User Agreement

EFFECTIVE DATE: JUNE 1, 2023

Please read this User Agreement carefully before accessing or using WAGENCY. It is an important contract between us and our Users, and we have tried to make it as clear as possible.

A. DEFINITIONS

B. ACCOUNT TERMS

C. ACCEPTABLE USE

D. PRIVACY OF YOUR ACTIVITY ON WAGENCY

E. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY NOTICE

F. PAYMENT

G. CANCELLATION, DELETION, TERMINATION

H. COMMUNICATIONS WITH W.A.G.E.

I. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

J. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

K. RELEASE AND INDEMNIFICATION

L. CHANGES TO THESE TERMS

M. MISCELLANEOUS

A. DEFINITIONS

1. The “Agreement” refers, collectively, to all the terms, conditions, notices contained or referenced in this document and all other operating rules, policies (including the WAGENCY Privacy Policy available here ).

2. “W.A.G.E.,” “we” or “us” refer to Working Artists and the Greater Economy, Inc. (EIN 45-0785519), as well as to our directors, contractors, and employees.

3. “W.A.G.E. Website” refers to W.A.G.E.’s website located at wageforwork.com, and all content, services, and programs provided by W.A.G.E. at or through the Website.

4. “W.A.G.E. Certification ” refers to a US-wide program initiated and operated by W.A.G.E. that publicly recognizes those nonprofit art institutions demonstrating a history of, and commitment to, voluntarily paying artist fees that meet minimum payment standards established by W.A.G.E. A current list of W.A.G.E. Certified institutions can be found here .  

5. “W.A.G.E. Standards” were established by W.A.G.E. in 2014 with the introduction of W.A.G.E. Certification. W.A.G.E. Standards are prices for artist fees paid to artists by Contracting Institutions. W.A.G.E. Standards may be followed voluntarily without a Contracting Institution being W.A.G.E. Certified, or, if a Contracting Institution has committed to being W.A.G.E. Certified, they must be followed. W.A.G.E. Standards are delineated for 16 Fee Categories. The level of compensation an organization must provide in order to be W.A.G.E. Certified is determined by its projected Total Annual Operating Expenses (TAOE) during each fiscal year. Fees for each category are calculated as a fixed percentage of an institution’s TAOE (when over $500,000) by W.A.G.E.'s Fee Calculator and are assigned to each organization as part of the Certification process. Institutions with a TAOE of less than $500,000 must follow W.A.G.E. Standards at “Floor W.A.G.E.”.

6. “WAGENCY” (“platform”) refers to the transactional platform that is the subject of this User Agreement and a program of W.A.G.E.  

7. The “Services” refers to the transactional tools offered to WAGENTS through WAGENCY, and which include access to a Candid-powered database containing the total annual operating expenses of thousands of nonprofit institutions across the United States; instantly generated minimum schedules for W.A.G.E. fees in 15 categories according to those expenses; instant generation of a customized minimum schedules for W.A.G.E. fees that determine the total cost of WAGENTS’ labor; initiation of Fee Requests through the platform directly to Contracting Institutions; the facilitation of Fee Request negotiation between WAGENTS and Contracting Institutions; and the requesting and reporting of payment by Contracting Institutions.

8. “WAGENT”, “the User,” “Member,” “you,” and “your” refer to the individual person, an art collective or a legal entity that has signed up to WAGENCY; received a WAGENT Number; and whose name, city, country, and WAGENT Number are publicly listed. A User must be at least 18 years of age.

9. “Paying User” refers to a WAGENT whose is paying USD $5 a month to access and use WAGENCY.

10. “WAGENT Number” refers to a unique number assigned to each WAGENT when they become a User of WAGENCY. Numbers are issued in chronological order.

11. “WAGENT Signature” refers to a dynamic SVG file.

12. “Contracting Institution” refers to a non-profit art institution with whom a WAGENT transacts their labor. Institutions contract the labor of artists.

13. “Fee Schedule” refers to a customized pricing schedule generated by WAGENCY for W.A.G.E. fees in 15 categories, and which WAGENTS use to determine the total cost of their labor.

14. “Fee Request” refers to a fillable form set on W.A.G.E. letterhead that is sent as a PDF file from W.A.G.E. to any email address on a WAGENT’s behalf. Fee Requests initiate a process of negotiation with Contracting Institutions that takes place via email, with W.A.G.E. in cc.

15. "WAGENCY Account" represents a WAGENT’s legal relationship with W.A.G.E. When you open an Account, you receive a membership number and dynamic SVG logo for identifying yourself as a Member.

16. In case of non-payment, you may still access your Account activity and records, however, you will not be able to use any Services such as initiating Fee Requests or generating customized fee schedule until you resume payment.

B. ACCOUNT TERMS 

1. Account Controls

Subject to these Terms, WAGENTS retain ultimate administrative control over their individual WAGENCY Account and its Activity.

2. Required Information

You must provide a valid email address in order to complete the signup process. It should be attached to an email account that you check regularly in order to receive notifications when Contracting Institutions have responded to your Fee Request. In order to become a WAGENT, you must also provide valid information for billing purposes. You will also need to acknowledge that you are over 18, have read and understood our Privacy Policy and User Agreement, and understand that becoming a WAGENT means that your name, city, country, and Membership Number will be publicly listed on the W.A.G.E. Website.

3. Account Requirements

We have a few simple rules for WAGENCY Accounts:

  • You must be a human to create an Account. Accounts registered by "bots" or other automated methods are not permitted. We do not permit machine accounts:

  • One person, an art collective or legal entity may maintain more than one WAGENCY Account if operating under different artistic agencies.

  • You must be age 18 or older. If we learn of any User under the age of 18, we will terminate that User’s Account immediately. If you are a resident of a country outside the United States, your country’s minimum age may be older; in such a case, you are responsible for complying with your country’s laws.

  • While we allow a single login to be shared by multiple people (e.g. if you are an artist collective), currently your Account can only be associated with one e-mail address. The e-mail address must be the same as the one associated with your payment details.  

  • You must agree to have your WAGENT Number, name, city, and country listed publicly on the W.A.G.E. Website.

4. WAGENCY Account Security

You are responsible for keeping your Account secure while you use our Services.

  • You are responsible for all the activity that occurs under your Account.

  • You are responsible for maintaining the security of your Account and password. W.A.G.E. cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage from your failure to comply with this security obligation.

  • You will promptly notify W.A.G.E. if you become aware of any unauthorized use of, or access to, our Services through your Account, including any unauthorized use of your password or Account.

C. ACCEPTABLE USE

1. Compliance with Laws and Regulations

Your use of WAGENCY and our Services must not violate any applicable laws. You are responsible for making sure that your use of the Services is in compliance with laws and any applicable regulations.

2. Activity Restrictions

You agree that you will not under any circumstances use our Services to engage in activity that:

  • is unlawful or promotes unlawful activities;

  • is or contains sexually obscene content;

  • is libelous, defamatory, or fraudulent;

  • is discriminatory or abusive toward any individual or group;

  • contains or installs any active malware or exploits, or uses our platform for exploit delivery (such as part of a command and control system);

  • or infringes on any proprietary right of any party, including patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, right of publicity, or other rights.

3. Conduct Restrictions

While using WAGENCY, you agree that you will not under any circumstances:

  • harass, abuse, threaten, or incite violence towards any individual or group, including WAGENCY employees, directors or contractors, or other WAGENTS;

  • use our servers for any form of excessive automated bulk activity (for example, spamming), or relay any other form of unsolicited advertising or solicitation through our servers, such as get-rich-quick schemes;

  • attempt to disrupt or tamper with W.A.G.E.’s servers in ways that could harm WAGENCY or our Services, to place an undue burden on W.A.G.E.’s servers through automated means, or to access WAGENCY Services in ways that exceed your authorization;

  • impersonate any person or entity, including any of our employees or contractors, including through false association with W.A.G.E., or by fraudulently misrepresenting your identity or site's purpose.

4. Services Usage Limits

You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit any portion of the Services, use of the Services, or access to the Services without W.A.G.E.’s express written permission.

5. Scraping

Scraping refers to extracting data from our Website via an automated process, such as a bot or webcrawler.

  • Researchers may scrape public, non-personal information from W.A.G.E. for research purposes, only if any publications resulting from that research are open access.

  • Archivists may scrape W.A.G.E. for public data for archival purposes.

  • You may not scrape W.A.G.E. for spamming purposes, including for the purposes of selling WAGENTS’ personal information, such as to recruiters, headhunters, and job boards.

  • All use of W.A.G.E. data gathered through scraping must comply with WAGENCY Privacy Policy .

6. Privacy

Misuse of WAGENTS’ Personal Information is prohibited.

Any person, entity, or service collecting data from WAGENCY must comply with the WAGENCY Privacy Policy , particularly in regards to the collection of our Users' Personal Information (as defined in the WAGENCY Privacy Statement). If you collect any WAGENCY User's Personal Information from WAGENCY, you agree that you will only use the Personal Information you gather for the purpose for which our User has authorized it. You agree that you will reasonably secure any Personal Information you have gathered from WAGENCY, and you will respond promptly to complaints, removal requests, and "do not contact" requests from WAGENCY or WAGENCY Users. 

7. WAGENT Protection

You agree not to engage in activity that harms WAGENTS.

D. PRIVACY OF YOUR ACTIVITY ON WAGENCY

1. Control over Correspondence through WAGENCY

Your correspondence with Contracting Institutions is private and confidential. W.A.G.E. does not actively monitor email negotiations but can view them when necessary or requested by either WAGENTS or Contracting Institutions. the platform keeps a record that can be accessed by W.A.G.E. if necessary and subject to your consent. Once your Account has been deleted, records of correspondence that can be traced to you are removed, with the exception of emails that remain in W.A.G.E.’s and the Contracting Institution’s email accounts. WAGENTS may request the deletion of their emails by contacting wagency@wageforwork.com.

2. Confidentiality of Your Activity on WAGENCY

W.A.G.E. considers the contents of your activity on WAGENCY to be confidential to you. W.A.G.E. will protect the contents of your activities on WAGENCY from unauthorized use, access, or disclosure in the same manner that we would protect our own confidential information of a similar nature and in no event with less than a reasonable degree of care.

3. Being listed as a WAGENT on the W.A.G.E. Website

Because WAGENCY is a platform for collectivizing leverage, it demonstrates its strength through the number of WAGENTS, their names, and general geographic location. As such we require that WAGENTS agree to have their WAGENT Number, name, city, and country listed on a publicly accessible page of the W.A.G.E. Website.

4. Collection of Anonymized Data

We collect anonymized data of your use of the platform with the primary purpose of getting a better picture of the impact that WAGENCY is making on the art field and strengthening WAGENTS’ negotiating power. The aggregated data is used to produce reports, some of which may be publicly accessible. We believe that the report can function as an important tool in advocating for a more equitable distribution of art’s economy. We may add information to the report through additional questions sent out to WAGENTS, which you are free to respond to or ignore.

We collect the following types of anonymized information:

  • the number of payments that are initiated through WAGENCY;

  • the average number of Fee Requests initiated through WAGENCY;

  • the mean number of payments made above, at, and below W.A.G.E. standards;

  • the average amount of time it takes WAGENTS to receive payment;

  • the geographical spread of WAGENTS;

  • the geographical spread of Contracting Institutions.

We reserve the right to modify this list if it becomes evident that other kinds of information would be beneficial to WAGENCY and in fulfilling W.A.G.E.’s mission. As previously stated, you will be notified of any such changes and given the opportunity to either consent or reject. Please see our Privacy Policy for more details.

6. Access

If we have reason to believe the activity conducted through WAGENCY is in violation of the law or of this User Agreement, we have the right to access, review, and interject in your activity. Additionally, we may be compelled by law to disclose the contents of your activity through WAGENCY.

E. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY NOTICE

1. W.A.G.E.’s Rights to Content

W.A.G.E. and our content providers retain ownership of all intellectual property rights of any kind related to the Website and Services. We reserve all rights that are not expressly granted to you under this Agreement or by law. The look and feel of the Website and Service are copyright © W.A.G.E. All rights reserved. You may not duplicate, copy, or reuse any portion of the HTML/CSS, Javascript, or visual design elements or concepts without notifying W.A.G.E. 

2. W.A.G.E. and WAGENT Signatures

Each WAGENT receives a unique Membership Number that is displayed, along with their name, in a dynamic SVG file called a “WAGENT Signature” or “WAGENT Logo”. WAGENTS can display their Signature on an external website using an embed code located in their Account. SVG files can only be used as embedded code, but the WAGENT Signature can be linked to in an email signature.

3. License to W.A.G.E. Policies

This Agreement has been produced on the basis of the GitHub Terms of Service subject to the Creative Commons Zero license .

F. PAYMENT

1. Subscription Fee

To use WAGENCY, WAGENTS must pay a monthly subscription fee of USD $5. Payment can be made using most credit and debit cards, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB, and Diner’s Club. Subscription prices are subject to change. If the subscription fee is to change, you will be notified via your WAGENCY Account and by e-mail. You will then have 30 days to either accept the new monthly subscription fee or cancel the account. If at the end of the 30 days you fail to do either, you will be charged the new monthly subscription fee.

2. Billing Schedule; No Refunds

  • The WAGENCY subscription fee is billed on a monthly basis and is non-refundable. There will be no refunds or credits for partial months of service or refunds for months unused with an active Account; however, the service will remain active for the length of the paid billing period.

  • In order to treat everyoneequally, no exceptions will be made.

3. Authorization

By agreeing to this User Agreement, you are giving us permission to charge your on-file credit card, debit card or PayPal account.

4. Responsibility for Payment

You are responsible for all fees, including taxes, associated with your use of WAGENCY. You are responsible for providing us with a valid means of payment.

5. Non-Payment; Deactivation; Dormant Account; Deletion

In case of non-payment, your account will be immediately deactivated until the outstanding fee has been paid. You may still access your Account activity and records, however, you will not be able to use any Services such as searching the institution database, initiating Fee Requests or generating customized fee schedules. Your Account will remain dormant until you resume payment. Dormant Accounts are retained until they are deleted by Users.

G. CANCELLATION, DELETION, TERMINATION

1. Account Cancellation & Deletion

It is your responsibility to cancel your WAGENCY Account by deleting it. You can cancel your Account through your Account settings.

We recommend that you download a CSV record of your Account Activity prior to deletion. We are not able to cancel Accounts in response to an email or phone request.

2. Upon Cancellation & Deletion

Upon cancellation and deletion of your WAGENCY Account, all the recorded activity on your Account including your personal information will be immediately removed. This information cannot be recovered once your Account has been deleted. We cannot trace or delete the data reflecting your prior usage of WAGENCY, some of which has been aggregated and anonymized.

3. W.A.G.E. May Terminate

W.A.G.E. has the right to suspend or terminate your access to all or any part of the Website at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately. W.A.G.E. reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason at any time.

4. Survival

All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination will survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability.

H. COMMUNICATIONS WITH W.A.G.E.

1. Electronic Communication Required

For contractual purposes, you (1) consent to receive communications from us in an electronic form via the email address you have submitted or via the Service; and (2) agree that all User Agreements, other agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that those communications would satisfy if they were on paper.

2. Legal Notice to W.A.G.E. Must Be Made in Writing

Communications made through email will not constitute legal notice to W.A.G.E. or any of its employees, contractors or representatives in any situation where notice to W.A.G.E. is required by contract or any law or regulation. Legal notice to W.A.G.E. must be in writing and served with signature on delivery mail to the following address: 185 Ocean Avenue, 5B, Brooklyn, NY, 11225.

3. No Phone Support

W.A.G.E. currently only offers support via email at wagency@wageforwork.com. We do not offer telephone support.

I. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

W.A.G.E. provides WAGENCY and the Services “as they are” and “as available,” without warranty of any kind. Without limiting this, we expressly disclaim all warranties, whether express, implied or statutory, regarding the Website and the Services including without limitation any warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, security, accuracy, and non-infringement.

W.A.G.E. does not warrant that the Service will meet your requirements; that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; that the information provided through the Services is accurate, reliable or correct; that any defects or errors will be corrected; that the Services will be available at any particular time or location; or that the Services are free of viruses or other harmful components. You assume full responsibility and risk of loss resulting from your downloading and/or use of files, information, content or other material obtained from the Services.

WAGENCY accesses information directly from Candid, the world's largest source of information on nonprofit organizations. W.A.G.E. is a licensed user of Candid's API. Candid does not guarantee the accuracy, quality, completeness, currency, or validity of the Candid Data. Any descriptive information is derived from IRS Forms 990, Forms 990-EZ, and Forms 990-PF filed by the organizations or their voluntary responses to a Candid questionnaire, and any financial data are taken from the IRS Business Master File, IRS Forms 990, Forms 990-EZ, Forms 990-PF, or information provided to Candid by organizations that are not required to file returns with the IRS.

J. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

You understand and agree that we will not be liable to you or any third party for any loss of profits, use, goodwill, or data, or for any incidental, indirect, special, consequential or exemplary damages, however arising, that result from

  • Your activity through and on WAGENCY;

  • Your use or inability to use the Services;

  • Any modification, price change, suspension or discontinuance of the Services;

  • The Services generally or the software or systems that make the Services available;

  • Unauthorized access to or alterations of your transmissions or data;

  • Statements or conduct of any third party on the Services;

  • Any other user interactions that you input or receive through your use of the Services; or

  • Any other matter relating to the Services

Our liability is limited whether or not we have been informed of the possibility of such damages, and even if a remedy set forth in this Agreement is found to have failed of its essential purpose. We will have no liability for any failure or delay due to matters beyond our reasonable control.

K. RELEASE AND INDEMNIFICATION

WAGENCY facilitates financial negotiations through the provision of its Services, however, no financial transactions take place through WAGENCY. Therefore, W.A.G.E. cannot be held liable or accountable for any non-payment or a delayed payment from a Contracting Institution.

If you have a dispute with one or more Contracting Institutions or Users, you agree to release W.A.G.E. from any and all claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.

You agree to indemnify us, defend us, and hold us harmless from and against any and all claims, liabilities, and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of your use of the Website and the Service, including but not limited to your violation of this Agreement, provided that W.A.G.E. (1) promptly gives you written notice of the claim, demand, suit or proceeding; (2) gives you sole control of the defense and settlement of the claim, demand, suit or proceeding (provided that you may not settle any claim, demand, suit or proceeding unless the settlement unconditionally releases W.A.G.E. of all liability); and (3) provides to you all reasonable assistance, at your expense.

L. CHANGES TO THESE TERMS

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to amend this User Agreement at any time and will update this User Agreement in the event of any such amendments. We will notify our Users of material changes to this Agreement, such as price changes, at least 30 days prior to the change taking effect by posting a notice on our Website and by e-mail. Your continued use of the Website constitutes an agreement to our revisions of this User Agreement.

We reserve the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Website (or any part of it) with or without notice.

M. MISCELLANEOUS

1. Governing Law: Except to the extent applicable law provides otherwise, this Agreement between you and W.A.G.E. and any access to or use of the Website or the Services are governed by the federal laws of the United States of America and the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict of law provisions. You and W.A.G.E. agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts located in the City of New York.

2. Non-assignability: W.A.G.E. may assign or delegate the terms under this User Agreement and/or the Privacy Policy, in whole or in part, to any person or entity at any time with or without your consent. You may not assign or delegate any rights or obligations under the User Agreement or Privacy Policy without our prior written consent, and any unauthorized assignment and delegation by you is void.

3. Severability, No Waiver, Survival: If any part of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion of the Agreement will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent. The remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. Any failure on the part of W.A.G.E. to enforce any provision of this Agreement will not be considered a waiver of our right to enforce such provision. Our rights under this Agreement will survive any termination of this Agreement.

4. Amendments, Complete Agreement: This Agreement may only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized representative of W.A.G.E., or by the posting by W.A.G.E. of a revised version and notification by e-mail in accordance with Section Changes to These Terms. This User Agreement, together with the WAGENCY Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, represent the complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between you and us. This Agreement supersedes any proposal or prior agreement oral or written, and any other communications between you and W.A.G.E. relating to the subject matter of these terms including any confidentiality or nondisclosure agreements.

5. Questions: Questions about the User Agreement? Contact us at wagency@wageforwork.com.