Labour & Ontario's Visual Arts Sector
Faculty
Information and Media Studies
Supervisor Name
Sarah Smith
Keywords
Independent Artists' Union, visual art, labour, Status of the Artist, CARFAC
Description
The Independent Artists' Union, otherwise known as the IAU, transformed artists' material conditions through their advocacy for a living wage for artists. Active from 1984 to 1989, the IAU began as a small group of media artists meeting in one another's kitchens and backyards, and grew to 700 active members spread across Ontario at its height.
This project charts the IAU’s advocacy work and interaction with other important actors and institutions in the cultural scene, as well as highlights main points in the labour movement, the arts, artists’ organizing and cultural policy— all of which resulted in lasting changes to how we understand artists' labour and Canada’s art scene.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Sarah Smith, the Western USRI program, and the Faculty of Information and Media Studies for their support.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Document Type
Event
Labour & Ontario's Visual Arts Sector
The Independent Artists' Union, otherwise known as the IAU, transformed artists' material conditions through their advocacy for a living wage for artists. Active from 1984 to 1989, the IAU began as a small group of media artists meeting in one another's kitchens and backyards, and grew to 700 active members spread across Ontario at its height.
This project charts the IAU’s advocacy work and interaction with other important actors and institutions in the cultural scene, as well as highlights main points in the labour movement, the arts, artists’ organizing and cultural policy— all of which resulted in lasting changes to how we understand artists' labour and Canada’s art scene.