International Journal of Cultural Studies, Ahead of Print.
This article seeks to reposition freelance creative and cultural workers (CCWs) and conditions of creative work as the foundations of cultural policy making. Using a case study of Dundee, Scotland, in the immediate aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, the article draws on focus groups and interviews with creative freelancers, representatives of cultural organisations and members of a cultural strategy development group in Dundee. It presents how freelancers were not only missing from policy (national and local), their precarity was also exacerbated by cultural organisations in their response to pandemic-induced uncertainty. The potential for more caring modes of engagement with freelance CCWs are identified. Crucially, the article argues that this support work must also be resourced to be effective and sustainable. The article presents opportunities for rethinking the position of freelancers in cultural policy and sector leadership, and reflects on the capacity for academic research to support such work.