ArtSeen
What Do We Do Now?
Arts & Labor's Alternative Economies Resource Guide
This list has been compiled collaboratively by members of the OWS Arts & Labor Alternative Economies group to increase the visibility of an access to existing cooperatively-owned resources and alternative networks available to our community.
This is a living document. Print version will be updated every 6 months. To submit updates, please e-mail owsartsandlabor@gmail.com
Contributor
Members of the OWS Arts & Labor Alternative Economies Group
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Center for Book Arts
By Megan N. LibertyMARCH 2023 | ArTonic
Wandering around the flower district of Manhattan, you may be surprised to see a green flag hanging high above the flowers, signaling the location of the Center for Book Arts (CBA) on the third floor, where it has been located since 1999. As artist and designer Ben Denzer recently wrote to me, “Despite coming and going to CBA all the time, I can never really get over how much of an unexpected gem it is. The fact that this book utopia is hiding on the third floor of a random building on 27th street has always made me look at all NYC buildings as if each might contain delightful secrets inside.”
“Striketober” and Labor’s Long Downturn
By Jason E. SmithDEC 21-JAN 22 | Field Notes
Millions of Americans were forcibly put out of work by the pandemic shutdowns; others were forced to work in exceptional, even intolerable, conditions. And yet, against a backdrop of riot and disorder, in February 2021 the Bureau of Labor Statistics published a new release confirming 2020 one of the lowest points of working class militancy in recent history, the third lowest since records began being kept in 1947.
Candor Arts: The Chicago-Based Press Reenvisioning Equity in Arts Publishing
By Leah GallantAPRIL 2022 | Art Books
The organization aims to restructure art publishing to fairly compensate all contributors, rather than one in which artists pay exorbitant costs to publish their work. These publishing projects function like an archive of the Chicago arts during the six years the press was active. Ranging from poetry chapbooks to photo portfolios, the more than editions produced also include the monographs accompanying major museum exhibitions.
COVID, Arts Funding, and the Gig Economy
By Gordon Beeferman and David FriendNOV 2021 | Field Notes
One of the groups of workers most suddenly and severely affected by the economic fallout from the public health crisis were those working in the cultural sector, especially in the performing arts. As freelance musicians who have both worked in New York scenes for decades, this included us.
