Art of Collective Bargaining

Scope:

Interviews with Carole Conde and Karl Beveridge…

“Condé and Beveridge’s art and activism extends beyond photography to the building of infrastructures for labour-centred cultural production. The couple was integral to the creation of Toronto’s Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts and Hamilton’s Workers’ Arts and Heritage Centre. Condé and Beveridge have also been protagonists in efforts to collectively organize artists in Canada, from active involvement in the Canadian artist-run centre movement in its formative years to founding the Independent Artists’ Union (IAU). The IAU organized in Ontario in the 1980s, calling for a living wage for artists—a demand with continuing relevance given the precarious socio-economic conditions of artists in this country (Miranda, 2009). Beveridge has also served as the co-chair of the Bargaining Committee of CARFAC (Canadian Artists’ Representation/le Front des artistes canadiens), the professional visual artists’ organization whose advocacy since the late 1960s has enabled countless artists in Canada to be compensated for their work”