Mind the understanding gap: the value of creative freelancers

Almost one third of the creative industries workforce is made up of the self-employed including freelancers, double the rate across the UK more broadly (DCMS, 2021). Yet the role and contribution of creative freelancers in the economy remains poorly understood and under-represented. Such a lack of knowledge has been laid bare by the devastating impacts of [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 on creative employment and freelancing, and the patchy support that freelancers have been able to access in response. In a research project led by Coventry University, 84 creative freelancers who...  [+] Show more

Almost one third of the creative industries workforce is made up of the self-employed including freelancers, double the rate across the UK more broadly (DCMS, 2021). Yet the role and contribution of creative freelancers in the economy remains poorly understood and under-represented. Such a lack of knowledge has been laid bare by the devastating impacts of [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 on creative employment and freelancing, and the patchy support that freelancers have been able to access in response. In a research project led by Coventry University, 84 creative freelancers who lived and/or worked in the Coventry city region, the London Borough of Waltham Forest, and the county of Northumberland were interviewed across 100 hours in 2020. This report summarises our investigation of the contribution of creative freelancers to the economic, societal and place-based impacts of the creative industries. The report sets out: (1) The range of value generation for the economy and for society of creative freelancing; (2) A typology of creative freelancers based on their generation of different types of value; and (3) Policy directions to support the full and sustainable contribution to the economy, society and places of creative freelancing.

Edited excerpts from publication and publisher's website.