Islington Mill Art Academy
A free self-organised art school based in Manchester, UK set up in 2007 by a group of art foundation students, dissatisfied with the quality and standards in University fine art courses open to them at that time.

Free School
An occasional post-education group of artists and academics based in London. They have produced an anti-cuts fact sheet. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

The Independent Art School (IAS)
IAS has been setting up meetings for artists since 1999. It functions as an alternative University with no home.

See also Carrot Workers Collective

Internocracy
A youth-led social enterprise passionate about changing the culture of internships for the better in the UK. We work with organisations to support and accredit internship programmes, and with young people to break down the barriers they face in getting an internship.

Position Unpaid
An investigation of internships in the arts by two artists: Natasha Vicars and Emma Leach.

Rights for Interns
The TUC has produced a website with advice and guidance for interns.

Don’t forget to add you suggestions via the comments!

Dark Matter. Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture by Gregory Sholette (2010)

Education Actualized
E-flux’s Journal (#14) on education edited by Irit Rogoff

Con-Demmed to the Bleakest of Futures: Report from the UK by Claire Bishop
E-flux’s Journal (#22) guest edited by Paul Chan and Sven Lütticken.

The Good of Work by Liam Gillick
E-flux’s Journal (#16) on value in the arts.

ART WORK by Temporary Services
Download the PDF produced by the Half Letter Press.

Culture Cuts Blog
The Guardian’s new Culture Cuts blog

Art Workers – cultural labour markets: a literature review by Kate Oakley for the national organization Creativity, Culture and Education
‘…the major debates …include the degree to which cultural work serves as a template for other forms of work; the pains and pleasures of cultural work; the geography of work and the importance of the network and of social contacts, and the growing importance of ‘free work’ of all sorts.’

A new strategy is needed for a brutal new era – Peter Hallward
Times Education Supplement 13.12.10

WAGELESS LIFE by Michael Denning
New Left Review 66

Making a living as an artist by Debra Savage and a-n The Artists Information Company
Download a-n’s research papers, include Debra Savage’s 2006 paper, ‘Making a living as an artist’.

Artists and bankers: how their pay compares
An article from AIR

Variant
The free arts and culture magazine.In-depth coverage in the context of broader social, political & cultural issues.

Code of Practice for Graduate Internships in the Creative Industries
Skillset, who describe themselves as ‘the industry body which supports skills and training for people and businesses to ensure the UK creative industries maintain their world class position’, have published a code of practice for Graduate Internships in the Creative Industries. The code recommends that: As the individual will be performing as a ‘worker,’ they should be paid at least the National Minimum Wage throughout the duration of their placement.

Should I work for Free?
Flow Chart breaking down the all-important decision.

The Visual Arts Blueprint
A workforce development plan for the visual arts sector in the UK, was launched in November 2009. It lays out a series of recommendations and proposed actions to tackle the skills needs of the visual arts sector.

Why Interns Need a Fair Wage, IPPR report
This briefing paper, by ippr and Internocracy, examines the role and nature of unpaid internships in the UK. We argue that the informal system of unpaid internships operating in many of our most exciting and influential industries actively excludes young people who come from less well-off families. We propose a gradual phasing out of unpaid internships and discuss some options for ensuring that more young people have access to paid internship opportunities.

Emerging Workers Report by The Arts Group
The Arts Group is calling for legislation governing the practice of work experience, internships and placements. In its “Emerging Workers” document the Arts Group puts forward the case that Government action is needed in order to protect students and graduates in the arts and creative industries.

Littoral
LITTORAL is a non-profit arts trust which promotes new creative partnerships, critical art practices and cultural strategies in response to issues about social, environmental and economic change.

Art Work. A National Conversation about Art, Labour, and Economics (Temporary Services)
Art Work is a newspaper and accompanying website that consists of writings and images from artists, activists, writers, critics, and others on the topic of working within depressed economies and how that impacts artistic process, compensation and artistic property.

The Paid not Played Choir
The Choir’s performance of ‘It’s a Sad Reality’

CULTURE, NOT PROFIT: READINGS FOR ARTWORKERS
The Free/Slow University of Warsaw’s online journal on ‘culture not for profit’ and free education.

DOXA
An international collective of artists, theorists, designers, architects and engineers.

Carrot Workers Collective
The Carrot Workers’ Collective is a London-based group of students, pre, current and ex-interns, cultural workers, teachers and researchers who regularly meet to think and organise around  free labour.  The Carrot Workers use popular research methods to understand how free labour influences the material conditions, subjectivities,aspirations and desires of those who work for free and how these relate to shifting social, educational and economic policies.

Precarious Workers Brigade
A group of precarious workers in culture & education calling out in solidarity with all those struggling to make a living in a climate of instability and enforced austerity.

Working Artists and the Greater Economy (WAGE)
Based in the States, WAGE is; ‘An activist group of artists, art workers, performers and independent curators fighting to get paid for making the world more interesting.’

New Deal of the Mind
New Deal of the Mind is a coalition of artists, entrepreneurs and opinion formers who recognise the economic, social and cultural value of Britain’s creative talent.

The Amateurist Network
The AMATEURIST NETWORK is somewhere between a support system and a learning network. Through a series of collective discussions it aims to strengthen the impulse to self-organise across disciplines.

AIR – Road map to artists’ representation
After four years of development and membership programmes, AIR has completed research to launch a modern, timely infrastructure for representation. A selection of AIR members discuss what representation will look and feel like for artists, and suggest campaigns that AIR should prioritise.

Trade Union
A project by Sophie Mellor and Karen Di Franco that looks to devise strategies to circumvent increasingly institutionalised structures – embracing the here and now of geographical and social locality, not in opposition to the global, but as a way of sustainable and fleet footed mobility.

Scottish Artists’ Union
The pre-eminent representative voice for visual and applied artists in Scotland, and the only trade union of its kind in the United Kingdom, the SAU is a vitally needed presence in the new political landscape of the country. As Scotland’s devolved parliament continues to prioritise culture, the SAU’s role becomes ever more important.

Artquest’s report on the funding and finance needs of artists
In March 2009 Artquest asked its newsletter subscribers to tell them their experiences of funding and finance – where they get income, what they spend money on, and their general attitudes to loans, grants and other forms of income generation.

Emily Speed’s ‘Getting Paid’ Blog
Emily Speed explores some of the issues facing artists trying to make a living out of the business of art.

K-punk
Critical commentary on the protests from writer-critic-academic Mark Fisher.

Arts Against the Cuts
Information about the Direct Action Long Weekends held at Goldsmiths and Camberwell and other organizational meetings.

After the Crunch
Artists, entrepreneurs, commentators, analysts, policy-makers, policy-sceptics, academics, financiers – and citizens – set out their hopes and fears for the future

The Long Night RCA
Twitter feed from the students at the RCA occupation

Immaterial labour and creative economy seminar series
The Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media, Ireland’s ‘after the economy’ series, which examined the development of an economy of immaterial labour and how this correlates with current arguments relating to creativity, cultural value and economic development.

New Work Network
New Work Network (NWN) supports the development of new performance, live and interdisciplinary arts practices by nurturing arts practitioners through the creation of innovative professional development activities that focus on networking, exchange and collaboration across the UK and internationally.

Q-Art London
A forum for students and graduates from across London’s art colleges as well as anyone else with an interest in art. Runs regular crits, gallery tours, panel discussions and an end of year exhibition. Currently 2000 members strong.

These blog entries begin to map links, research and resources connected to art and labour. If you have any to add, please add in a comment. The themes we are investigating include: