Friendly Reminder – Mail out with important deadlines and to-do lists for artists and cultural practitioners by Sparx

Migros Culture Percentage Sparx uses the «friendly reminder» to help you keep track of important deadlines and to‑dos. From budget planning and insurance to mental health, the friendly reminder regularly drops tips and reminders into your inbox and helps you get everything done on time and without stress.

Once a month, a friendly reminder is sent out. Each month is dedicated to a specific topic. The friendly reminder shares different tips, points out important tasks, and offers additional support.

Important: Only those who have registered will receive the friendly reminder!

What does this tool consist of?

Regular email updates with tips and tricks

 

Why is this tool needed?

To explain complex topics such as tax or finance in a simple and straightforward way.

 

What can this tool do?

It provides an overview and offers further support to artists and cultural practitioners with administrative and organisational tasks.

 

Who is this tool for?

Artists and cultural practitioners who wish to professionalise themselves.

Impressum

Authorship:
Migros Culture Percentage Sparx

Contact:
Lilli Megerle, lilli.megerle@mgb.ch

 

Published 15.5.2026

Open art+care Zooms: Online format for discussion and thematic input (DE/EN/FR)

The Open art+care Zooms are an open, moderated online format for the personal exchange of experiences relating to artistic work and care responsibilities. They take place monthly and are open to all interested people without registration. The German- or English-language Open art+care Zoom takes place on the first Monday of each month, and the French-language Zoom on the first Wednesday of the month.

The dates are published on the art+care website in the agenda; the Zoom link is shared in advance via the Signal group and the art+care newsletter.

Important:
The Open art+care Zooms are not recorded and their content is not published.

The focus is on exchange, mutual support and the joint development of strategies for combining care responsibilities and artistic practice. The discussions in a small, protected setting are intended as an important contribution to necessary changes in the cultural sector.

What does this tool consist of?

  • Monthly, moderated Zoom discussion rounds (openly accessible via access link)
  • Publication of dates and access links via the Signal group or newsletter
  • Sometimes with brief thematic input at the beginning of the Zoom session
  • Duration: 1 to 1.5 hours

What can this tool do?

  • Exchange experiences and provide mutual relief (the feeling of not being alone)
  • Jointly develop strategies for combining artistic activity and care responsibilities
  • Build alliances and networks and strengthen the care discourse in art and culture

Why is this tool needed?

Many people in the arts and culture sector experience overload, guilt, pressure to justify themselves and the feeling of constantly lagging behind. The format creates a safe space to share these experiences and develop empowering alliances, solution strategies and energy for change.

Who is this tool for?

The format is open to anyone who is interested. It is aimed in particular at people in the arts and culture sector who have care responsibilities or are interested in care, solidarity-based practices and structural change in the cultural sector.

Concept & moderation:
art+care core team
contact@artandcare.org
artandcare.org

For Zoom link & updates:

art+care Newsletter

Signal group art+care Cosmos

published 23.03.2026

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

From thread to needle – building sustainable governance

This video follows the strategic retreat conducted by Costumières & Cie in 2025 with the support of Migros Culture Percentage m2act. It documents a key moment of collective reflection in which the board reviewed how the association operates and contemplated its values and future needs. This video provides a testimony of this crucial moment for the organisation and a way of sharing it with the public.

What does this tool consist of?

This tool is a documentary video showing what happened before and after the retreat in the words of those involved. It outlines the collective process that led to the drawing-up of Costumières & Cie’s charter and working conditions

What’s the purpose of this tool?

The processes of collective reflection, governance and organisational transformation are rarely captured. This video reveals how a brief but intensive period of time can have a profoundly transformative impact on a group if properly supported. It shows how – in a cohesive environment where people listen to each other – unexpected collective collaboration can be achieved – at both human and structural level.

What can this tool do?

The video allows its audience to share in a real-life experience of group work, inspires other associations or cultural groups and puts the tools produced by Costumières & Cie in context. It helps people understand the human, political and professional issues involved in the cultural sector.

Whom is this tool designed for?

This tool is aimed at Costumières & Cie members, cultural associations, institutions, partners, funding providers and anyone interested in issues related to collective governance, working conditions and structural organisation in the arts sector.

Additional toolbox by Costumières & Cie

Working conditions for the costume industry

Impressum

Film director: Erika Irmler
Costumières & Cie – video produced as part of the retreat in 2025 supported by the Migros Culture Percentage’s m2act

Contact: info@costumieres-et-cie.ch

www.costumieres-et-cie.ch

 

Published 19.03.2026

produktionsDOCK: Guide – Producing in the Swiss independent performing art scene

This guide provides practical orientation for artists and production managers in the independent performing arts scene of German-speaking Switzerland. Step by step, it guides you through the central phases of an artistic project – from the initial idea to its concrete realisation, distribution and touring. The focus is on practical information and realistic insights into the typical process of a production as it is realised in collaboration with established event organisers in German-speaking Switzerland.

What does the tool consist of?

The content is based on the current work experiences of the production managers of produktionsDOCK, a Basel office of production managers (2017-2024), and reflects practice in 2024. This guide is intended as a snapshot that offers a comprehensive insight into the working methods of the Swiss independent performing art scene, without any general claim to completeness or binding force.

It is divided into three main chapters that accompany the phases of an artistic project in a structured and practical way: conception, production, diffusion/touring.

In addition, two detailed discussions provide in-depth insights into the topics of personnel and association administration, which are important for successful project work.

Tags

#productionmanagement
#projectadministration
#productioncycle
#management
#helpforself-help
#freescene
#performingarts
#freeproducing

Who is this tool aimed at?

The guide is aimed at anyone who is active in the independent scene in German-speaking Switzerland or would like to establish themselves there: young artists and production managers who are gaining their first experience but also experienced producers who are looking for inspiration or a useful tool for promoting young talent.

DOWNLOAD DOCUMENTS:

Guide – Producing in the Swiss independent performing art scene

Excursion Personnel Administration

Excursion Association Administration

 

 

Impressum

Publisher: produktionsDOCK

Editors: Annina Birrer, Bernhard la Dous, Regula Schelling, Juliana Simonetti, Salomé Rodríguez Bär

Design: Céline Müller
Proofreading: Heike Dürscheid

The realisation of the guide was made possible by the generous support of m2act, the funding and network project of the Migros Culture Percentage for the performing arts, the Christoph Merian Foundation and the Ernst Göhner Foundation.

 

 

Artists Take Action

This guide supports cultural workers from all disciplines with questions about social security.

With this comprehensive knowledge database, Artists Take Action provides information on important topics such as retirement, family, stays abroad, accidents, and illnesses. It also explains which insurances are mandatory and which are optional. Regardless of how much you already know about social security, this guide—created by cultural workers for cultural workers—answers the most pressing questions.

Due to the legal content, the Artist Take Action guide is in German, French and Italian.

Who is this tool for?

Artists Take Action is aimed at all cultural workers who live and work in Switzerland.

 

What does this tool consist of?

Artists Take Action is the most comprehensive cross-disciplinary guide to social security in the cultural sector. It provides answers to specific questions about social insurance and forms of employment. For further inquiries, it facilitates contact with the respective professional association.

Why is this tool needed?

Many cultural workers receive little to no education about the basic principles of the labor market during their training. Artists Take Action helps to fill fundamental gaps regarding labor law, self-employment, social security, and insurance.

Impressum

Suisseculture Sociale

info@suisseculturesociale.ch

artists-take-action.ch

FemaleAct Calculator

FemaleAct is an association of FINTA actors who live and work in Switzerland (FINTA stands for Women (Frauen), Intersex, Non-binary, Trans and Agender individuals). They use their professional experience to identify where structural change is needed in the performing arts and develop projects to accelerate it.

FemaleAct has developed the online tool «Kalkulator» over the last two years. It has been integrated in the FemaleAct website since December 2023. In 2024, the tool will be further developed in collaboration with the first users.

What does this tool comprise?

On the FemaleAct website, performing artists can quickly and easily calculate care costs outside regular working hours (7:00am-6:00pm).

The first version of the calculator focuses on childcare.

Tags

#care
#costs
#fair wages
#fair practice
#contracts

What does this tool do?

The calculator works out the childcare costs you will have to bear during rehearsals over and above the institutional options. The result can be downloaded as a PDF.

So you can:

  • enter into wage negotiations
  • contribute to a fair wage structure
  • raise awareness of work-life balance

Who is this tool for?

The FemaleAct calculator is available free of charge to both artists and employers.

Why is this tool important?

In performing arts projects (theatre, performance, film, etc.), work is often done outside regular working and institutional childcare hours. Artists therefore often incur additional childcare costs, which they have to bear privately.

The calculator helps to make these costs visible, enabling the additional care work to be adequately factored into cultural project budgets.

Impressum

FemaleAct association: femaleact.ch

Facebook

Instagram

Illustration: Rachel Duc

Dampfzentrale Bern: Salary scheme for fair wages at cultural institutions in Switzerland

Dampfzentrale Bern commissioned the Centre for Cultural Management ZHAW to conduct the «Vorstudie Löhne Freie Kulturszene Schweiz» (Preliminary Study on Wages in the Independent Cultural Scene in Switzerland). Based on this, it has developed a scheme for fair standard wages for permanent employees at independent production houses in Switzerland.

This fair pay table is based on the Austrian model, «Fair Pay für Kulturarbeit». To date, no standardised guideline wages nor recommendations exist for employees in production, communication, management and technology at cultural institutions in Switzerland. The tpunkt professional association’s standard fees primarily affect freelancers.

ZHAW’s preliminary study provides an inventory of the current wage situation at independent production houses (focus: guest venues for dance and theatre). The results can also be transferred to cultural centres focusing on other genres.

Ergebnisse Lohnstudie Freie Kulturbetriebe Schweiz 2024 (DE)

Vergleich Gehälter Schweizer Kulturbetriebe (DE)

A salary scheme was created on this basis, enabling cultural institutions to commit to transparent, fair wages. Every cultural institution’s core business is the presentation, discussion and communication of artistic creation. The salary scheme is based on the idea that commercial and artistic professions should be given equal weighting at similar levels of responsibility. 

The study was conducted in German, therefore all documents are in German.

Use Case Gehaltschema Dampfzentrale Bern (DE)

Why is this tool necessary?

The salaries of permanent employees at Swiss cultural institutions are well below average when compared with similar positions in other sectors. This exacerbates the shortage of skilled personnel, weakens social sustainability and negatively impacts the qualitative consistency of work performed at institutions. To date, there are no standardised guideline wages and recommendations for employees in production, communication, management and technology at cultural institutions in Switzerland. The standard fees of the professional association tpunkt and the endeavours as part of the 2025–2028 cultural message primarily concern freelancers.

What this tool do?

The new salary scheme offers an easy-to-use, transferable, transparent modular system for application to all positions in a cultural institution.

Who is this tool for?

Cultural institutions in Switzerland that want to commit to fair, transparent salaries.

Focus: guest venues for dance and/or theatre

 

What does this tool consist of?

Its central element is a modular system that can be used for all positions in a cultural institution.  The basis for this was provided by the results of ZHAW’s preliminary study.

Information on wages in the cultural organisations (all values)

Information on wages in the cultural organisations (median)

Information on wages in the cultural organisations (average)

Impressum

Dampfzentrale Bern

Karin Bitterli (Commercial Director Dampfzentrale Bern), bitterli@dampfzentrale.chThe

t. Standard wages and fees

Professional and industry association t. Theaterschaffen Schweiz provides as a wage and fee guide for professionals in the independent performing arts. This allows you to calculate appropriate earnings for your work and conduct transparent and comprehensible salary or fee negotiations.

t. Theaterschaffen Schweiz set up a working group for the further development of standard wages and fees. They began their work at the end of 2021. In a broad consultation process, a wide range of actors in the sector from all parts of the country were involved in tool development and in determining benchmarks.

In the process of further developing standard wages and fees, t. Theaterschaffen Schweiz encourages professionals on stage and behind the scenes, as well as interest groups, to engage more actively in the discussions on wages and fees. There is still too little talk about money, both in the independent performing arts and in culture. The t. Standard wages and fees create more transparency and aim to promote a culture of negotiation.

What does this tool offer?

At www.tpunkt.ch/richtloehne there are two newly created tools available that are tailored to the special working realities in the independent performing arts:

Tags

#negotiation
#fairwages
#money
#budget
#fairpractice
#contracts

What does this tool do?

With the t. Calculator, freelancers and self-employed persons can calculate their salary or fee for the development and rehearsal phase. New gradations such as work experience, the level of responsibility in the project and the work region are included.

The t. Budget can be used to calculate the recommended price of a performance and the amortization costs per performance.

Why is this tool important?

Professionals in the independent theatre scene, cabaret and other branches of the independent performing arts have a right to fair remuneration based on their training and professionalism.

t. offers the first national calculation tool for more transparency and negotiation culture in the entire sector.

Who is this tool for?

It serves as a guide for individual artists, theatre groups, agencies, event organisers, theatres and private and public funding bodies.

Contact

t. Theaterschaffen Schweiz
www.tpunkt.ch

info@tpunkt.ch

Impressum

Working group t. Standard wages and fees

  • Cristina Galbiati, Co-President of t. Theaterschaffen Schweiz.
  • Eric Devanthéry, Management Board member of t. Theaterschaffen Schweiz.
  • Nina Mariel Kohler, Management Board member of t. Theaterschaffen Schweiz.
  • Christophe Drag, Administrative Manager Cie Philippe Saire
  • Gabi Bernetta, Producer, Bernetta Theaterproduktionen, winner of the Swiss Theatre Award 2018
  • Anja Lauper, Agent Kunstprojekte.ch / Tourbo-music.ch
  • Judith Rohrbach, former Co-Director Kleintheater Lucerne / Since October 2023, Head of Swiss Artists’ Exchange and Deputy Head t. Theaterschaffen Schweiz).

Project management office t.

  • Chantal Hirschi, Managing Director t. Theaterschaffen Schweiz).
  • Clara Gudehus, Head of Services and Projects

Supported by m2act /Migros Culture Percentage, Swisslos Kultur Kanton Bern, Schweizerische Interpretenstiftung, Federal Office of Culture

Tatenbank

The Swiss-wide central action platform for a more sustainable cultural sphere

The Tatenbank is a project by Vert le Futur, the association for sustainable culture and events.  The platform gathers knowledge from the cultural sector on sustainably producing and organising cultural events. The content of the Tatenbank is researched and curated by an interdisciplinary team of people at the intersection of culture and sustainability, with creative artists, authors, software developers, communication specialists, graphic designers and networking artists continuously building up and further developing it.

What is the Tatenbank made up of?

The Tatenbank offers condensed knowledge checked by experts, specific aids and tools and inspiring examples of sustainable work in all areas of cultural creation:

  • Administration
  • Equipment
  • Purchasing
  • Gastronomy
  • Infrastructure
  • Communication
  • Curation
  • Artistic content

Tags

#tatenbank
#vertlefutur
#tools
#inspiration
#ideas
#examples
#sustainableculture

What does the Tatenbank offer?

  • Information: The Tatenbank is a source of knowledge, inspiration and orientation.
  • Community: Creative artists can use the Tatenbank to obtain low-threshold access to expertise and a network of experts. They can learn how to go about their activities in a resource-conserving, sustainable way.
  • Participation: Users can get involved and share their own «deeds» in the area of sustainable cultural creation. The Tatenbank is therefore continuously updated with experiences from the community.

Why is the Tatenbank important?

To ensure that sustainability does not get swept under the table in the world of culture, it is important to have useful aids, knowledge and in particular good examples at our disposal.

It takes time to collect and study this information, and to draw the right conclusions from it.

The Vert le Futur association aims to close this gap with the Tatenbank.

Who is the Tatenbank aimed at?

The Tatenbank is aimed at creative artists from all genres who want to work towards sustainable culture in their respective areas of work and impact.

All content is available in German and French.

Impressum

Vert le Futur
vertlefutur.ch

Contact details
tatenbank@vertlefutur.ch