Glossary
Honorarium
A fee paid to artists for preliminary work (a concept proposal, an interview, a maquette) recognizing that developing ideas is real labour even when the commission ultimately goes to someone else.
Whether finalists are paid is one of the most reliable tells of a healthy public art program. Unpaid proposal work doesn't filter for talent; it filters for artists who can afford to work free. That quietly excludes exactly the emerging and working-class artists most programs say they want to reach. The honorarium doesn't need to cover the work's full value; it needs to say, in money, that the program considers artists professionals.