Case Study

Artist Fees and Materials

Caris was invited to create a new installation as part of a festival program. She was offered a flat fee of $1,000 and given an outline of the curatorial brief which included producing a new work. It took Caris several meetings with the festival to discuss and develop the concept for what the agreed artwork would be, and then a further two weeks to make the artwork, install and de-install it in the space. There was no material fee for the artwork so Caris needed to pay for the materials out of her artist fee. As a result Caris was at a financial loss and her time was not financially remunerated.

Instead, the festival should provide a separate material fee in addition to the artist fee that aligns with industry standards and is commensurate with the time invested by the artist and scale of the work. The festival should also account for superannuation and workers compensation on top of the artist fee. 

The festival should also provide an opportunity for the artist to scope the time required to develop and present the work so they can be fairly remunerated, or given an opportunity to re-scope with payment.