Policy on Paying Artists

Holy Show is currently funded by the Arts Council and commits to upholding its Paying the Artist policy.    

• We pay artists between €150 and €1,000 for written/visual contributions to the magazine (€150-300 for text under 1,200 words; €300–650 for text upto 4,000 words; and upto €1,000 where the writer/artist provides all of the text and images for an individual, longform piece).  
• For visual artists / illustrators / photographers / filmmakers, we pay between €200–€500 depending on what proportion of an individual 'piece' the content takes up. In some cases we do not pay where a funded arts organisation or non-artist individual wishes to donate visual content for which they own the copyright.   
• We pay performers a minimum of €200 for performance on venue or festival stages (as of 2020) and cover the cost of travel and overnight accommodation where work necessitates it.   
• We pay a minimum fee of €100 for launch night performances of 10 minutes or less; and €150 for more than 10 minutes+.    

We respect every artist's right to negotiate upwards on any fee offered.   

All payments are made within 30 days of receipt of an invoice that can be emailed with the submission of commissioned or requested work.   

We cover the cost of travel where the writer is travelling outside their county of residence. We also cover accommodation where the length of travel involved and/or the start time of the event necessitates it.   

We are upfront about the fees from the first email or phone call re. an offer of work.   

We ensure that the initial communication reflects the full scope of what an artist is expected and required to deliver, including details of any video or audio recordings that will be made of the event.   

We aim to anticipate VAT charged by artists and accommodate this where our budget allows.   

We ensure writers fees are ringfenced within our budget so that fees are protected if overruns occur in other areas of our operations.   

We ensure that writers copyright is respected, both in terms of moral and economic rights.   

We believe in the importance of transparency on matters of pay and working conditions, and that sharing this information publicly is to the benefit of all writers and artists.    

Much of the language in the above is borrowed from the Arts Council’s Paying the Artist Policy document whose principles we align ourselves with.