Why?

This is an online, crowd-sourced database of contracts commonly encountered by contemporary art practitioners. The database informally and anonymously utilizes collective bargaining power to encourage sector transparency and demand more equitable standards for labour conditions in the arts.

This beta version offers:

• a spreadsheet that compiles specific clauses, populated via an anonymous Google Form
• a list of sample contracts with anonymized annotations from racialized arts workers

This online database is only a small portion of Gendai CBA. The core of the project is the conversations that happen during in-person workshops about how contracts encapsulate power dynamics between white-dominant institutions and racialized freelance workers. Understanding that “power works by making it hard to challenge how power works” (Sara Ahmed), Gendai uses gossip to “map out the contours of oppression” (David Garneau). These workshops aim to reform contract language by starting with the material needs of freelance artists/arts workers. We gossip about our experiences navigating labour contracts and develop strategies to negotiate with institutions. Collectively, we read through each other’s contracts, point out power imbalances, and suggest counter clauses to rectify them. These annotations are anonymized and documented in the last column of the spreadsheet and as comments in each contract document.