Working Artists and the Greater Economy is an activist organization founded in New York City in 2008. Still artist-run, we operate two connected programs: W.A.G.E. Certification for art institutions and WAGENCY for artists and art workers. Click here  to learn more.

WAGENCY now has divisions! Starting with artists, artist assistants, art handlers, arts administrators, critics, curators, educators, interns, studio managers, and visitor services, additional divisions oriented toward freelance labor will be added in response to collective need.

Over the next few months, we’ll begin integrating into WAGENCY a set of tools to empower artists (+ non-artists!) in multiple capacities across the industry, and involve worker participation up and down the supply chain.

Opportunities for subscribing members to self-organize and contribute to developing tools for their division are forthcoming. In the meantime, WAGENCY members can identify themselves on the public listing page  with one or more divisions.

WAGENCY  is a solidarity union for artists, art workers, and anyone participating in the art system looking to collectivize their leverage.

Existing Talk, Performance, Presentation, or Reading is defined as the delivery by a single participant of an existing talk, performance, or visual presentation of works, or the reading of a text to an audience. 

Why? Increases to performance fees in July 2023  produced a gap in the W.A.G.E. Fee Schedule in which there were no scalable options for an existing single (one-off) performance by an artist. The purpose of this adjustment is to close that gap. Read more about W.A.G.E. Fee Categories here .

In case you missed it, starting July 1, 2023, W.A.G.E. minimum fees in all 15 categories increased by 25% to account for the cumulative rate of inflation since pricing was introduced in 2014. For more on Fee Calculation and to view the new rates, click here .

Recommended rates for Artist Assistants and Studio Managers also increased:

Read more here. 

#131 Betti Ono Foundation 

#130 STEMarts Lab 

#129 A Blade of Grass 

#128 Portland Winter Light Festival 

#127 Montez Press Radio 

#126 The Poetry Project 

#125 New York City AIDS Memorial 

#124 Charles Allis-Villa Terrace Museums 

#123 Aurora Picture Show 

#122 Powerhouse Arts 

#121 Brookline Arts Center 

#120 Prospect Art 

#119 Arttable 

#118 Public Art Fund 

#117 Graham Gund Gallery 

#116 Red Line Service 

#115 Monument Lab 

#114 KAJE 

#113 Queens Museum of Art 

#112 Carnegie International 58th ed., 2022 

#111 Roman Susan 

#110 New York Studio School 

#109 Kresge Arts in Detroit 

#108 Equitable Vitrines 

#107 The Center for Photography at Woodstock 

#106 CALA Alliance 

#105 Arthur Ross Gallery 

#104 Central Contemporary Arts 

#103 Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland 

#102 Lawndale Art and Performance Center 

#101 Radiant Hall Studios 

#100!! EAI 

#99 Center for Art, Research and Alliances 

#98 Amant 

#97 Carolee Schneemann Foundation 

But who's counting? See the full list of W.A.G.E. Certified institutions here .