East london freelancers network 2020-2022

Like many other freelancers during the pandemic I lost all of my work. I was thrilled then when Fuel threw (a few) of us a lifeline in the form of the Freelance Task Force. Stratford East reached out to all the freelancers who had worked with them under Nadia Fall and invited us to apply to be their sponsored freelancer and I was chosen. As part of my time on the FTF I ran regular online meet ups with the other Stratford East freelancers and when that came to an end the theatre gave me a budget and free reign to expand those meet ups into a programme of support for freelancers based in East London.

I ran the network to provide three things which I came to after considering what, (apart from holiday pay, NI, sick pay and. a share of power and resources, do freelancers miss which our salaried colleagues get). They are:

Community (Green rooms, shared working space, water cooler chat)

CPD (Training, skills)

Creative Fuel (Free tickets, a network of present, creative people, those water cooler chats)

So I ran the network accordingly.

This is a selection of some of the workshops, talks and masterclasses I programmed.

COMMUNITY:

Coffee mornings / informal meet ups / check ins. 

Group coaching and wellbeing sessions: Sarah Fox and The Loss Project.

CPD:

Having Difficult Conversations: Sarah Cartwright

Body Language on Zoom: Lucy Hind

Fundraising (DYCP, G4A, trusts and foundations etc) The Uncultured; Tom Ryalls

Marketing: Nicola Azzopardi

Tax for Freelancers: Sarah Jane Watkinson; Susie Italiano

Producing: Daisy Hale

Anti-racism: malakaî sargeant

Anti-Ableism- Michéle Taylor

UWE Your Rights as a Creative Freelancer: Tash Hyman and Tessa Buddle

Making Your Work Accessible: Vijay Patel

CREATIVE FUEL:

Poetry for Non-Writers: Arjunan Mauelpillai

Creative Writing: Caroline Horton

Podcasting: Arden Fitzroy

Writing from Personal Experience: Christy Ku

The Pathology of Power: Suzanne Alleyne

I also ran it on the following principles:

Everyone is paid to deliver * Everyone who delivers is freelance * Access is provided on a case by case basis (CC always available) * Meetings are informal, breastfeeding and child friendly * Participants are encouraged to attend in any way which is comfortable for them.

The network now has a permanent legacy: it has been moved in house and has become the Stratford East Royalty Scheme - Freelancers. If you are an East London freelancer, get involved.