Issue 8_Focus from the AOP_August 2026 - Flipbook - Page 7
The AOP’s priority remains firmly on copyright & AI and engagement with Parliamentarians and the UK Government.
DOWNLOAD THE ASSOCIATION OF PHOTOGRAPHERS POSITION ON:
AI GENERATIVE CONTENT PROGRAMMES + TEXT & DATA MINING
New Government-Appointed Freelance Champions Are Announced
Leila D’Aronville and Lizzie Crump have been announced
as the new Government-appointed Freelance Champions
on 1 September 2026. As newly created roles, they will
advocate for the creative industry’s 703,000 selfemployed, working to make sure their voices shape
future policy.
Leila is the founder of the North East Cultural
Freelancers, a network supporting freelancers and small
organisations across the region. Lizzie is one of the CoDirectors of What Next?, the UK’s largest free-to-access
network for arts and culture. They will be supported by
Dave O’Brien, Professor of Cultural and Creative
Industries at the University of Manchester, who joins the
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on an
academic secondment to provide research support.
AOP CEO, Isabelle Doran comments, "With the integral
importance creator freelancers, such as photographers,
collectively bring to the UK economy, the Freelance
Champions have an enormous task ahead. We sincerely
hope these new appointments, by the Secretary of State
for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
(DCMS), Lisa Nandy, will make a principal difference to
recognising the importance of creative freelancers'
livelihoods, not only to our UK economy but to our
broader cultural lives as well, and as key representatives
of professional photographers & image-makers, we look
forward to engaging with them in the near future."
Freelance Champions Government Announcement:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-freelancechampions-to-put-creative-workers-at-the-heart-ofgovernments-policy-making
AOP BUSINESS & LEGAL
