Arts Organizations vs. Artists

If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you have probably noticed a recurring theme... that of "arts organizations" vs. "artists".

I see the role of an arts organization as being twofold:

1) To bring arts to the community
2) To financially support artists, so they can actually create the art that is being brought to the community.

Too many times I see business models which rely on the artists supporting the organization, rather than the organization supporting the artists. Arts administrators for organizations often get paid far more than the artists working for those organizations. Organizations rationalize costs for materials, advertising, promotions, and administration, but somehow can't justify actually paying visual and performing artists a fair wage for their time.

We live in a time when the process of art creation is continually devalued. Over an over again I see the phrase "it will be great for your portfolio!" or "you will get plenty of exposure!"

The problem is, if everyone thinks like this, the only thing exposure will be good for is getting more non-paying work. It is like Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative:


"Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law."

What does this mean in practical terms? Don't do anything you wouldn't want everyone else to do. If you are asking someone to work for free, assume everyone else is also asking that person to work for free.  From the artists perspective, what good does it do for you to perform for free in front of 10,000 people, other than to let 10,000 people know you are willing to perform for free?

It is high time for artists and arts organizations to re-evaluate their relationships. Self sustaining business models must be created that allow for artists to prosper, so that they can afford to bring arts to their community.

How Much is Your Time Worth?

I continued to be intrigued and puzzled over the attitudes many non-profits have regarding the value of time. I have seen accounting managers fret over $5.00 in undocumented expenses, and wring hands over $20 in cost overruns. I have seldom seen anyone worry about labor overruns.

I'll give you a concrete example. Let's take a typical state sales tax exemption form such as this:

Most non profit groups like you to bring these forms with you when you go shopping, and have the store manager fill in their info. The problem is, most sales clerks are not familiar with such a form, and it usually takes a while to round up the manager. Suffice it to say that 15 minutes is a realistic time frame for filling out such a form in a typical retail store.

Now, let say I am running around  shopping for an event or a production, and dropping $20 here, $30 there, maybe sometimes less than $10.00. Virginia has a 5% general sales tax. So, on a $20 purchase, I would be saving the non-profit group $1.00.

If I were running a business, and paying an employee say, $16 an hour to run around shopping, it would not make sense for me to have that employee fill out one of these forms for any less than $4.00 in savings. (actually more than that, because the real cost to my business of having an employee whom I pay $16 an hour is at least double that). So, it wouldn't make any sense for me to have him/her stand around for 15 minutes unless the money being saved exceeds the money I am paying to have that person to stand around for those 15 minutes. In real terms, this would be a $160 purchase.

However, non profit mentality tends to be that your time is worthless. You are expected to stand there for however long it takes to save the organization even ten cents. If you are in a contracted or flat salary position to execute a project, this means that your hourly rate drops dramatically.

On a similar note, if the scope of a project is increased there will typically be fretting over the materials budget but zero consideration into any extra labor involved, unless it threatens to keep a project from being completed by a given deadline. $20 extra in material can be considered more of a burden than 20 hours extra in labor.

So this question goes to both the artist, as well as the arts administrators and boards managing arts organizations. What is an artist's time worth? Is it minimum wage? $10 an hour? $20 an hour? How much does the highest paid person in your organization get? Is their salary supported by having numerous people below them working for scandalously low wages? Do you even keep track of the man-hours involved in your productions?

How much is YOUR time worth?