Update 23 June 2022: In 2021, ArtsProfessional became an employee-owned company with new management.  Since then, we have been working hard to continually grow and develop ArtsPro, while updating and modernising our systems, policies and processes.  The wording below does not reflect current policy and will be updated as soon as possible. We have left the wording below in place for transparency.

Since our very first publication back in April 2001, we have never paid any external contributors and we are completely open about the reasons:

  1. Our aim is to provide a forum for sharing good practice – AP is a resource for arts professionals, by arts professionals - people working within the sector who want to tell others about their successes, and be recognised for them. Our contributors are seldom experienced writers - let alone make their living from writing. But we aim to give them a voice and give their work a high profile among their arts colleagues - and their funders.
  2. Because we believe the freedom of the press is as vital in the arts sector as it is in all other walks of life, we neither seek nor would accept any public funding whatsoever. This independence means that we can cover the issues that others do not feel able to, but in the cash-strapped sector that is the arts, it also means that generating enough revenues to keep AP going is a very serious challenge.
  3. Like many other professional publications serving communities in the not-for-profit sector, AP's diverse sources of income enable us to cover core costs only. For example, this includes professional editors whose job it is to ensure that material provided by our contributors is presented to our readership in its best light.
  4. Because we cannot afford to pay fees for our feature content, we do not approach professional journalists or writers. Occasionally they approach us, and we tell them about our fee policy and the reason for it. We encourage them to proceed only if they feel it is in their wider interests to do so.
  5. All the articles we publish remain the copyright of those who write them, to do with as they please.

Sorry, but if you need to be paid for your writing, please do not submit an article to ArtsProfessional. We cannot afford to pay our contributors.