A young artist asked me to teach a pitching workshop at an arts event and something didn't feel right. I wondered if I was just being nitpicky. I reviewed the doc again and it's for an artsy conference with a bunch of corporate sponsors. The participants pay to go to these classes. It dawned on me that my spidey senses were tingling b/c I was being asked to do free work for a corporate backed not-for-profit... in order to get poor artists to pay for access to me...and of course, my credentials would be marketed to give the event more legitimacy and attract more paid consumers.
I paused for a minute and I realized, 'OMG, THIS IS THEATRE.' That is why it felt so weird. I was asked to do free work for a corporate backed not-for-profit to get other people to pay. And then the org always screams 'we're helpless. It's says 'not for profit' in our title so don't pay attention to the corporations behind us.'
I started laughing. They just tried to 501c3 finesse me. And then I got a little teary eyed with nostalgia: these not-for-profit theatre babies grow up so fast. Now they're all grown and tried to pick my pocket. It's the circle of grift.
Free work for other's profit...hmmm...that reminds me of a thing my people went through. No, not slavery!
Internships! Yeah, I think I'm done with that.
If I'm doing something for free -and I do A LOT for free- you can't charge people for my labor. And you can't be backed by Coca-Cola.
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