COVID-19: Illustrated Guidelines & Signs

1-July-2020

To accompany the Covid-19: Health and Safety Guidelines for Commercial Photographers, CAPIC has released illustrated guidelines and signs for photographers to use in the workplace.

The illustrated guidelines and signs are designed to assist photographers in making their shoots safe and healthy for all individuals present on set. We encourage photographers to download and print them to use in their workplaces.

Download the Illustrated Guidelines and signs on the CAPIC Covid-19 Guidelines Resource Page

CAPIC continues to be in consultation with provincial governments on Covid-19 health and safety measures in the workplace for commercial photographers. Please do not hesitate to contact the CAPIC National office if you have any questions about the guidelines: info@capic.org

DISCLAIMER

These materials were prepared by CAPIC based on current best practices and guidelines related to both health and legal safety when going back to work as a photographer. The Covid-19 pandemic has created unprecedented circumstances for creators and the situation continues to evolve. As such, the CAPIC Covid-19 guidelines and recommendations will continue to evolve as well. These resources do not constitute specific health, safety, or legal advice. Please do not rely on these materials without adapting them to you specific situation, including applicable guidelines and rules for where you are located.

CAPIC Releases Covid-19 Guidelines for Commercial Photographers

29-May-2020

CAPIC has released recommended Health and Safety Guidelines for Commercial Photographers returning to work during the Covid-19 pandemic. These are guidelines that photographers should adapt to fit their own respective business. All photographers following these guidelines must ensure that they are also abiding by all local health and safety directions. Public Health authorities set the minimum standards and regulations and these must be adhered to by everyone.

Provincial Ministries of Labour require that employers have a comprehensive health and safety plan in place for Covid-19. Photographers must establish their own policies that clearly outline the measures they are implementing to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. The following guidelines are designed to assist commercial photographers in the creation of their Covid-19 Workplace Policy.

Download the CAPIC Covid-19: Health and Safety Guidelines for Commercial Photographers

Visit the Covid-19 Guidelines Page

Open letter regarding CAPIC recommended Covid-19 Health and Safety Guidelines for Commercial Photographers:

29-May-2020

To Whom It May Concern:

The Canadian Association of Professional Image Creators/L’Association Canadienne des Créateurs Professionnels de l’Image (CAPIC), respectfully requests for you to recommend the attached workplace health and safety guidelines for commercial photographers returning to work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

CAPIC is a national nonprofit professional association representing commercial image creators in Canada. For over 40 years we have served as advocates for our industry. We are a strong community of professionals dedicated to the promotion of best practices and safeguarding the rights of all image creators.

During this unprecedented time of implementing new health and safety measures in Canadian workplaces, it is crucial that commercial photography be recognised as a distinct and independent sector. The commercial photography industry differs greatly from other creative sectors it is often lumped in with, such as film and television productions. Commercial photography is a diverse industry with unique needs and must be considered in a category of its own.

CAPIC is a certified federal representative for commercial photographers and illustrators. As such, our association is uniquely positioned to provide informed and expert advice on workplace requirements that will ensure the safety of photographers and the people they work with on photography shoots, enabling them to continue operating their businesses and preventing the spread of Covid-19.

CAPIC presents the attached guidelines to all levels of government and recommends their immediate inclusion in the official sectoral-specific back-to-work measures currently being implemented. These comprehensive guidelines specifically address several different common situations for commercial photography shoots while emphasizing the importance of complying with local rules and guidelines.

We trust that these guidelines and recommendations will be thoughtfully considered and put into effect. It is of the utmost importance that commercial photographers are able to return to work safely and with their specific needs taken into account. All Canadians are in this process together and it is through recognition of this collectivity that we will bridge this unprecedented era.

We thank you for your time.

Yours truly,

The CAPIC National Board of Directors

CAPIC to Release Guidelines for Commercial Photographers Returning to Work

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way photographers must operate their businesses moving forward. Commercial photography is a distinct industry with specific needs, and public health and safety measures for the workplace must consider and reflect these needs. Provincial governments are currently in the process of implementing sector specific return-to-work recommendations. CAPIC recognizes that it is imperative that commercial photography be recognized as an industry separate from others, such as film and television. 

CAPIC is creating health and safety guidelines for commercial photographers returning to work in the Covid-19 environment. These guidelines will be sent to various levels of government to advocate for sector-specific measures for commercial photography, in addition to being made available to the industry at large. As a certified federal representative for commercial photographers, CAPIC is uniquely positioned to consult with government and we take this responsibility very seriously.

CAPIC recognizes that commercial photographers operate their businesses on a varying scale. Some of you work by yourselves, or with very small teams, and will be able to adapt relatively easily to communicating remotely with clients. Other photographers work with a larger crew and will have many difficult changes to make in order to work safely. The guidelines CAPIC puts forward will reflect this range of operation, while abiding by existing health and safety recommendations from Public Health.

Please do not hesitate to contact the CAPIC National Office or your local CAPIC Chapter with any questions or concerns. 

 

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CAPIC supports CARFAC’s open letter regarding artist eligibility to access EI during COVID-19

These are difficult and uncertain times for both CAPIC members and our extended community. It is important that all associations across the arts and cultural sectors come together and advocate for all creators impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

CAPIC supports the open letter to the federal government by the Canadian Artists’ Representation / Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC). This letter outlines eligibility restrictions in the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) that could limit the ability for artists, freelancers, and other creators to qualify for the benefit. CAPIC is proud to support the recommendations put forward by CARFAC.

Read the full letter below or on the CARFAC website.

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April 4th, 2020

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau:

Canadian Artists’ Representation / Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC), the national association for professional visual artists, calls upon the Federal Government to review and remove barriers to artists who require access to key Emergency Relief programs that have recently been created during this unprecedented time of need.

Firstly, we are truly grateful that the Federal Government has made EI available to independent artists and other cultural workers, many of whom work in the gig economy. According to Hill Strategies: 66% of visual artists are self-employed, the highest percentage among all artistic disciplines, and much higher than the proportions of all artists (52%) and all workers (12%).

The provision of a social safety net is, therefore, very important to visual artists. However, in the current guidelines for eligibility to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), two restrictions to eligibility are causing great concern for artists, and other freelance/gig economy workers from the cultural sector and beyond:

• The expectation to be without any employment or self-employment for at least 14 consecutive days in the initial four-week period, and
• The expectation of at least $5000 income in 2019 or in the 12 months prior to the date of application.

The CERB seems to have been created with the idea that we all have a single income source, and you either have it or you don’t. However, most independent artists, designers, curators, etc have multiple and often unpredictable sources of income – some of which have now dried up.

Many artists across the country are concerned that they are ineligible because their incomes are, even at the best of times, strung together from multiple revenue streams. Many of those income sources (royalties, honorariums, contract services, etc) can be quite low, and payments are often few and far between. It is not unusual for artists to receive one-off royalty payments of $50 or less for print or online reproductions, for example. Some of these income streams may still be available to artists, but perhaps not as frequently. Furthermore, while our sector is rapidly adjusting to our circumstances, artists may be offered opportunities to showcase their talent online. Accepting a $325 honorarium for giving a live stream artist talk could mean losing $2,000 in EI benefits. This is not a choice we want artists to have to make: reject work or risk access to basic security.

Therefore:

• CARFAC recommends that the Government of Canada recognize these small streams of income for artists, and ensure they may not face barriers to emergency support.
• We recommend that artists and other freelancers who receive payments can have them deducted from CERB payments in the simplest form possible. There are already precedents set for this under previous EI processes, and the ability for artists to deduct their sales and honoraria income from government support would allow artists to keep their businesses open while offsetting the expense to the government wherever possible.
• We also further support the recommendation from Canadian Collective Management Organizations, including Copyright Visual Arts, that copyright royalty earnings are not to be included in a declaration to CERB, so that artists may continue to benefit from these one-off and often unpredictable sources of income.

We also declare our support for the recommendations of Arts Service Organizations representing museums, art galleries, and craft councils, regarding the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS). Visual artists show their work within the walls of these institutions, and some additionally work there as full-time, part-time, or seasonal employees. We stand in solidarity with them as well as the Canada Council for the Arts, many arts and culture groups across all artistic disciplines, and with organizations focused on small businesses, gig economy workers, and freelancers from all sectors – not just the cultural sector – who will be hindered by these specific restrictions.

We recognize that further details on both the CERB and the CEWS will be released in the very near future. It is our hope that the government will recognize these serious concerns and the barriers they create for those working in creative and freelance industries, and that you will make changes to allow the creative sector to continue functioning, even in the face of great need for all.

As Canadians, and indeed the world, are isolated in their homes, receiving comfort from creative content with an unprecedented appetite, we remind you that our sector is a natural partner in our communal efforts to respond to and rebuild from this crisis. In order to do that, our artists and cultural institutions need fair and equitable access to emergency response benefits.

In Solidarity,

April Britski,  National Executive Director, CARFAC

Paddy Lamb, National President, CARFAC

 

Cc: Hon. Bill Morneau, PC, MP, Minister of Finance

Hon. Stephen Guilbeault, PC, MP, Minister of Canadian Heritage

Hon. Diane Lebouthillier, PC, MP, Minister of National Revenue

Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos, PC, MP, President of the Treasury Board

 

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