Exposure doesn’t pay my bills
Earlier this year, my company and I were approached for a performance, and the organizers mentioned that they were considering other companies as well. In the end, our prices were the highest but they still went with us because they resonated with our vision. Were we tempted to offer a more competitive rate? Yes. But we stuck by what we felt we actually deserved for that performance. Similarly, there was another performance request where we recommended that the presenting non-profit organization apply for a grant to secure funds to pay us adequately for our work, rather than settling for a token amount. These instances gave me hope and made me believe that we must clearly express our monetary expectations without hesitation.
More often than not we are approached by clients who have a budget for everything else but paying the artists. Food for the dancers or a picture with celebrities are not valid payments — exposure does not pay our bills. It feels unfortunate that while being an artist requires specialized skills including years of training, these skills are not appreciated in the form of monetary compensation. What really goes into a performance? Hours spent choreographing, researching recorded music and then editing, else collaborating with a composer or live musicians, which requires significantly more work and specialized skills, administrative work to coordinate performance logistics, hours of rehearsals for the dancers, designing and coordinating costumes, time spent during the technical rehearsal, getting ready in costumes and makeup and driving to and from the performance venue.
Being an artist in the Bay Area has felt as though it comes with unique challenges; the ecosystem is overrun with tech-workers, reliant on massive corporate incomes even if they are artists on the side. A majority of the artists working here pursue the arts part-time while making money from other jobs. Because of this, in my experience, many of these artists are able and willing to settle for little or no monetary compensation because their artistry and income can remain separated. While I have great admiration for people who are able to balance their passion with their profession, taking up gigs that are unpaid or underpaid adversely affects all working artists. Clients have constantly told me about how there are other companies or artists willing to undertake the performance for less. I recently received an email where I was told that the artistic budget for a large, well-funded organization’s 10-year anniversary gala was nonexistent. Even well-established organizations who are very well-funded often offer a pittance for performances which are advertised as the highlight of their event. Artists or companies usually take up these opportunities because either their income source lies elsewhere, or the dancers are unpaid. For someone making a corporate salary, the money earned through such performances doesn’t account for much. However, these artists are contributing to the reproduction of an ecosystem which is not conducive to supporting full-time artists with livable wages.
I have also encountered a pervasive scarcity mindset which leads us to believe that opportunities are limited and thus we should take them up for the sake of exposure or visibility without adequate compensation. Artists are afraid that someone else will take up an opportunity so they are willing to settle for less. This fear is not unfounded; an artist or company saying no to an opportunity does mean that someone else will take it up. However, unless artists collectively stand up for fair and equitable payments as a community, poor conditions for artists will not change. Furthermore, rather than recommending other artists for unpaid gigs, something I myself have been guilty of, I wish more artists would feel empowered to tell the organizers that we are not comfortable passing something on which does not rightfully compensate the performers. Sometimes one artist may agree to take up the gig because they see other well-respected artists associated with the program and so on, but this continues to reproduce subpar working conditions, particularly for upcoming artists. Having transparent conversations with organizers, curators, and one another can help us address these issues.
We have to know our worth and not be willing to settle for less; not be driven by fear but self-worth. If artists were actually paid fairly, perhaps there would be an opportunity for more people to be full-time artists in the Bay Area.
