No More Free Labour: a freelancer's toolkit

Navigating this can be difficult, especially if you are at the beginning of your creative career and feel you have to take every gig that comes your way, regardless of the work or the payment conditions. But it is worth saying that a higher level of experience does not make unpaid job offers disappear, and lots of established creative professionals still struggle to get their time and craft respected. As fashion and product photographer Svenja Ava put it: "I keep getting asked to shoot for free in exchange for a tag… it's mostly influencers, musicians, celebs — people most of the time being paid to attend events or being paid for a post, asking me to work for free."

Yes, the creative market can be a scary and unfair place. But you can still have some agency. What we've found immensely helpful is this checklist of five practical questions by multidisciplinary artist and author Lo Harris, worth running through before taking any project where you're asked to work for exposure.

1. Does this opportunity REALLY have to be free?

This one is about negotiation. First, make sure the client knows they are asking you to work for free — creative work is work, and work should be paid. Second, push the client towards transparent communication: is there really no budget, or could they pay at least something? Are others involved in this project also not getting paid? Don't be afraid to ask. Even less is better than no compensation at all.

2. Could this gig open the door to more lucrative opportunities in the near future?

Could this offer really demonstrate your skill in the area you are passionate about and potentially get you the client of your dreams — or is it just going to get you stuck in a vicious circle of more unpaid gigs?

3. Is this for a cause that you care about?

This is probably one of the very few cases where offering your skills and time gratis might make the most sense. Is there a cause or an NGO you deeply align with, where your time and expertise can be used meaningfully?

4. Is this REALLY exposure?

How big is the client asking you to work for them for exposure, and how are they going to measure it? One Instagram tag or a story mention is most likely not going to do the job. If your client wants you to work for free, hold them accountable and ask for specific numbers. Chris Do has a short, sharp piece of advice on responding to "exposure bucks".

5. Can you do this job on your own terms?

If you are already not getting paid for the job you're asked to do, you should at least be able to set your own boundaries on the extent of the work, the communication and the deadlines. And most importantly, make sure everyone is on the same page before you start.

We hope this brings at least a bit of clarity to how to handle client communication around unpaid labour. And remember, as Lo Harris says: "if you decide to work for exposure, make sure to do so sparingly, strategically and with very specific intentions."

Further tips and resources

Internships: the cradle of unpaid labour

It would be impossible to talk about unpaid creative labour without mentioning one of its main starting points for most creatives — the unpaid internship. Below are some resources we wish we'd had when we were interns.

• Design Interns Club is an initiative led by design students, graduates and interns who want greater internship transparency in design studios, agencies, fashion houses and other institutions.

• Design Interns Club's spreadsheet is an open document where you can contribute your own internship experience.

• Intern Mag is a platform providing creatives with the tools they need to navigate their professional journey with confidence.

(Not only) for writers

Even though the document below is aimed primarily at writers and the people who hire them, its guideline rates of pay — among a lot of other good advice — are useful for creatives and artists in other fields too.

• Writers' Pay and Conditions is an author-led document on fair pay and treatment of writers in Ireland, by Match in the Dark. The chapter on guideline rates of pay covers illustrators too.

Unions are the new black

Unions are not relics of the past but living, breathing and immensely important bodies that help workers worldwide obtain collective bargaining power for fair wages and working conditions. If you're an artist or cultural worker based in Berlin or elsewhere in Germany, the two below might be for you.

• **BBK — Berufsverband Bildender Künstler*innen Berlin** is a professional association of visual artists based in Berlin, providing infrastructure and means of production for artistic work. It is also active in cultural policy, taking positions on the working conditions and standing of artists in society, and advising policymakers in artists' interests.

• Die Illustratoren Organisation e.V. (IO) is the only professional association for illustrators in Germany. It represents the economic, political and artistic interests of illustrators to politicians and commercial users, and does the political work of enforcing necessary frameworks. The IO has published on copyright for illustrators, fair remuneration, and the daily work and mental health of people in the illustration field.

Public funding for artists

• Künstlersozialkasse (KSK) is a social fund for freelance artists, publicists and art teachers living in Germany. It is funded by the government and by businesses who hire freelance artists. As a KSK member, they pay half your health insurance and half your public pension insurance.

• For how to actually get in, follow All About Berlin's up-to-date KSK guide.

Please note that mimosa cannot offer legal advice. This is a self-initiated project. For professional advice, please contact one of the organisations above.

Curated by Sára Král. Part of the September 2025 edition of Mood Swings — read the companion piece, The Exposure Economy, for eight first-hand accounts from creatives who were offered exposure instead of money.