CIISA Annual Report 2024-2025 - Flipbook - Page 24
For Judith Webster, Chief
Executive, Association of British
Orchestras, it was an eye-opener
that unified standards didn’t
already exist across the creative
industries, other than separate
codes of conduct at individual
organisations.
The CIISA Standards have
seen “the whole industry
come together to define
expectations and behaviours
and acknowledge the breadth of
people and contexts which need
to be covered,” Webster says.
“Addressing accountability issues
for freelancers and the wider
workforce is key.”
Black Lives in Music Chief
Executive Dr Charisse Beaumont
noted “the music industry
operates like the wild west, no
rules, no accountability, no real
consequences for bad behaviour.
Without standards, without a code
of conduct, there is only chaos.”
Beaumont described it as a must
to “build a framework that protects
people from discrimination, that
educates and prevents bullying
and harassment. Standards that
do not just react, but proactively
safeguard the dignity of every
individual are essential.”
Unified standards are the key. “Yes,
there are pockets of good work
happening across the industry but
there is no single place people can
turn to and know they will get the
help they need,” Beaumont adds.
“Support. Investigation. Mediation.
That is unique. There may be
dozens of phone lines, but only
CIISA stands with the individual
while also driving systemic change
across the entire creative industry.”
Paul Hawkins, Interim Managing
Director of Attitude is Everything,
an organisation that connects
disabled people with music and
live event industries to improve
access, thinks the need for unified
standards is far greater now than
it has been in the past.
“The nature of portfolio careers
and increasing crossover between
media forms and the ways creative
industries work has meant there
are more people freelancing
across multiple industries and
that’s really highlighted the
gaps,” Hawkins says. “There are
multiple creative industries where
unsafe working environments,
unmanageable working
hours, abrupt and aggressive
management styles and cultures of
abuse and harassment have been
the expectation rather than the
exception and the unacceptable
has been justified under the guise
of ‘you should feel lucky to have
this role as other people would
love to do it’.”
Hawkins says where CIISA has
been effective is understanding
any wider provisions in place
before designing the Standards.
“The standards very clearly work
in tandem with employment law,
the role of the EHRC and the work
of ACAS and HR departments
without replicating or replacing
those standards. I think the key
gaps CIISA’s Standards can address
are ensuring that employers know
how to create a workplace culture
that minimises the risk of incidents
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of bullying and harassment and
creating a mechanism to take
action when multiple issues
are happening in multiple
organisations where the same
individual is involved but not an
employee. Given the prevalence of
freelance roles across the creative
industries, this is a vital safeguard.”
Liz Jeffery, VP, People Experience
for Sony Music UK, believes the
CIISA Standards bring together the
various standards and examples
of best practice that already
exist and makes them accessible
to more people in the creative
industries, “improving safety and
providing assurance to all.”
As an early CIISA backer, BBC
Content HR Director, Anna
Shackleton says, the BBC “fully
endorses the CIISA Standards,
both within our organisation
and by requiring our production
partners to do the same.” She
notes that “it is only by the whole
industry coming together that we
will achieve our collective aims of
driving change and delivering best
practice across the UK creative
industries.”
UK broadcaster ITV’s Jane Wroe,
People Director, Corporate Services
says, “it’s thought that over
two million people work in the
creative industries for thousands
of different organisations large
and small so it’s not surprising
that each organisation will
have created its own approach.
The creation of CIISA will help
ensure that in the future the
expected conduct and standard
of behaviour across the creative
industry is clear, consistent, and
applied rigorously.”
