For Immediate Release

Unceded Territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh (Vancouver, BC) – The Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres (PAARC), a non-profit association of twenty-one (21) art organizations in British Columbia, stands in solidarity with workers at the Vancouver Art Gallery who have been out of contract since summer 2017. PAARC calls on the management and governing body of the Vancouver Art Gallery to cease the pursuit of major concessions in worker wages and benefits, to bargain in good faith, and urges the Gallery Business Managers to immediately satisfy the demands of CUPE 15.

The Vancouver Art Gallery is a vital part of the cultural ecology in Vancouver and across Canada, yet demonstrates poor leadership and lack of accountability in their decision to hamper efforts towards fair compensation despite large disparities in salaries between management and workers. Based on a 2017 Charitable Information Return on the Canada Revenue Agency’s registry, the gallery Director received annual compensation of more than $350,000, while 202 of 212 staff receive compensation below $80,000 and are being offered insufficient wage increases and a two-tiered system that rolls back rights for new workers. How can the public trust the Vancouver Art Gallery, especially as it embarks on the creation of a new building, if its leadership is out of touch with appropriate compensation for its workers?

PAARC does not accept the actions of the Vancouver Art Gallery’s leadership and stands with CUPE 15 in solidarity for its collective bargaining and in the fair compensation and benefits for all artists and cultural workers.

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Media Contact
Brian McBay, President, PAARC, 778 990 2809 or info@paarc.ca

Downloadable PDF Version
2019-02-04-PAARC-CUPE_15-Solidarity_Statement-MEDIA_RELEASE

Image Credit (Left):
Art Workers Coalition, “Art Workers Won’t Kiss Ass,” 1969, primaryinformation.org, 2008