In December 2024, Creatives Rebuild New York released The Artist and Cultural Workers Bill of Rights to address systemic inequities and labor concerns facing artists and cultural workers. 

The Bill recognizes the essential yet often invisible labor of artists from ideation through creation, and calls for policies and practices to respect and compensate this work. It also advocates for solidarity between artists and cultural workers to foster sustainable cultural ecosystems.

The Bill is meant to be a living document — inspiring artists and cultural workers in New York State and beyond to adapt the articles to their local needs:

• Article I: Recognize Artist Work as Labor, from Ideation to Creation to Consumption
• Article II: Recognize Artists’ Status as Cultural Workers and Solidarity with Cultural Workers Employed at Institutions
• Article III: The Right to Safe Working Conditions
• Article IV: The Right to Fair and Transparent Wages
• Article V: The Right to Transparent Decision Making, Power Sharing, and Accountability
• Article VI: Intellectual Property Rights
• Article VII: The Right of Access to Resources

To create this Bill, we sought expertise and input from CRNY’s Artist Employment Program (AEP) participants. From April to June of 2024, eleven stakeholders from the AEP initiative gathered as a working group to outline the objectives and goals. Christopher Mulé, CRNY’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, Artist Employment, and Bathabile Mthombeni, J.D., M.S., PCC facilitated the group which included: Christine Lewis (Domestic Workers United), Cjala Surratt (Black Artist Collective), Diana Pryntz, (Deaf Refugee Advocacy), Evelyn D’Agostino (Grupo Cultural Latinos En Rochester, Inc), Faith Harper (Domestic Workers United), Hayden Haynes (Seneca Nation of Indians: Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center), Ife Olujobi (New York Shakespeare Festival, d.b.a. The Public Theater), Ivy Hest (Columbia County Sanctuary Movement), Jana “J.L.” Umipig (El Puente de Williamsburg Inc), Taij Kumarie Moteelall (Jahajee: Indo-Caribbeans for Gender Justice; Media Sutra), and Vanessa Bretas (Domestic Workers United). 

Explore the full Artist and Cultural Workers Bill of Rights here.

Artist Employment Program Artist Kenn Pan soaking indigo for pigment extraction. Photo courtesy of Oko Farms.