Working conditions for the costume industry

This tool is a reference document drawn up by Costumières & Cie to define fair, clear and respectful working conditions for the costume professions. It is the result of collective work by members of the association, based on their practical experience in the field.

Faced with practices that are often unclear, unequal or precarious, it proposes a common framework for recognising the artistic contribution, responsibilities and specific needs of costume designers and costume teams.

Conditions de travail – Costumières & Cie (FR)

This document is not a legal contract, but a tool for dialogue and professional positioning. It aims to strengthen recognition of the profession and support fairer collaboration in cultural productions.

Whom is this tool designed for?

It is primarily for costume designers and costume teams, but also companies, productions, cultural institutions, funding departments and partners wishing to work together in respectful and professional conditions.

What does this tool consist of?

This document contains detailed recommendations on the roles, missions, remuneration, material conditions and work organisation of professional costume designers. It lays down a common basis for approaching a mandate, from the design phase through to the end of a production’s operation.

What’s the purpose of this tool?

The members of Costumières & Cie have found that the working conditions offered vary greatly from one project to another, and do not always reflect the reality of the job. The lack of a shared framework makes professionals vulnerable and individual negotiations difficult. This tool meets a collective need for recognition.

What can this tool do?

It enables discussions on a shared basis, makes collective professional requirements visible, and supports a better understanding of costume work by employers, institutions and cultural partners.

Costumières & Cie – collective work resulting from a participative process with the members of the association’s committee

info@costumieres-et-cie.ch

www.costumieres-et-cie.ch

Published 19.03.2026

art+care Newsletter – Visibility of current topics and activities of the community

The art+care newsletter is a collaborative publication format that brings visibility to topics, actors, and activities within the community. It is published monthly and serves as a curatorial tool for the network, bringing together discourses on care, art, and solidarity practices and offering different perspectives. This format provides a publicly accessible platform for networks, projects, and resources.

Most of the content shared in the newsletter comes from the multilingual Signal groups of the art+care community, where all chat members can contribute.

The tool shows that a newsletter can be used not only as an information channel but also as a participatory knowledge archive. Such a newsletter can support communities in continuously promoting visibility, exchange, and networking.

Newsletter subscription

What does this tool consist of?

Updates on art+care activities and current contributions from the entire community (called art+care Cosmos)

Why is this tool needed?

Strengthening the care discourse and interdisciplinary exchange in art and culture

What can this tool do?

Creating visibility and knowledge transfer

Who is this tool for?

A newsletter for anyone interested in contributions and formats related to the topic of art and care work

Concept & editing:
art+care core team

Content:
Contributions from members of the Signal groups (art+care Cosmos)

Contact:
contact@artandcare.org

Website:
artandcare.org

Newsletter registration

Signal Group (art+care Cosmos)

Published 05.03.2026

Green Rider

Tasty Future encourages institutions in the Swiss cultural landscape to design their gastronomy and catering concepts in a new and sustainable way – with a focus on plant-based nutrition. The Green Rider developed by Tasty Future now enables teams to find out about environmentally friendly options for vegan catering in the backstage area, plant-based milk alternatives or plastic-free water.

The Zurich activists behind the initiative are convinced that «business as usual» is not an option in view of the climate crisis. Founded in 2021 by Daniel Hellmann and Barbara Ellenberger, the team of food activists is constantly growing.

What does this tool comprise?

The Green Rider is a template for artists and creative artists and institutions that they can easily pass on to venues. It enables environmentally friendly options to be requested, such as vegan catering, plastic-free water or sustainable materials.

Tags

#sustainability #techride r#vegan #plasticfree #greenrider #tastyfuture #wegovegan #future #climateactionnow #vegansofzürich #plantbased #cultureinzurich #localvegan #sustainablegastronomyday #sustainableculture #sustainableart #veganfood

What does this tool do?

The Green Rider is a template for artists and creative artists and institutions that they can easily pass on to venues. It enables environmentally friendly options to be requested, such as vegan catering, recommendations for vegetarian and vegan restaurants, plastic-free water or sustainable materials.

Who is this tool for?

The Green Rider is for artists, art workers and institutions and is available to everyone free of charge.

Why is this tool important?

The Green Rider is an important instrument in the performing arts to promote sustainability in an industry that is often very resource-intensive. It provides a clear framework for environmentally aware behaviour and makes it easier for artists and institutions to make environmentally friendly and more sustainable decisions.

Impressum

Ownership: Tasty Future with Soya the Cow

Website

E-Mail

Insta

 

Values of Solidarity

A mediation game for team-building and cultural co-creation

«Values of Solidarity» is a workshop tool that is both a game and a mediation tool for teams that are just beginning their collaboration. Using cards, participants can describe which values are important to them and learn which values drive their partners. This enables members of a project or work group to get to know one another better and share values, experiences and needs that would perhaps otherwise not be shared. The discussions that arise during the game promote collaborative communication and create a framework for supporting and lasting collaboration that reflects the participants’ cultural, intellectual and emotional diversity.

What does this tool offer?

«Values of Solidarity» is a set of cards in English. The game contains two types of cards:

«Value» cards contain descriptions of values that may be important for creating a framework of solidarity and collaboration:

  • Honesty
  • Motivation
  • Respect
  • Health
  • etc.

«Conflict» cards contain fictional scenarios to be overcome in which poor communication and cultural differences lead to tension and conflict.

Tags

#community
#care
#values
#solidarity
#collaboration
#fairpractice
#nonviolentcommunication
#reshapenetwork
#valuesofsolidarity

Why is this set of cards important?

Conflicts may arise in work groups and collaborative relationships when members have very different values or some people do not recognise others’ rights.

During the game, teams are presented with fictional conflict situations and team members have the chance to formulate their own values.

The aim is for each team to formulate their own value frameworks. This promotes solidarity within the group.

Who is this tool aimed at?

The tool has been developed especially for teams that are just beginning their collaboration. In particular, it is aimed at project teams working in the areas of art and culture, but is also relevant for other sectors.

What can be achieved with this set of cards?

«Values of Solidarity» offers inspiration and the opportunity to reflect on how a team wants to overcome possible conflicts.

The game places participants in conflict situations together. This enables them to identify the often hidden and obscure mechanisms causing tension and difficulties. At the same time, participants can identify the methods needed to relieve tensions, especially when different backgrounds merge.

This game has the potential to raise awareness of solidarity and the practical and operational framework it offers for collaboration.

Download

More information can be found on the Reshape Network website:

The Gamified Workshop Toolkit: Values of Solidarity

Download extract

Ordering a set of cards

The set of cards can be ordered from RESO – Dance Network Switzerland for CHF 15 plus delivery costs.

Send an email to RESO if interested: info@reso.ch

Impressum

2020, RESHAPE Network

reshape.network

Created by Anikó Rácz, Doreen Toutikian and Dorota Ogrodzka in consultation with Konrad Gadzina.

Developed as part of RESHAPE project «Solidarische Ökonomien» («Solidarity-based economies»), involving Ouafa Belgacem, Ekmel Ertan, Harald Geisler, Anastasya Kizilova, Dorota Ogrodzka, Anikó Rácz, Laure de Selys and Doreen Toutikian under the management of Nike Jonah.

The new edition of «Values of Solidarity» in 2022 was financed by Reso – Dance Network Switzerland and m2act, the funding and network project of the Migros Culture Percentage.

m2act × Burning Issues: towards a just, diverse & inclusive culture – Position paper

Artistic management teams are under fire, demands for social sustainability are getting louder and louder, and balancing family life and cultural work remains a major challenge. The Swiss theatre scene is on the move. From 15 to 17 September 2023, the «M2ACT × BURNING ISSUES – Performing Arts & Action» network meeting brought more than 400 cultural professionals from all over Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy together for three days. They jointly developed a position paper containing urgent demands for change in order to make working conditions in the performing arts more sustainable, fairer and more appealing.

What does the tool consist of?

The position paper formulates goals for a fairer, more equitable and more diverse world of work in the performing arts and details the framework in which these goals were formulated. It also lists the authors and first signatories. The position paper constitutes a list of jointly voiced demands, which must be positioned in the day-to-day work of the performing arts.

Tags

#responsibility
#action
#sustainability
#reporting
#collaboration
#fair practice
#contracts

What can this Tool do?

The position paper was published as a petition on the ACT CAMPAX platform within the scope of m2act x Burning Issues. Supporters can sign it here (509 signatures as at 30 April 2024). The phrasing of the demands can be copied, improved and used as a tool to drive change in your own organisations and institutions or in politics.

Who is this tool for?

The position paper is meant for all cultural professionals and people from other sectors who are campaigning for fairer, more diverse and inclusive conditions in their workplace.

 

Why is this tool needed?

Viele Menschen, die in den Darstellenden Künsten arbeiten, sind unzufrieden mit den Arbeits- und Produktionsbedingungen und mit der momentanen Verteilung von Geld, Zeit und Einfluss. Sie wollen sich vernetzen, gemeinsam Gehör verschaffen und gegenseitig unterstützen.

Impressum

From 15 to 17 September 2023, the M2ACT × BURNING ISSUES – Performing Arts & Action network meeting brought more than 400 cultural professionals from all over Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy together for three days. They jointly developed a position paper containing urgent demands for change in order to make working conditions in the performing arts more sustainable, fairer and more appealing.

 

 

 

FAIRSPEC Codex

GUIDELINES FOR WORKING ETHICALLY IN THE INDEPENDENT SCENE

In a series of events of the FAIRSPEC initiative in 2020-2021, artists of the independent performing arts in German-speaking Switzerland, as well as representatives of institutions and funding bodies explored urgent social, artistic and contemporary issues with the goal of developing a joint codex.

The «FAIRSPEC Codex» was published on Monday, 30.8.2021. This is one of the first guidelines in German-speaking areas for ethical work in the independent scene.

The codex enumerates the essential motivations which will be guiding future work in the performing arts. It covers personal competencies, aspects of communication and collaboration, and the commitment to comply with remuneration guidelines issued by professional associations.

WHY IS THIS CODEX NEEDED?

Through self-obligation and mutual support, FAIRSPEC wants to use this codex to address known problematic behaviour patterns in the performing arts.

The artistic work stands in focus. Every artistic process is also a social process that is accompanied by great responsibility with regard to artistic freedom, as well as respectful interaction with each other.

TAGS

#codex
#constructiveness
#transparency
#diversity
#sustainability
#esteem

WHAT CAN THIS CODEX DO?

Individuals and institutions can sign this codex and apply it independently in their daily work.

It helps to

  • reflect on actions and work practices
  • continually work on oneself and one’s own work structure

FOR WHOM IS THIS CODEX?

The signatories of this codex commit to guidelines that reflect their values and apply equally to all participants. They hope that this codex will be incorporated in as many different professional settings as possible within the independent scene, as well as within subsidised theatres and thereby firmly establish the values of respect and fairness.

DOWNLOAD PDF

Read the codex in German and English on the FAIRSPEC website.

www.fairspec.ch

Impressum

FAIRSPEC

Zurich, August 2021