work for pay

This is a new project I am working on called work for pay. Read description below and help me raise money by attending a benefit at Tandem on Monday, June 22, 7-10pm.

PROJECT SUMMARY

I will hire three unemployed or underemployed artists as dancers in a new performance piece. The performance piece, titled work for pay, will be made collaboratively over the course of 4-6 weeks. I will recruit artists through an open call–no movement experience necessary.  The dancers’ marketable skills and resumes will be used to build the choreography so that the final performance will in some way advertise the dancers’ skills to the audience. 

WHERE CAN I SEE WORK FOR PAY? 

work for pay will be performed at the next FEAST (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics) Dinner in August 2009. We will continue to have work for pay showings at public and private settings in Brooklyn until all the dancers have found employment. Please contact me if you are interested in hosting work for pay at your home or venue. 

HOW WORK FOR PAY WILL USE FUNDING *updated 5.17.09

The primary use of funds will be to pay the dancers $8/hour for 30 hours of rehearsal.

30 hrs/person x $8/hour = $240/person x 3 dancers = $720 (dancer fees)

30 hours of $5/hour rehearsal space = $150 (rehearsal space)

props and miscellaneous = $30 (materials)

= $900 TOTAL*

*as of 5.17, $400 of funding has been secured through FEAST. 

 

WHY SHOULD I SUPPORT WORK FOR PAY?

work for pay is a critical project in the discussion of sustainable tactics in art. It aims to create a discreet economy in which artists are paid for creative research—the artists I “hire” as dancers are deepening their creative process by engaging in mine. I believe that dance is a uniquely valuable tool in creative research—it helps artists explore concepts with their physical body so as to establish an emotional and physical connection. work for pay suggests a new model of connecting artists to resources by using the art itself as a means of communication.