is a New York-based activist group and non-profit organization whose stated advocacy mission is "to establish sustainable economic relationships between artists and the institutions that contract our labor, and to introduce mechanisms for self-regulation into the art field that collectively bring about a more equitable distribution of its economy".
Early activity focused on education and consciousness raising about economic inequity in the form of videos, open teach-ins, workshops, panel discussions and symposia at museums, galleries, conferences, festivals, schools, summits, and art fairs.
narrowed its platform to focus on the regulated payment of artist fees by nonprofit arts organizations and museums.
[3] W.A.G.E., identifying not as an art-making collective, but rather as an activist group, opted to participate by negotiating artist fees on behalf of everyone in the exhibition, marking the event as "the first experimental platform for W.A.G.E.
access to their financial history, thus facilitating the organization's first case study of artist fee payment practices.
Burns, Howie Chen, Andrea Fraser, Alison Gerber, Stephanie Luce, Andrew Ross (sociologist), Lise Soskolne, Marina Vishmidt, and staff members of Artists Space.
Certification is a voluntary program that publicly recognizes non-profit arts organizations demonstrating a commitment to ethical payment practices with the artists they contract.
However, unlike CARFAC, which has support from the Canadian government through the provision of the Exhibition Right in the Copyright Act, W.A.G.E.
Artist refers to "all those who supply content and services in a non-profit visual arts presenting context.
defines artistic labor as no different from other forms of subcontracted labor, and designates artist fees as compensation for content and services that are "distinct and separate from basic programming costs and services, production expenses, or the purchase of art works".
[15] In addition, the payment of artist fees does not imply the transfer of rights; must meet the minimum standard as determined by the W.A.G.E.
fee calculator; and must be listed as its own distinct visible line item in an organization's exhibition and operating budgets.
Fees are based on an organization’s total annual operating expenses (TAOE) and are broken down into three tiers:[17][18]