Artists’ Payday is Here: Art League Houston Now W.A.G.E. Certified

Art League Houston and W.A.G.E. (Working Artists and the Greater Economy) have announced that The Art League is now one of a handful of “WAGE Certified” nonprofits for 2015. This means that ALH has voluntarily agreed to meet minimum standards set by W.A.G.E. in 2014 for compensating artists who participate in ALH’s programming.

ALH joins newly certified orgs FD13 (St. Paul, Minnesota), Issue Project Room (NYC), and The Artist’s Institute (NYC) in providing a guaranteed minimum income to the artists they work with, paid in accordance with W.A.G.E. certification’s compensation standards and guidelines. The Art League Houston is one of the five spaces to achieve W.A.G.E. certification, and one of only two outside New York City.

W.A.G.E. is on the warpath: according to it’s “wo/manifesto“, it is dedicated to combating “organized irresponsibility of the art market and its supporting institutions, and demands an end of the refusal to pay fees for the work we’re asked to provide: preparation, installation, presentation, consultation, exhibition and reproduction” through providing guidelines for what it considers fair compensation for artists and encouraging arts organizations to follow them.

W.A.G.E. minimums

Last year, the Art League hosted Charge Practicum, a weekend of seminars and workshops centered on problems with the artist-money equation, which included a presentation by Lise Solkolne of W.A.G.E.

Read Glasstire’s recap of the Practicum  here.