One of the most important aspects of being an ally and showing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement is recognising when it is (or, more crucially, isn’t) your turn to speak.    As a white person, I appreciate that I have never personally had to deal with systemic racism or racial microaggressions. For this reason, I would never want to speak on behalf of people of colour regarding these issues.    Rather, we wanted to hear the perspectives of black creatives in the freelance game, in the hopes of promoting greater empathy, understanding and allyship within the world of freelancing. We spoke to two awesome photographers, who shared their thoughts and experiences.

The global pandemic has thrust everyone into some pretty bizarre and unexpected life situations. Whilst working remotely from home has become the new norm, not everyone’s home workstation is ideal. 

Let’s be honest. We all experience creative blocks from time to time while working on client projects. Throw a pandemic and a shrinking client list into the mix and these creative blocks can become more prevalent than we’d like. 

By day three of the pandemic most of my client list had vanished. Throughout the rest of the week, emails dripped in with a version of the same message,  ‘Due to the coronavirus we have put a hold on all projects/cancelled all events/ceased trading.’  And just like that, my freelance business ground to a halt.

We are all feeling the impact of COVID-19 and it can often seem like an endless feed of bad news. At Freelancer Club, we've joined a bunch of companies who are offering various services for free during the pandemic. All Freelancer Club members can gain access to our virtual events to help with development and support during this turbulent time. We're also giving every account £200 in Concierge Credits to spend on freelance hires. Here is a list of other companies who are helping out.

Self-isolation, social distancing, lockdown… Let’s face it, for many of us, this basically just means slowly sinking into the sofa, staring blankly at a screen (see, you’re doing it right now) and mindlessly munching on the irrational food choices that we just panic-bought in bulk. With the outside world being so unsettling and chaotic at the moment, it makes sense that we’d rather work our way through a super-bumper-multi-mega-extra large pack of biscuits than work on creative project ideas as freelancers. Although we all deserve some time out from the pressures and anxieties of this global pandemic, this doesn’t mean we have to stagnate at the expense of our creativity.

Freelancer Club is backing The Creative Industries Federation and IPSE's proposal to Government asking for support in the self-employed sector. To join over 114,000 others, click here to sign the petition and give your reason. 

It’s 2020. A highly infectious coronavirus has rapidly swept across the globe and society is in lockdown for the foreseeable future. The streets are eerily quiet, and all you can hear are the sounds of dogs barking, glass shattering and blood-curdling groans. You anxiously peer out of your bedroom window only to discover that your nightmarish suspicions were true… your next door neighbour Karen has joined the living dead and is staggering around, drenched in decaying blood, sniffing out her next victim...