Fair pay for the work of preserving.
A community-informed pay scale empowering Edmonton's heritage practitioners to receive equitable compensation — and giving organizations a clear baseline for project budgets and grant applications.
Guiding principles.
Heritage practitioners conduct and contribute to a wide range of tasks within a diverse ecosystem of heritage projects. Over the course of their professional careers, they may engage in many different skills and tasks that merit fair remuneration for the time and effort put into honing those skills.
This pay scale is flexible, community-informed, and not fixed. The rates listed are updated every two years to ensure they keep pace with inflation. All fees are minimum recommendations; a practitioner may request — or accept — a higher fee.
As an organization, Edmonton Heritage Council recommends that all practitioners be paid rates based on a living wage.
What the Practitioner Services Fee covers
Compensation for a practitioner's labour and time on a specific project: research or consultation services, cultural workshops, heritage writing or podcasting, documentary and photography projects, exhibitions, and public presentations.
What the Fee does not include
- General equipment
- Props, costumes, and reenactment items
- Publication costs
- Rental fees
- Travel and accommodations / per diems
- Subscriptions
- Purchase of protocols
- Production-related fees
Duration of fees
Like CARFAC and many other Professional Services Fees, HPSF rates are based on half-day and full-day rates. Day rates are common in sectors where freelance or occasional work is the norm.
Half-day rate: work up to four hours in duration (never prorated).
Full-day rate: work over four hours in duration.
Funding pathways
EHC provides funding through the Heritage Community Investment Program (HCIP), Heritage Gathering Grant, and Funding Indigenous Resurgence Edmonton (FIRE) — allowing practitioners to cover associated project costs without drawing away from fair compensation for their time and labour.
A standard scale empowers practitioners to receive equitable compensation — and gives organizations a baseline for grant applications.
Find your recommended rate.
Tell us a little about the work and the practitioner's level of experience. We'll surface the recommended fee range — drawn directly from the scales below — so you can build it into your budget or quote with confidence.
Make a selection to surface the recommended fee range.
Presentation fees.
Presentations include lectures about historical moments, figures, or specific research interests of a heritage practitioner — and span panels, roundtables, podcasts, informal Q&A, workshops, tours, and talks to school or community groups.
Although a presentation's duration may be well under four hours, the expertise and information involved in preparation is a crucial component of fair compensation.
Practitioners early in their public-speaking and presentation career.
Established practitioners with a track record of presentations and speaking engagements.
Highly sought practitioners regularly invited to deliver keynotes and lead workshops.
Media & documentation.
Fees for individuals developing physical or digital heritage projects that will be shared with the public — including the research process of project development. Split into three tiers based on level of expertise.
Entry-level skill in cultural heritage documentation — experimenting with or exploring a new medium.
Practicing media or documentation professional with 3–6 projects using these documentation and research skills.
Established cultural media producer or creator. Consulted to work on multiple projects across their career, with many projects of their own.
Community & cultural practices.
Fees for individuals developing knowledge-sharing and instructional programs at a community level. Regarding honoraria to Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Holders, different activities require cultural protocol to be maintained and engaged.
Practicing facilitators or those in training.
CV reflects frequent facilitation projects and relationships with mentorship programs or community organizations.
Community- and culturally-recognized knowledge stewards essential to the transmission of cultural knowledge in Edmonton.
Interpretation & public education.
Fees for individuals presenting their Heritage Interpretation projects and Public Engagement work. Split into three tiers based on level of expertise.
Early-career or junior interpreters; entry-level community story-gathering.
Independent educators and (under-)employed intermediate interpreters.
Senior interpreters, authors, curators, and public historians.
Indigenous Honoraria.
EHC strives to support Indigenous peoples in revitalizing and participating locally in traditions that reflect their connections to ancestors and the land. In this work, it is crucial that the organization engage Indigenous communities with respect and culturally appropriate ways of upholding revitalization efforts.
Honoraria are a traditional custom in most Indigenous communities. They function alongside other protocol offerings significant to specific cultural groups' traditions, beliefs, and teachings. (For example, in nehiyawak practices, the giving of tobacco — whether pipe tobacco, cigarettes, or in a tobacco tie — is a customary protocol.)
The protocol should be given before any speaking or prayer is provided by an Elder. Both the honorarium and protocol offering should be seen as a symbol of appreciation for the time and work it took for an Elder or Knowledge Keeper to reach the wisdom they have to offer — not as payment or a transactional fee set in colonial structures.
Welcome, Prayer, Blessing
$200 – $400A territorial welcome, prayer, or blessing for an event that requires an Elder or Knowledge Keeper to speak in public.
Sets the tone of an event and starts/ends an event in a good way. Amount depends on the ceremony and time involved (presence and preparation).
Formal Presentation, Honoured Guest
$500 ½-day · $750 fullAn invitation to have an Elder or honoured community member present at an event and give formal remarks.
Contribution of content and learnings to the event; knowledge sharing.
Workshop / Community Presentation
$500 ½-day · $1,000 full + materialsA Knowledge Keeper invited to a workshop or community talk to speak on a specific topic requiring traditional knowledge, teachings, and Indigenous-centred instruction.
Provides traditional teachings; Indigenization of the classroom.
Elder Support Person / Helper
$200 per personElders may request a support person or helper to ensure their needs are met.
The Elder feels safe in travelling and is in a good place to provide their services.
Indigenous Knowledge Keeper / Mentor
$500 ½-day · $750 fullAn Indigenous mentor with expertise related to Indigenous knowledge systems and ways of being.
Provides Indigenous-centred direction, support, and instruction.
Entertainment / Cultural Performance
$200 per person (0–4 hrs)Requesting a dancer, singer, or other artist to perform culturally — often with traditional regalia.
Provides meaningful experience to increase awareness of cultural activities, entertainment, and information.