Asking for Free Work
As a multidisciplinary artist, it has been such a struggle to find a decent client, especially with the growing cost of living and the loans which people have to pay back. Amidst this, I open this app everyday with a hope that I will find a person who posts a vacancy of a paid artist (this of course applies to every artist from all art forms). But it's so strange to open this app everyday and only find words like 'unpaid' or 'collaboration' or 'cannot pay' by various people from different agencies. I for instance come with a six years experience in photography and now an MA in it, and yet I find myself in a pool where people are asking me to photograph them for free.
My question is really simple. How do I pay my bills?
Replies4
- Sanica, totally hear you. I would be willing to give you some free advice on how you can navigate this.I’m a Creative Coach and this is a common problem I see. Feel free to drop me a message if you’re interested! Yasmine
- Cheap clients are everywhere it’s seems! I recently posted a job on here which was paid for (2k for a days work) but the client fell through and went with a cheaper option!I think it’s about positioning and networking. Getting in-front of the right people is absolutely key to get a higher calibre of client.
- I am 15 years deep in it and this is just something we have to accept that is apart of the career path we chose... Sometimes these "free jobs" lead to great things.
- I feel you. We are living through tough times with the current cost of living. I see way more collabs now than when I first started with thedots a couple of years ago now. My advice would be to connect with as much people as posible, people that are relevant in your industry of course. Find connexions that you find interesting, the more people you connect with the more news you will get in your feeding and eventually you will find some paid jobs. But I completely agree with you, there are wayy to many collabs. I think people should understand that creatives need to get paid even in passion projects. I have done passion projects in the past where I paid something! pay something at least!! Keep trying you will eventually get there :)
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