From: Victoria Wolfe (email suppressed)
Date: Tue Aug 22 2006 - 09:52:29 PDT
Just so you all know, I once curated a video art show at Spaceworks @
the Tank and was guaranteed
payment for two artists. The rest of my money for the exhibition came
out of my pocket. One was an artist
who had recently moved to the U.S. from Asia and who was supporting a
new family, the other someone who couldn't
afford airfare and who flew in to perform an evening of music upstairs
at the Tank that brought in a full paying
audience. They did not pay either one the nomimal fee promised, and
that happened after both artists participated
in the show. I happen to know that one of the members of the
collective had made some big mistakes with
money in unrelated matters. Not only did this harm my professional
reputation -- somehow the collective at
the Tank managed to portray me as being in the wrong. The shows was
popular - the opening screening had
many who stayed and watched for hours. Additionally, the staff waited
until just days before the event to clean up the room for
the screening, and installation-wise they did not follow through with
anything near what they had promised in the
weeks and weeks of meetings and prep together. The Tank not only
never paid the artists what they had
promised, they removed the show, Dialogue with Pop, from their archive
listing because I was so mad about this.
Meanwhile I had to scramble to do damage control. Fortunately I have
screenshots that it existed.
One of my worst professional experiences.
On Monday, August 21, 2006, at 10:46 AM, Susan Agliata wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I would like to clarify the mission of The Tank and address some
> issues a
> few individuals seem to have with the submission process:
>
> The Tank is a not-for-profit organization for the visual and performing
> arts and operates with an almost entirely volunteer staff to program,
> manage, and maintain the venue. New works find a home here, artists
> find
> an environment where they can create as well as present, and audiences
> find welcoming ticket prices to a dynamic schedule that has given
> unconventional programming a stage in the heart of Manhattan.
>
> The Tank keeps only a very small percentage of the ticket sales to the
> screenings and the remainder is given DIRECTLY to the
> artists/filmmakers.
> Once again, the programmers/organizers do not receive financial
> compensation.
>
> A submission fee for festivals and screening opportunities is standard
> practice and is necessary to pay bills and rent for running a monthly
> screening in Tribeca. All submission fees go directly towards
> maintenance
> of the venue and once again the organizers are not compensated
> financially
> through these fees.
>
> It is truly disheartening to me that this has been met with such
> cynical
> criticism. The Tank is merely one venue of a community of non-profit
> organizations dedicated to screening underrepresented experimental film
> and video to the public on a continuing basis, and it is integral that
> this endeavor is sustained through the support of the greater
> experimental
> moving picture community.
>
> --
> Susan Agliata
> The Tank: New York Experimental
> email suppressed
> www.thetanknyc.org
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.