The Culture Pay Survey
is an open data project created to help us collectively move towards fair pay and to reveal the true costs of cultural work in Nigeria. Join us in making a difference. ✨
Take the survey here: https://tinyurl.com/culture-pay-survey
Who’s behind it?
On 30th January 2025, Immaculata Abba asked on Instagram, “Who wants to partner with me to run a survey on how artists, creatives and cultural practitioners in Nigeria are making a living?”
22 people joined her group chat and the most active among them are Elizabeth Akpan, Kachi Eloka, Edikan Umoh, Ama Benewaa Tawiah, Princess Briggs, Uzoma Orji and Mobolaji Adebayo. We are all volunteers.
The grant incentive and ads are funded out-of-pocket among us, and an anonymous charitable donor.
Who counts as a culture worker?
Anyone whose work entails exploring, reflecting or preserving our ways of life, our stories, and our ideas.
Think: people in Film/TV, Music, Book & Magazine Publishing, Podcasting and Radio, Journalism, Performing Arts (Theatre, Dance, Comedy, Spoken Word), Visual Arts (Painting, Sculpture, Installation, Photography, Fashion, Architecture, Humanities Research, Museums, Archives, and Heritage Sites, Cultural Funding, Policy, and Organising, Web-based Arts and some aspects of the creator economy.
Why are we running this survey?
We're tired of low pay and the lack of financial transparency in our industry. This survey is a step toward collective action—gathering real data to push for fair pay and highlight the true costs of cultural work.
Intellectual, creative, and strategic labor remain undervalued worldwide, but in Nigeria, a history of cultural infrastructure collapse and dominant economic ideologies have made the problem even worse. Still, we all deserve a cultural industry where we can thrive.
What will be the outcome?
The results of the survey will be published online to be accessed for free as open data accompanied by a downloadable pdf report (on the Studio Styles website and across other media channels).
Our release target is April 2025.
This may be the start of something new, as the problem of pay in the cultural industry will not be solved by a 2-month survey. But we think of this survey as a self-contained project with a clear end (as the report and published open data). If we decide to do something else, you will hear about it on this Instagram page or via the Studio Styles newsletter (studiostyles.substack.com).
