Join WAGENCY

WAGENCY is an organizing infrastructure designed to increase workers’ individual bargaining power and build collective leverage. Members can join for free or become monthly subscribers and access all of its tools.

Free membership enables everyone to participate. Add your name and help us build leverage for workers across the industry.

$5 per month provides critical support for W.A.G.E.’s work. Think of it as monthly dues. And there is merch! New subscribers get a vintage limited edition 2018 Womanifesto poster.

With little direct financial support coming from government agencies, most artists depend on grant makers, residency programs, and service organizations to fill in the gaps. This expansive network of artist support organizations plays a critical role in the redistribution of basic resources but it can only provide a temporary reprieve from systemic instability. Once a funding period ends or a residency is over, most artists return to their laboring lives and the struggle to find enough time, space and money to continue practicing begins again.

For those who earn a living from artist fees and freelance work, labor equity is also a basic resource. Inconsistent income must cover not only housing, food, health and child care among other things, but also studio rent, supplies and the unpaid time spent making art. WAGENCY was conceived to support artists in the ongoing struggle for a more equitable distribution of the field’s economy and we encourage artist support organizations to think of labor equity as a basic resource toward that end.

If your organization is interested in adding WAGENCY to a grant, residency or fellowship recipient cohort and having that support acknowledged publicly, one-year subscriptions can now be purchased in bulk for $60 each. 

We are proud that the National Performance Network  is the first organization to sign on. If your organization is interested in joining NPN, please email us at wagency@wageforwork.com .