Fair Work Statement

Fair Work
Fair Work at Arika is part of how we organise and relate to each other, grounded in a practice of Rigorous Care. It is not a fixed framework, but something we work through in practice, in relation, and over time.

Power and Difference
We are attentive to power in the workplace, understanding it as something held through formal roles and responsibilities, but also shaped by social and cultural dynamics between people. Decision-making is distributed across the organisation in different ways, with varying degrees of input, autonomy and responsibility depending on context. Informal forms of power also shape working relationships and can be beneficial, complex, or at times harmful. Fair Work, for us, is inseparable from how these dynamics are recognised and negotiated in practice.
We do not use “inclusion” as a framing. Instead, we work with difference and structural inequality, aiming to create conditions where participation does not depend on adapting to dominant norms. This shapes how we approach recruitment, commissioning, access, and working arrangements across the organisation and programme.

Our Team
Our employment practices are designed to support stability, clarity and shared responsibility.
We pay all staff above the Real Living Wage and do not use zero-hours contracts. All staff have secure contracts with clear terms and conditions.
We support effective voice through regular meetings, shared planning, and opportunities to reflect on how decisions are made. Staff are involved in shaping the organisation, and we recognise the right to join a trade union.
We support workforce development as part of everyday work as well as formal training, with a dedicated development budget and a culture of shared learning.
We work with flexibility as standard, including flexible hours and hybrid or remote working where possible, alongside support for parents and carers.
We aim for sustainability and fulfilment, with clear roles, realistic workloads, and space for autonomy, care and reflection.

Artists, Freelancers and Self-Employed Workers
We work with artists, freelancers, self-employed workers and collaborators as part of a shared ecology of labour, where work is shaped through negotiated relationships rather than fixed hierarchies.
All work is contracted clearly in advance, with agreements setting out fees, timelines, responsibilities, and working conditions.
We review our rates annually for artists and self-employed project workers, using relevant union guidelines (including the Scottish Artists Union, BECTU and ITC) as a key reference point, alongside consideration of scale, resources, and the nature of different artforms and practices. As a multi-artform organisation, we apply these frameworks flexibly across different contexts.
Fees are agreed in advance and paid promptly, with transparency around resources, expectations and working conditions.
In some projects, we use paid advisory and steering structures to support shared shaping of work and build in time for reflection and feedback.
Across this work, we aim to hold conditions of care, access, and mutual responsibility, recognising the ways artistic and freelance work is shaped by both formal agreements and informal dynamics of power.

Local Organising
Some of our work takes place in contexts where labour is organised outside formal employment structures. In these settings, we apply Fair Work flexibly, with work that is community-led and shaped through collaboration, skill-sharing, and, where appropriate, paid roles.
We are attentive to how labour is valued and recognised in these contexts and aim to avoid extractive practices or placing additional burden on existing collective work.

Ongoing
Fair Work is something we continue to work through in practice, in relation, and over time.