Gendai CBA: Collective Bargaining Agency
October 18th, 2023
1-4PM
@ The New Gallery
208 Centre St SET2G 2B6 Calgary, AB
︎Please RSVP here by October 16.
There are limited spots total to participate in this workshop, if you sign up and realize later that you can't make it, please be mindful and email gendaiclub@gmail.com to give your spot up to someone else who may want to participate!
Join Gendai for a contracts workshop on Wednesday, October 18 from 1-4pm. Gendai is a collective based in Tkaronto/Toronto dedicated to envisioning a more equitable art sector through collective research with BIPOC artists and arts workers.
The workshop aims to reform contract language by starting with the material needs of freelance artists/arts workers. We will look at samples of employment or exhibition contracts issued by cultural institutions and critique them as a group. We encourage participants to bring a contract that they are currently struggling with and use our discussion as a leveraging tactic. Participants can also bring an older contract, as an example of what worked and what didn't. Please note that we will not have lawyers present at the workshop.
With your consent, discussions in the workshop will contribute towards materials for Gendai NDA, an online, crowd-sourced database of contracts commonly encountered by contemporary art practitioners. The project informally and anonymously utilizes collective bargaining power to encourage sector transparency and demand more equitable standards for labour conditions in the arts. A beta version of Gendai NDA will launch on The New Gallery's Mainframe platform in November.
For more information on Gendai’s work on contracts, check out their interview in the podcast The Transparency that Helps All of Us by Geneviève Wallen.
If you have any questions/concerns, please email gendaiclub@gmail.com.
FAQ
What kind of contracts can I bring?
- Exhibiting artist contracts
- Independent curator contracts
- Arts writer contracts
- Short term arts employment (internships, technicians etc.)
- Long term arts employment
*** Tip: highlight any particular clauses that you wish you discuss
How do I submit a contract?
- Here are some options:
- Upload a pdf via our Google Form
- Bring a hard copy to the workshop
- Email a pdf: gendaiclub@gmail.com
Can I share a contract and remain anonymous?
- There are several ways to protect your identity:
- Redact any sensitive information that you may not be comfortable sharing with a public audience
- Create a new, temporary google account and send us your contract via our Google Form
- Have a friend submit your contract on your behalf
About Gendai
Gendai (Marsya Maharani and Petrina Ng) is an art collective based in Tkaronto/Toronto dedicated to racialized artists as the next generation of cultural leaders, radical thinkers, and visionaries.
Throughout its twenty-year history, Gendai has supported experimental curatorial and organizational practices, whilst creating space for East Asian artists and artists of colour. As Gendai’s newest stewards, Marsya and Petrina are investing in the future of racialized arts leadership through collective research and practice. We began with Gendai MA MBA: Mastering the Art of Misguided Business Administration: a year-long capacity-development & network-building think tank between nine majority-BIPOC art collectives to critique and re-imagine institutional practices by centering values of collectivity, equity, and access. This developed into Gendai CO-OP: an ongoing research that responds to toxic labour conditions especially experienced by BIPOC arts workers at museums and art galleries. Using gossip as a methodology to trace the contours of institutional power, Gendai builds relationships with emerging and mid-career arts practitioners of colour to learn about current workplace dynamics in the sector. By offering peer mentorship and access to Gendai’s platform, resources, and network, they invite collaborators to support each other in pursuing non-institutional futures and imagine “off-ramps” from the linear expressway of traditional, capitalist, and institutional career progression in the arts. Gendai also participates in Guidance Council, a bi-monthly casual drop-in organized by Alexandra Hong and Peter Rahul for racialized arts workers to share stories and solicit advice from each other. Gendai has published their research in the Gossip issue of C Magazine, titled “We Should Talk: Obvious Truths About Working in the Arts.”
Gendai (Marsya Maharani and Petrina Ng) is an art collective based in Tkaronto/Toronto dedicated to racialized artists as the next generation of cultural leaders, radical thinkers, and visionaries.
Throughout its twenty-year history, Gendai has supported experimental curatorial and organizational practices, whilst creating space for East Asian artists and artists of colour. As Gendai’s newest stewards, Marsya and Petrina are investing in the future of racialized arts leadership through collective research and practice. We began with Gendai MA MBA: Mastering the Art of Misguided Business Administration: a year-long capacity-development & network-building think tank between nine majority-BIPOC art collectives to critique and re-imagine institutional practices by centering values of collectivity, equity, and access. This developed into Gendai CO-OP: an ongoing research that responds to toxic labour conditions especially experienced by BIPOC arts workers at museums and art galleries. Using gossip as a methodology to trace the contours of institutional power, Gendai builds relationships with emerging and mid-career arts practitioners of colour to learn about current workplace dynamics in the sector. By offering peer mentorship and access to Gendai’s platform, resources, and network, they invite collaborators to support each other in pursuing non-institutional futures and imagine “off-ramps” from the linear expressway of traditional, capitalist, and institutional career progression in the arts. Gendai also participates in Guidance Council, a bi-monthly casual drop-in organized by Alexandra Hong and Peter Rahul for racialized arts workers to share stories and solicit advice from each other. Gendai has published their research in the Gossip issue of C Magazine, titled “We Should Talk: Obvious Truths About Working in the Arts.”