“How much should I be charging for my work?” is a question that is often posed by freelancers working in dance. The answer to this may not be straightforward and may depend on lots of variables. There are some invaluable online resources available that can assist you to work out how much to charge for your work – or what is an acceptable offer – and which act as a useful benchmark.
These include:
Much work that takes place in the sector is self-generated – meaning teaching artists set up and run their own sessions. These resources can help identify how much to charge for e.g. class fees for participants.
Funded activity and projects may need to ensure fees meet a minimum that the funder identifies. We always recommend that artist fees are clearly identified in the project budget, that they are commensurate with the work being undertaken, and that the notion of ‘minimum’ is just that and not a target to aim for.
Overall we believe that the issue of pay in the arts is acute and that teaching artists and others working in the field are often underpaid for the work they do and the skills they bring. This is symptomatic, amongst other things, of the arts ecology being in financial crisis, an over-reliance on’ trickle-down’ economics, and reductions in public spending within allied professions (education, health, community development etc).
How do People Dancing approach this for its own work?
Freelancers working for our organisation always receive a written contract or letter of engagement that details the agreed fee and expenses and includes clearly dated payment terms.
The fees we pay are based on a number of variable factors that are specific to the contract/work in question and the extent to which We remain abreast of externally recommended fee rates (including those linked to above) and how these can be applied to the work offered. Variables include the length, scale, complexity and level of experience required, the number and nature of deliverable days or deliverable activity, implications for travel, planning and evaluation, consideration for ‘intellectual property rights’ such as online streaming.
Examples of current fees for creative work range from £125 for a two-hour practical session with community groups and £450-£600 per day for leading workshops within our training programme. We generally don’t contract by the hour, but on the rare occasions we do this is usually at a rate of £45-£75 per hour. We pay fees to freelancers for writing (e.g. for our Blog and magazine) contributions to research (e.g. participation in an online focus group or an interview) for speaking at our events online and in-person.
For travel, we pay freelancers a mileage rates for car travel of 45p per mile or reimburse or organise for the cheapest available train fare, or travel by other forms of public transport, plus car parking charges. We pay for taxis if needed for access and will pay for other access support by agreement. If an overnight stay is required, we organise and pay for accommodation and provide meals/subsistence at actual cost to an agreed maximum.
For administrative work on a PAYE we pay a minimum of the Real Living Wage (£12.60/£13.85 in London). Staff salaries are pitched to reflect other similar posts within the sector. If a fixed percentage increase is applied to salaries (e.g. occasional cost of living increases) then the same percentage increase is applied to fees paid to our regular freelancers.
as at February 2025