Panel Discussion on Fair Pay for Musicians

["Urania Mylonas" <urania@email.women.com>]

 The Brecht Forum
>122 West 27th Street, 10th Floor
>between 6th and 7th Avenues
>New York, NY 10010
>(212) 242-4201
>www.brechtforum.org
>
>For immediate release                                        Contact:
>Liz
>Mestres 212-242-4201
>                                                                       
>
>        
>Barbara Burch 718-398-2810
>
>THE NOISE ACTION COALITION CO-SPONSORS PANEL DISCUSSION 
>ON ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR MUSICIANS 
>AS PART OF NEUES KABARETT AT THE BRECHT FORUM
>
>The Brecht Forum and the Noise Action Coalition will sponsor a panel
>entitled
>"Pay to Play?" examining the issue of fair pay for musicians, 
>featuring
>Stanley Aronowitz, Marc Ribot, Lianne Smith, Greg Tate and others.  
>
>The event is Saturday, March 27th at 6 p.m. at 122 West 27th Street,
>10th
>Floor, between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan.  Admission is $6-10
>sliding
>scale, no one turned away for lack of funds.  For information call
>212.242.4201.  
>
>The Noise Action Coalition (NAC), an organizing project by and for
>musicians
>working the network of clubs and indie labels centered around 
>downtown
>New
>York City, is made up of Jazz, New Music, "Knitting Factory scene" 
>and
>Indie
>Rock musicians.  The NAC has protested the No-Pay policy at Arlene
>Grocery and
>other No-Pay clubs.  The NAC has also conducted informational 
>picketing
>of the
>CMJ Music Fest over the festival's non-payment of musicians.  Last
>year, the
>NAC won the first collectively bargained agreement at a major U.S. 
>Jazz
>festival, the Knitting Factory/Texaco (now Bell Atlantic) New York 
>Jazz
>Festival, doubling minimum rates of pay for participating musicians.
>
>Behind these actions was the belief by NAC supporters that when money
>is made,
>musicians should be paid.  And behind that belief is an assumption 
>that
>musicians can and should organize collectively to win better
>conditions. 
>
>The panel will explore whether these beliefs and assumptions are 
>valid
>and/or
>realistic.  Topics will include: whether musicians have a moral or
>legal right
>to collectively bargain; whether unions are possible or desirable in 
>a
>downtown music scene dominated by freelancers; and if the 
>bureaucratic
>structure and rules normally associated with unions can co-exist with
>the
>creative flexibility and spontaneity of this scene?
>
>The panel will discuss how the NAC's organizing does or does not fit 
>in
>with
>the Musicians' Union, and how the NAC relates to other 
>"nontraditional"
>organizing efforts among part-time, freelance and "intellectual" 
>labor
>now
>underway.
>
>The Brecht Forum is an educational and cultural organization for 
>people
>who
>are working for fundamental social change.  Neues Kabarett, a regular
>avant-
>garde music series, is one of several ongoing cultural events 
>organized
>by the
>Brecht Forum, including: monthly visual art exhibits, The Gashouse (a
>monthly
>music and poetry night), film and video series, focus groups for
>artists, and
>performances ranging from dance to experimental theater.  
>
>
>
>
>
>
>



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