are, in general, willing to work with personal decisions to increase or reduce working hours. In part, this is perhaps not surprising, given that the opening hours usually extend further than the working day – juggling staffing cover means there is experience of flexibility. Many staff cut back on their hours to fit with personal circumstances such as planning a family and the desire to utilise their skills in a professional capacity (the ‘portfolio career’). There is experience of both maternity and paternity leave.
There have been attempts by some to do their job on a freelance or consultancy basis, but they tend to stand out because they are unusual. For employees who want to cut down their hours, maybe to fit in with family commitments or a change in lifestyle, it can be easier to do this within the structure of an organisation, and to build up their hours at a later date, rather than to leave altogether and try to make a freelance employment path on their own:
‘In logistic terms, a career in this world does require you to be mobile, and to fit your friendship and family patterns to that mobility – and I mean internationally, not just within the UK. Jobs are rare and need to be moved to, whether in the UK or overseas.
‘Some people manage a career as a freelance – maybe offering short-term administrative assistance or a role as a temporary curator, but my sense is that first you perhaps have to have made a reputation within a series of fixed positions before others would hire you to work for them on a project basis. As freelances obviously only earn when they are working (not during holidays or fallow periods), this is difficult within our low-pay sector.’
DAVID FALKNER, DIRECTOR, STANLEY PICKER GALLERY, KINGSTON
But self-employment is possible, as the following two case studies illustrate.
Case Studies: Self-employment
Interview with Jeremy Theophilus, self-employed museum consultant
‘Whereas ten years ago there were relatively few opportunities for freelance work within the museums and galleries sector, today the number has increased. This may be due in part to the increasing professionalisation of the sector, with many would-be entrants taking a course in museum or gallery studies which leaves them equipped with a variety of transferable skills. These they can use within a variety of host organisations – so if they do not get a job in a museum or gallery (whether by inclination, because the right opportunity has not come up, or they were unsuccessful at interview), some move into arts marketing, arts administration or publishing, often on a freelance basis. And, of course, once a freelance path is established, others may choose this option too, either due to life circumstances (e.g. the decision to start a family or work for oneself, or take a part-time role instead of a full-time corporate career).
Why would an organisation choose to use a freelance rather than an in-house member of staff?
‘The main reason is usually the ability to park a particular project with someone who has specific responsibility for its execution. In-house members of staff may have a variety of different priorities and perhaps conflicting line management expectations, and so being able to allocate a specific job to an external member of staff, with an associated budget and timeline, may be an effective way of managing resources. The budget for a freelance member of staff can also be written into the project specification when funding is sought, and so itemised separately from the organisational overhead.
‘The downside can be that the wider dissemination of what is learnt in the process of managing the project, and the sense of involvement for the organisation as a whole needs to be carefully managed.
What particular skills does the freelance need?
• Sensitivity to the host organisation. The opportunity to work on a single project with an allocated budget and timeline may be one that in-house staff would appreciate too.
• Good communication skills. To establish at the outset what is required, how much involvement and over how long.
• Self-organisation. In particular an ability to relate time spent to funding sought. The freelance needs to be particularly sensitive to the allocation of their time and what they are earning and be able to make the case for further negotiation either of budget or allocation of responsibility in return.
• Self-motivation – it can be lonely, and the client seldom wants to know if you are having trouble meeting the brief.
• Good at juggling. One of the client’s main reasons for putting a job out