---
title: "Honorarium"
description: "A fee paid to artists for preliminary work (a concept proposal, an interview, a maquette), recognizing that developing ideas is real labor."
glossary: "https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary"
source: "https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/honorarium"
---

# Honorarium

> A fee paid to artists for preliminary work (a concept proposal, an interview, a maquette), recognizing that developing ideas is real labor.

Glossary: https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary  
Source: https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/honorarium

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.

Related terms: [Call for artists](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/call-for-artists), [Maquette](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/maquette), [Selection panel](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/selection-panel)