I developed these tools for dance artists in collaboration with dance artists working in the US, Austria, the Netherlands and Germany, inspired by Sara Wookey’s Open Letter to Artists.
The Tools are intended for immediate use for dancers confronted with the following situations: (they may also be useful for other kinds of performers- feel free!)
- You are offered a dance job in poor conditions and choose to say no—then use “To Accompany a Polite No”
- You are invited to an audition but don’t have full information about the project or job—then use “Request for Transparent Hiring Practices”
How do I use these tools?
- Write to the hiring choreographer/organization in your own words, and follow your words with the text or an attachment of the appropriate letter—and voila, you are no longer an isolated artist being annoying, you are part of a group standing up for fair practices!
- Customize the tools as needed—please make them your own.
- Comment here on the blog and let other artists know what you used the letters for, what kind of response you got, if it was useful and how we can improve these texts.
- Join the Performers’ Rights Initiative list (click the Follow widget on the right side of the main page) to become part of a registry of artists who are using these tools. You will receive updates when others comment, and we will also keep you up to date if/when a more formal organization for dance artists’ develops out of this community.
- Add a comment including your country (where you are working) and we’ll add you to the list of countries in the tools.
- Spread the word! If you find this useful, mail or blog this link to other dance artists, post on FB, tweet, tell people in person, make a flyer, call your friends. The more people who use these tools, the more powerful they, and we, will become.
Performers' Rights Initiative 