The Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern, a nonprofit theater company, is taking steps that will enable its artists to make the standard Durham living hourly wage for their work. Breaking barriers and provoking thought, this organization has been in Durham for 11 years. They challenge societal norms, which makes their plays unpredictable and diverse. While the artists do get paid for their time, the company’s goal is to more than triple what they pay per show.
Little Green Pig playwright Monica Byrne – you may also know her for her award-winning book, “The Girl in the Road” – is very aware of this problem.
“It’s an intensely personal thing for me,” Monica says. “Under the current economic models, even when artists win, they lose. I’m trying to find a new way for myself to survive. But in doing so, I want to find ways for all artists to survive.”
Monica advocates that, quite often, it’s nearly impossible for an independent artist in Durham to live solely off money from the art he or she makes – if they make any money from their work at all. Within the last five years, the cost of living has increased while performance spaces are disappearing. And, as she outlines in this TED Ideas article, only 10 percent of art graduates nationwide make a living as artists.
The Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern’s objective is to become the first indie theater company to pay artists a living wage. On June 6, it’s launching a campaign to sustain itself through a crowd-funding platform called Patreon. This new economic model creates a direct trade-off between artists and fans, allowing Little Green Pig actors to trade their art for monthly pledges from patrons.
To learn more about The Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern’s campaign launch, Monica invites you to visit its Patreon, Facebook or Twitter page.
“This is the point in Durham’s development when it makes the most sense to say, ‘We want to set a standard for how artists are treated in this city,'” Monica says. “‘We want to make sure artists get paid for their work, and in fact, that it’ll be seen as shameful to not pay artists for their work.’ Then artists can continue to be part of the city we know and love.”
