W.A.G.E. Against the Machine: Working Artists and the Greater Economy - How Much Should I Get Paid?
- 11/19/2014 (W.A.G.E.)

How much should I be getting paid as an artist? Working Artists and the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.) has an answer. We are a New York-based activist group founded in 2008 that advocates for the regulated payment of artist fees by non-profit art institutions, and for establishing a sustainable model for best practices between cultural producers and the institutions that contract our labor.

This October we launched W.A.G.E. Certification, a program that publicly recognizes non-profits that demonstrate a history of, and commitment to, voluntarily paying artist fees—it is also the first of its kind in the U.S. that establishes a sector-wide minimum standard for compensation, as well as a clear set of guidelines and standards for the conditions under which artistic labor is contracted.

W.A.G.E. Certification includes a Fee Calculator that tabulates recommended levels of compensation based on the size of an organization’s total annual operating expenses. If you are an artist, performer, writer, filmmaker, poet, curator, or arts administrator, W.A.G.E. wants you to know about this tool—and to use it.

After operating on volunteer labor for over 6 years, W.A.G.E. is transitioning into a functioning *but not bureaucratic* non-profit organization. Please consider donating what you can to the Wages 4 W.A.G.E. Campaign and help us continue the fight for equitable compensation in New York City, and beyond. It takes a village to change a village.

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