How we work with artists:

• We support artists to create the work they want to make.

• We provide a range of training and development opportunities for artists through our Learning Programme.

• We provide opportunities for career progression through a range of residencies and commissions.

• Our expectations of artists are realistic, and achievable without creating a negative impact on wellbeing.

• We aim to work fairly, ethically and realistically, with the appropriate support structures in place.

• We aim to create an environment where the mental health and wellbeing of artists is taken as seriously as their physical health.

We are currently working on a three-year collaborative project, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, that works towards creating systemic change in the Scottish arts sector for disabled visual artists and arts professionals.

The project has three main strands:

• Commissioning, in a supportive and anti-ableist way

• Research, to disseminate the findings of the project and to help influence lasting change in the sector

• Organisational development, to ensure changes are made in our organisations, at all levels, to break down the barriers disabled people face when visiting, participating in and/​or working with our organisations.

Respect

How we work internally, and with artists:

• We aim to create a culture of respect that requires behaviours, attitudes, policies and practices that support health, safety and wellbeing, and that these are consistently understood and applied.

• Mutual respect is an organisational value and a guide to how we work. We have clear expectations of behaviour, conduct and treatment and encourage everyone we work with to be respectful to others. We have a Safe Spaces Policy and Equal Opportunity Policy which are shared with all new members of staff.

• We respect the team’s personal commitments and encourage a work/​life balance.

• We see differing views as productive and creative. We aim to ensure that interpersonal relationships and internal procedures exist to manage conflicting views in a constructive way.

• We acknowledge the importance of trust and respect between team members, the ability to share concerns confidentially, and knowledge of appropriate procedures to resolve issues within the team. To support this we ensure that all personal matters are treated confidentially.

We encourage the team to use the appropriate platform for communication as a means of respect for the other team members as outlined below:

• Telephone/​mobile for urgent matters

• WhatsApp for informal chat and non-urgent updates

• Slack for work chat and collation of information

• Email for external communication and important actions

• Zoom for external events

• Google Meets for internal meetings & external meetings (where appropriate)

• Google Drive for shared documents

LUX fundraises to support its public work and to support the care and management of its collection and public programme. This policy aims to align our fundraising efforts with the core values and aims of the organisation as outlined below.

Aims and Objectives of LUX

LUX supports and promotes artists’ working with the moving image.

Advocacy

• Highlight, celebrate and raise awareness of the richness of artists’ moving image work in the UK and abroad.

• Celebrate and promote the value of diversity in UK moving image and visual arts culture.

• Influence and educate decision-makers in the importance and value of artists’ moving image work.

• Celebrate and promote a UK-wide, non-London-centric artists’ moving image culture.

• Educate and inspire artists of the future, and promote the expressive potential of moving image media.

• Sustain and develop new audiences for artists’ moving image work.

• Promote fair pay for artists.

• Promote critical and vocational study of artists’ moving image work in education.

• Raise and maintain the visibility of artists’ moving image work across media including new media forms.

• Promote sustainability and environmental consciousness.

Access

• Maintain, protect and develop the heritage of UK artists’ moving image work for future generations.

• Enable UK-wide public access to the rich history of artists’ moving image production.

• Support, platform and disseminate discourse around artists’ moving image work.

• Provide UK-wide access to professional knowledge and networks.

• Provide access to the community of artists working with the moving image in the UK.

• Promote and provide international access to UK artists and works.

Support

• Enable the public to experience high-quality artists’ moving image works.

• Provide opportunities for artists through commissioning projects and residencies.

• Support emergent and aspirant artists engaged with the moving image to develop skills, knowledge and networks.

• Support emergent and aspirant curators to engage with and access artists’ moving image work.

• Provide specialist technical and conceptual support to individuals and organisations who wish to work with artists and show artists’ moving image work.

• Enable artists to earn income from their work and develop a sustainable practice.

Values

Our values are inspired by its co-operative roots and the unique qualities of the medium we work with, which demand networked communities for its production and dissemination. Our core values can thus be summarised as:

• Self-help. Supporting and empowering our users to develop skills and knowledge to develop a sustainable sector.

• Self-responsibility. We seek to empower our users to contribute to the culture they want.

• Democracy. All of our users are treated as equals.

• Equality. We strive to provide opportunities for all users to get involved regardless of their backgrounds, and we celebrate and promote diversity in all aspects of our work and will level the playing field to enable this.

• Equity. We are committed to fairness in all of our work.

• Solidarity. We support the needs of the many over the interests of the few.

• Furthermore, LUX believes in the values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others in all of its activities.

Fundraising

LUX will seek to fundraise efforts towards companies, organisations and individuals whose work is in alignment with our values and aims, and in addition that makes a positive social, cultural or environmental impact.

LUX will not knowingly apply to, or accept funding from organisations or individuals whose primary work includes direct involvement in activities that run contrary to our overall aims and values. These include companies, organisations, regimes or individuals who, to the best of our knowledge or understanding, directly:

• block or actively work against social justice and human rights, including issues of race, sexuality, disability and inequality.

• block or work against community empowerment.

• harm the environment, including fossil fuels and animal welfare.

• work in or with industries where working practices and/​or the goods produced are harmful, for example, arms or tobacco industries.

Oil Sponsorship

LUX has made the Oil Sponsorship Free commitment: We do not take any oil, coal, or gas corporate sponsorship for our cultural work. Furthermore, we call on our partners and collaborators to refuse fossil fuel funding too. For more at oilsponsorshipfree​.org

Process

LUX will use best efforts to appropriately assess each situation on a case-by-case basis, and work to the best knowledge available to us. We acknowledge that the list of activities above is broad and issues of direct and indirect ownership and/​or control can be complex to identify and understand. Our research may be informed by cultural boycotts/​campaigns which are in place.

Statutory Bodies and Charitable Trusts

Most of LUX’s financial support comes from statutory bodies or charitable trusts. We acknowledge, however, that statutory bodies and trusts are not necessarily ethical just by virtue of being statutory bodies and charities. In recognition of this we will attempt to research and understand the sources of these organisations’ funds and the proximity and the controlling, holding or founding company or individual’s role in the decision-making processes.

Partnerships/​Associations

LUX aims to collaborate with individuals and organisations that apply similar values to their work. It also aims to work with individuals and organisations who may have not considered the issues raised in this document, but who are willing to engage with dialogue around the issues raised in this document. LUX will not work in partnership or association with any individual or organisation whose primary activities are directly contrary to our aims. LUX recognises that its partners/​associates (including arts and higher education organisations, and individual artists) may receive funding from organisations or individuals whose activities run contrary to our aims. In such circumstances: we will share this policy with its partner/​associate and strive to ensure that the partnership or association is not directly related to, or publicly associated with, the partner’s funding or funded activities – this relates to the content of both LUX and its partner/associate’s publicity; LUX will not directly or indirectly publicise, credit or endorse its partner/associate’s funder; nor allow that funder to associate themselves with LUX in any way without our express permission; where appropriate, LUX will incorporate the principles of this Policy into contracts/​agreements with partners/​associates.