So you’ve passed out of employment and you’re ready to launch yourself into the world of freelance, but how do you get started? It’s a good question at the best of times, but it becomes even more relevant in the current climate where arts jobs are few and far between – and even fewer & further between if you live away from London. How do you find work when organisations up & down the country are barely able to keep the staff they have got?
The Basics
The first (and best) place to start is with yourself and your skills – what have you got to offer an organisation as a freelancer? A clear and up to date CV is an essential starting point, but don’t over do it – no one wants to plough through the detail of every single project you’ve ever been a part of, so save the detail for the major ones only.
Are you a practitioner or a project manager? Or even someone who can do both? Having a more than one string to your bow will stand you in good stead for finding work and encourage organisations to pass more work your way if they can see that you’re more than a one-trick pony. As well as thinking about your skills, think about what you’re interested in. Organisations want people with skills AND enthusiasm for their work – your enthusiasm for what they do is all part of what you have to offer them.
The Big V
Volunteering can play an important part in getting you your first bits of freelance work and it’s a lot more than just a Big Society buzzword. At the start of your freelancing career, you may well end up investing unpaid time & effort into projects or organisations whilst you fundraise to pay yourself as part of the overall project funding. This limbo period can be useful as it gives you the chance to adjust to the change in tempo from full time working to freelance and gives you some breathing space to figure out if freelance really is the right choice for you. Volunteering may also give you opportunities to expand or diversify your skills & experience that simply aren’t available in the world of paid work where the expectation will be that you already have the skills or experience.
It would be easy to sit here and say that we should all rebel against the Government’s current trend toward volunteering and fight to the bitter end for paid work, but that would be unrealistic and impractical in the current climate. So instead, embrace volunteering as a way to make yourself a more attractive prospect as a freelancer. After all, sometimes in life you have to be prepared to give a little to get a little back.
Kim Lofthouse is currently working to set up Cultiv8 Arts to capture her freelance work. Cultiv8 Arts will be dedicated to youth & community engagement work and providing support services to artists & arts organisations in Yorkshire & the North of England.
She mostly recently worked as Youth Dance Administrator for Yorkshire Dance and project managed Fresh 2010 & 2011 as well as a regional youth dance careers event.