Human Resources for Art Workers

Wednesdays, 7–10 pm
February 27 & March 27
Hosted by Christy Roberts Berkowitz
Max 50 participants
Free / RSVP

If you were sexually harassed by a fellow artist in your group exhibition, who would you report that to? If a curator was clearly tokenizing your identity and proceeded to enact several microaggressive gestures towards you, who would you report that to? If a gallerist has failed to pay you for the sale of your work in a reasonable amount of time, who would you report that to? Do you feel uncomfortable asking to be paid W.A.G.E. certified fees? Have you noticed certain art spaces creating hostile or predatory cultures towards women and/or people of color?

Human Resources for Art Workers (not to be confused with the art space) is an idea for a service-based art workers union. Our intention is to utilize tools such as restorative justice, mediation and conflict resolution, legal council, support groups, and mutual aid resources. This is a conversation, a working group, and a community building exercise. If you are interested in brainstorming, cultivating, and/or co-organizing for art workers rights, please joins us as we collectively begin to wade into these waters.

March 27: Meeting #7

February 27: At our February meeting we’ll be developing our plans for a day long clinic for artists in need of support.

January 30: At our January meeting, the collective will be joined by A.L. Steiner. Steiner is the co-founder of Working Artists and the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.) and collaborates with numerous writers, performers, designers, activists and artists. She is faculty in Photography at Yale University, and serves as visiting faculty in the low-residency MFA programs at Bard College and School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Steiner is based in New York and Los Angeles. More on W.A.G.E.: www.wageforwork.com.

December 19: This month the collective will be joined by artist and mediator Dorit Cypis.

November 28: This month the collective welcomes guest speaker Anuradha Vikram, head curator at 18th Street Art’s Center and author of “Decolonizing Culture: Essays on the Intersection of Art and Politics.” The talk will be followed by a conversation about the group’s core values and mission.

 

Artist, educator, agitator, and emotional laborer, Christy Roberts Berkowitz, composes experiences, images, and objects that attempt to reconcile the intersections of resistance and escapism, expectation and failure, subject and object, community and individualism. A third generation Southern Californian, Christy Roberts Berkowitz holds Bachelor Degrees in Philosophy and Religion, a BFA in Studio Art, and an MFA from Claremont Graduate University. She is an Associate Professor in the Riverside Community College District & at the University of La Verne, and has organized in/with/at: Freewaves, CURRENT LA, KCHUNG, Glitzer, The California Poppy Collective, Problematic Radio, The Los Angeles Dept. of Cultural Affairs, MOCA Los Angeles, The Getty Museum, The Telfair Museum, The Chrysler Museum, REDCAT, The Hammer Museum, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Orange County Museum of Art, The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Asylum Arts, The Institute for Jewish Creativity, The Righteous Persons Fund, Human Resources, Perform Chinatown, Eastside International Los Angeles, The Women’s Center for Creative Work, The Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers and Uniforms, Summercamp’s ProjectProject, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Greene Exhibitions, among many others. Roberts Berkowitz has written for Art21 Magazine, Citizens of Culture, Undo Magazine, and was one of LA Weekly’s Best of LA People, 2012.
Twitter: @Radical_Flowers
IG: RadicalFlowers

Accessibility information for this event: WCCW has a 36” wide ramp at our front entrance and a stairway with 8 steps and a rail. There are 2 gender neutral restrooms. One restroom is wheelchair accessible, with a handrail. We provide scent free soaps and encourage guests to attend our events scent free. If you require ASL interpretation, CART, interpretation for a language other than English, supervised childcare, or have any other access needs or questions, please contact [email protected] at least two weeks in advance. It is our practice to do everything we can to create a safe and accessible space.

Childcare for this event: We do our best to provide low-cost, on-site childcare for our events when requested at least a week in advance. If you are interested in childcare for this event, please fill out this form.