Working Artists and the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.): The Economy of Trickery, or Crashing the Ship of Fools
Keywords: A.K. Burns, A.L. Steiner, art laborers, Artists, compensation, Corporate Agenda, cultural production, curators, economics, exploitation, FIGHT, Freelance, galleries, inequalities, institutions, K8 HARDY, museums, non-profits, PAID, performers, protest, societal institutions, Survey, Unions, unpaid, W.A.G.E., work, Working Artists and the Greater Economy
Listen to Dis. This is the beginning of the end of despair for all us artists working our butts off. Do you feel exploited? Do you feel like the people who work for the man are constantly taking advantage of your je ne sais quoi so that their place looks really fucking cool/political/hip/totally not sexist/racist/classist/homophobic? You know what I mean? They say, “Well aren’t you lucky to even have your work being shown here?” Ok, so you put in all this time, energy, and materials to share your work, but Luck doesn’t pay the bills. Luck doesn’t buy you groceries. Yo. Anyways, well there’s this new group called W.A.G.E. fighting for your rights now, so listen up. These places need to pay artists, they need to pay us when we are working! We cannot accept our poor and passive status while mega-global institution-corporations are stealing our money, style, and livelihoods. This is intense, and now is the time to fight!!! Check out the propaganda.
Dear ART WORKERS—The official W.A.G.E. SURVEY is here!!! These 2 surveys specifically target the exhibition experiences of visual and performance artists who have worked with either or both:
The purpose of these surveys is to compile information that will bring greater transparency to the economic practices of institutions in New York City with a view to establishing a more just and sustainable relationship between artists and arts organizations. Your participation is ESSENTIAL to our cause! PLEASE distribute widely and thanks for your time!
