Helpful organisations for careers in art and design

Art and design can be a tough industry to get into, which makes it all the harder to stand up for your rights when you’re starting out. However, you are not alone – there are various organisations that will support you. They can help you negotiate contracts and protect your legal rights, and provide you with access to advice from more experienced people in your industry.

Unions for art, design and culture

The Federation of Entertainment Unions is an umbrella organisation that coordinates the actions of a number of entertainment unions including:

• the National Union of Journalists (NUJ)
• the Musicians’ Union
• Equity, the acting union
• the Writers’ Guild

Other groups such as BECTU, the media and entertainment union, also provide support for art and design graduates pursuing media careers.

While there are few unique bodies dedicated to art and design, most unions are inclusive, and will try and support industry professionals from related sectors. For example, the NUJ will also accept memberships from designers in the media. Similarly, Equity will accept membership from camera or production crews.

Protecting your intellectual rights

The following organisations collect royalties for artists, or can provide useful information about protecting copyright:

• The Performing Right Society (PRS for music) collects royalties for songwriters and composers.
• Music licensing agency PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited) collects royalties for copyright owners of music and music videos.
• The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) performs a similar function for writers and authors. It also has ‘successor memberships’ for the heirs to writers’ estates.
• The Copyright Service has some helpful advice for other artists and designers about protecting their copyright.

Government bodies

As well as these organisations, there are a number of government bodies specifically set up to support artists.

For example, there are the Sector Skills Councils (SSCs), which aim to encourage the development of employable sector-specific skills:

• Creative & Cultural Skills is the sector skills council for arts, crafts and culture
• Skillset is the sector skills council for the creative industries and multimedia

In addition, the Arts Councils supply government grants to organisations, as well as supporting venues and groups across the UK:

• Arts Council England
• Creative Scotland
• Arts Council of Northern Ireland
• Arts Council of Wales