ARTISTS AT WORK
“Artists At Work is visionary in its artist-centered, ecosystem-integrated approach, and we’re thrilled to support its growth. Sustained artist employment and partnership models, such as those utilized by Artists At Work, are essential to driving systemic change and addressing deep inequities in the field.”
Artists At Work (AAW) is THE OFFICE performing arts + film's workforce resilience program in the spirit of the WPA that is designed to support communities through artistic civic engagement. Since we began with a pilot program in 2020, we've added 62 artists to our payroll across 10 states with over 80+ cultural and community partners joining the effort.
Artists At Work leverages the power and creativity of artists to respond to local community needs across a range of issues including mental health, antiracism, environmental justice and climate resiliency, substance abuse recovery, and youth welfare. Each AAW Artist is paired with a participating cultural organization and paid a living wage salary to do two things: to continue to make art, and to be embedded in a local social impact initiative that will benefit from their skills and creative thinking. The idea is to give stable employment to artists — so they can keep being artists — and simultaneously integrate their creative problem solving into the local ecosystem so that communities can move together towards a more sustainable and just future.
Artists At Work is produced and administered by THE OFFICE performing arts + film with generous support from the Mellon Foundation.
For more information about our currently active regions, artists and opportunities, visit artists-at-work.org.
OUR AIMS + OBJECTIVES
PAY ARTISTS A LIVING WAGE
AAW puts artists working across all disciplines on payroll at a living wage salary with health benefits for a period of one year to allow them to continue their artistic practice and launch new creative projects that serve their communities.SUPPORT THE CULTURE SECTOR
Cultural organizations that host AAW Artists and help bring their work to the public receive funding and other resources for participating in the program.HELP COMMUNITIES FLOURISH
Participating AAW Artists are embedded in local social impact initiatives, bringing capacity and creative problem solving to crucial programs that serve a broad spectrum of community members, and integrating artists in impactful ways within their communities.