Workers at California non-profit that supports artists with disabilities are unionising

Workers at the Creative Growth Art Center, one of the largest and oldest organisations in the US supporting artists with disabilities, are forming a union. Their announcement, on 2 April, coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Oakland, California-based non-profit, which was founded by Elias Katz and Florence Ludins-Katz. Creative Growth United (CGU) is forming under the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 57, in affiliation with AFSCME Cultural Workers United.

“Creative Growth is an important community space for artist participants, staff and the wider community of Oakland,” says Ariel Cooper, a studio facilitator and member of the union. “That’s why I joined up with CGU. A union will create a more equitable workplace where artist participants and staff are supported in ways that really matter.”

On 2 April the union delivered a letter to Creative Growth’s interim executive director, Tom di Maria, and the organisation’s board of trustees. In an emailed statement to The Art Newspaper, Di Maria wrote: “We’ve just learned of this development and have already reached out to the union to initiate a conversation. I believe that this step reflects our collective commitment to fostering an open, respectful and supportive work environment.”

The union would represent 34 workers across various departments including art facilitators and instructors, programme coordinators, gallery staff and other direct-service providers. Once recognised, up to 85% of Creative Growth employees could be part of the union.

In December of last year, staff at the organisation wrote an open letter to its leadership raising concerns regarding their hiring practices. Some of the other issues that have motivated staff to organise include wages and benefits, an over-reliance on volunteer and low-paid contractor labour, unilateral decisions by leadership figures with harmful effects on artist-clients in the studio and poor treatment of staff with disabilities.

On 6 April, staff held a rally outside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) to bring more awareness to their cause as well as to sign a community letter to urge leadership to voluntarily recognise their union. “We want to improve working conditions for all staff, including substitutes and interpreters in order to better support the artists,” says Sam Lefebvre, a studio facilitator and union member. “To sustainably facilitate their self-determination, we need a living wage and a collective voice.”

Last autumn, Creative Growth and SFMoMA launched a three-year partnership that involves collaborative programming and the museum acquiring more than 100 works associated with the non-profit. Creative Growth has also become a rising force in the market for outsider and self-taught artists over its 50-year history; earlier this year it partnered with the Outsider Art Fair in New York for a special exhibition.

In addition to Creative Growth, AFSCME Cultural Workers United represents workers at museums and cultural institutions across the US including the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia and the Iowa Children’s Museum. Nationwide, the union represents more cultural workers than any other union, including around 10,000 museum workers and more than 25,000 library workers.