I’m a performance artist. This means I’m asked to “donate” performances, work for less than my professional value, and generally make people feel happy and entertained without being able to feed myself or afford transportation or supplies to create my entertaining piece of art in the first place. I’d like to say for the record that being an artist =/= being an intern.
I’m also a professional Dominant. People frequently approach me asking me to work with them for free or less than my rates. Often these people get agro when I decline or don’t immediately respond to their request. It feels pretty oppressive and steeped in entitlement.
According to our culture, as a female and as a queer person, I should feel less than worthy of payment for my work. It’s how the people with money keep their money in one place: circulating within a community of people who look just like them and who play the same games. I know I shouldn’t be making money or be seen publicly with all these politics written on my body. I know the sex I was assigned at birth has meant I was taught tirelessly about care-taking others, how to see the world from other people’s perspectives, and it’s rewarded me (or at least beat me down slightly less viciously) for showing compassion (or shutting up) in even outrageous situations. The same world who made up these infuriating rules and created the pay gap also failed to decide that being a minority or underprivileged person means that I get to pay less to eat, clothe myself, and find housing.
So you see, I actually need to be paid for the things that I do.
Especially the things I do which comfort others at the expense of my time, energy, and expertise. The specialized training I’ve garnered from being a minority and underprivileged person my entire life counts toward a university degree or two in and of itself. I want my value appreciated.
I bring this up because it’s been a struggle of mine which has reared its head much lately. Fundraisers. I’m happy to apply to and perform in a fundraiser when it’s clear what the pay situation is (if I can afford to and I care about the subject). I’ve worked for free or reduced pay in the past with no issue. I’ve done a couple fundraisers for sex workers lately, and I approached another one recently. It was a show I’ve been wanting to perform at for a while, and they were actively looking for out sex workers to perform in what was also meant to raise funds for the sex worker community. They were happy to have me on the bill when I wrote to them, and then they mentioned that they were paying their performers half of their regular performance rate because the show was a fundraiser. The rate they quoted wouldn’t even cover my bus to the city, much less feed me, pay for costumes, or come close to offering some kind of living hourly wage (not that performance rates ever really do)…
Following was my response, and I fully admit it’s a hard conversation. I like the show, but there has to be a better way to sell tickets and raise money than this. This method is epidemic in the art world, and I bring attention to it because the way we look at art usually has nothing to do with the struggle of artists. And the way we look at fundraisers rarely has anything to do with raising awareness about how all of the parts function together. The ticket buyer would have come to the show if it was a fundraiser or not, they’re being entertained exactly the same way as they would were the show not a fundraiser, and so the artists are the ones ultimately footing the bill… Unless you fundraise in a different way.
Hi ___,
This is not the show for me to perform in then, thank you for laying it out. Since I’m coming from out of town and I’ve been a professional in the performance art industry for almost 30 years, I do not usually perform for under $___/act. Let me know if you’re willing to discuss pay with me at some point for future events.
I would also like to ask you to consider something else, if you would. You are producing a fundraiser *to benefit* sex workers, and asking sex workers to perform in it. Sex workers, now more than ever, are having a really hard time and struggling to make ends meet, to maintain clients and to find clients, and to support themselves in general. Under FOSTA/SESTA things have gotten harder and less safe. Anyone who identifies as a sex worker is facing hardship right now. As I’m sure you know, sex workers are a group of people who are almost entirely made up of women, trans people, and people of color. To cut a performer’s pay in half — especially a sex worker and a minority’s pay — is not only stressful for the sex workers who are giving their time to your stage as artists and activists and people invested in making their reality a topic for broader conversation and deeper understanding, but it’s stressful because the opportunity to put that conversation out in the public comes at a cost. That cost is emotional labor, education, and potential exposure to harassment (or worse). That cost is personal. Many artists who are sex workers are in the industry in the first place to fund their performance and art careers.
I cannot in good faith support this particular endeavor of yours as a career performer, artist, and as a sex worker. If you’d like to raise money for sex workers, consider how you can raise those funds without taking it directly from sex worker’s (and frequently minority people’s) pockets. I know it can be a good production strategy to do fundraising shows, and as artists we want to bring attention to current politics and human interest issues, but I think there has to be a better way to do these things than by defunding the individuals who are creating art and who are educating the public.
I wish you well. Please do think of me for future events. I’m happy to discuss this with you more, and I hope your local community has a great time at this show. I hope that you’re able to execute your vision with support and vigor. ~Creature / Karin
I get it, producers of art, especially artist/producers, have it really hard. I’ve done it for years. You do not make bank from that job, especially if you’re doing it for your own artistic voice’s visibility. I wish I had a booking manager (any takers?) because it would free me up to do what I’m passionate about rather than spend many hours online hunting for jobs and going 15 rounds on contract details before spending 75-300+ percent of my project’s pay on supplies to create the project, transportation, and other job related expenses.
Creating, performing, teaching, pleasing, and deeply connecting with people is what I’m passionate about and (might I say) pretty great at. I wish I could afford a home big enough to choreograph in and work out of comfortably. I wish that my efforts — the ones which makes audiences and clients happy — were valued without me having to defend my position over and over again each time I consider accepting a gig.
To the general public I have to say: if something makes you happy, and you value being happy, pay the person who created that happiness well. It’s probably a job they’re doing while trying to survive.
Play On My Friends,
~ Creature
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~Thank you.