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Artist Catherine Bertola is concerned that HMRC’s new ‘Making Tax Digital’ proposals, which the government claims will make tax administration more efficient and easier for taxpayers, will result in additional administrative pressure for many artists and self-employed freelancers with low and erratic incomes.

For the final Assembly event in the current series, a-n was in Cardiff for a day of discussion and debate around how to survive as a creative practitioner. Trevor H. Smith reports.

A group of 27 artists and art lecturers are taking the National Gallery to tribunal following their dismissal last year, in a bid to prove that they were employees rather than freelancers. ‘NG27’ member Richard Stemp argues that the case has important implications for all artists and those working in the arts.

With ongoing demands for greater equality in the arts, the need to reimagine a more inclusive visual arts sector is increasingly urgent. On the eve of the European Outsider Art Association Conference at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, Lydia Ashman makes the case for a new approach to ‘outsider’ artists and their art.

Do the pressures of being an artist, with the precariousness of funding, the demands of unrealistic deadlines and the need to be seen to succeed and deliver consistently, make talking about depression and mental health tantamount to career suicide? Artist and writer Alistair Gentry, who has suffered with depression since a teenager, thinks the answer is ‘Yes’ – but that the issue is too important to keep quiet about.

One half of the London-based performance company There There with Dana Olărescu, Bojana Janković argues that the economic pressures more and more artists face are ultimately shaping the kind of work that gets made, especially by emerging artists, with profound and long-term consequences.

At IAA Europe’s recent annual two-day general meeting in Berlin, a key workshop discussed the issue of social security and the mobility of visual artists within Europe. Pippa Koszerek reports that, despite Brexit, such discussions remain important to UK artists.

Artist and AIR Council member Joseph Young attended the recent Europe-wide IAA conference in Pilsen, Czech Republic, where he was speaking about the Paying Artists campaign. He reports from the home of Pilsner lager on three days of discussion, debate and far too many procedural matters.

With a media storm of interest, Banksy’s Dismaland opened in Weston-super-Mare on Friday. After paying a visit to the self-styled ‘bemusement park’, Laura Harris suggests we look past the witty one-liners to explore this aesthetically overwhelming, politically astute art experience.

If artists regularly self-qualify themselves as ‘starving’ in such a casual and off-handed way, what kind of respect can they expect to gain? Margaret Lam thinks it’s time tell a different story about what it means to be an artist.

As Hull celebrates becoming the 2017 UK City of Culture, Dave O’Brien, originally writing for The Conversation website, cautions against focusing on short-term economic benefits when what’s needed is a long-term cultural strategy.

Hilary Gresty follows-up a-n’s report on the recent Artquest conference, For the love it, by adding a question mark – and suggests that this is the right time to make the case for the economic and social recognition of the work of artists.

As the degree show season gets into full swing, Professor Tom Davies from Staffordshire University responds to a-n’s recent report on approaches to professional practice in visual and applied arts courses.

While the Olympics has helped highlight artistic, as well as sporting achievements, much still needs to be done to create sustainable careers in the arts.