Workers Unionize at NIAD, Richmond’s Progressive Art Studio

The employees of NIAD Art Center, a Richmond studio serving artists with disabilities, announced Tuesday morning that they will form a union.

NIAD Unidad will be affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 57, Cultural Workers United, a union representing museum, library and zoo workers. AFSCME Council 57 also represents workers at sister studios Creative Growth in Oakland and Creativity Explored in San Francisco, both of which unionized this year.

After NIAD workers delivered a letter of intent to executive director Amanda Eicher Tuesday morning, the organization’s board executive committee voted unanimously to recognize NIAD Unidad.

“We look forward to working with NIAD’s union as the process unfolds,” Eicher wrote in an email to KQED.

Worker priorities outlined in the letter include a living wage; an independent human resources department; the ability to build a “viable, long-term career” at NIAD; transparency; and the right to form a union without retaliation. The majority of 35 eligible staff members have signed a union card, according to studio facilitator Kate Laster.

“All of us cherish the longevity of NIAD artists’ careers and we are committed to their overall well-being,” the letter reads. “We recognize the importance of stability and continuity of care, and we want to work alongside these artists for the long haul. To do this, we believe that a union is necessary to foster a work environment that allows staff to build sustainable careers at NIAD.”

In an interview, lead studio facilitator Liam Golden, who has worked at NIAD for over a decade, said that he and his colleagues have a good relationship with leadership. Unionizing, he said, is an extension of the progressive values that guide NIAD’s workplace culture.

“We just felt that it was time to take the step to show that art workers and progressive studios are essential members of communities,” said Golden, “and should be supported and feel like their workspaces are ones that have accountability, respect and also longevity.”

Longevity is important for workers like studio facilitator and community programs assistant Ocean Escalanti, who has worked at NIAD for three years. She says that while there’s a core group of staffers who’ve been at NIAD for 10 years or longer, other employees have left because of the current pay rate and challenges of the job. In addition to assisting artists on their creative projects, many NIAD employees do care work such as helping artists with mobility issues during meal times and restroom breaks.

“It can be very emotionally and physically demanding,” she said. “I think a lot of folks might find that, to do [our] work at our given pay rate and benefits, it’s harder to function in this way for a long period of time.”

NIAD, Creative Growth and Creativity Explored were founded by artist Florence Ludins-Katz and psychologist Elias Katz in the 1970s and ’80s. Since, dozens of like-minded progressive art studios have opened around the nation. The three Bay Area studios share a mission but operate independently of one another, save for occasional collaborations like the recent SFMOMA exhibition Art Knows No Bounds.

“The Bay Area is where it all got started,” said Golden. “So I think it’s important [for us] to be leaders not only for our local community, but for other national and international progressive art studios.”

For Creativity Explored union member Brittnyana Pierro, unionizing is “an opportunity for us to build a rapport that we haven’t had before.”

Now that AFSCME Council 57 will soon represent workers at all three Bay Area studios, NIAD staffers say they hope for more collaboration to address the unique challenges of their field. Workers at Oakland Museum of California also joined AFSCME Council 57 this year, joining a wave of unionization efforts nationwide.

“We just see a really big need for this stuff right now,” said Escalanti. “And it seems like it’s kind of catching a lot of cool uptick in how artists are able to have equal pay and a livable wage.”