It’s no secret that Experimental Station (ES) is unique. The Woodlawn space has various tenants but it isn’t just art-focused. It’s a museum, it’s a coffee shop, it’s a farmer’s market. When explaining the space to folks who don’t live in the area, it can sound like a utopia of sorts, a place where people can create and work alongside one another, a central nervous center of community-focused people working within their neighborhood on projects they are passionate about. Without the employees at ES, there would be no space like the one that exists.
“Arts workers are often expected to make personal and financial sacrifices for the honor of working in a prestigious arts institution,” said Athena Christa, a member of the MoMA Local 2110’s bargaining committee, in a Hyperallergic interview. “It’s true that we are privileged to have the opportunity to do work we are passionate about, but that often comes with a price paid in under-compensated (and sometimes uncompensated) labor.” While creative arts-based organizing may sound new, the first efforts for artists to unionize took place in 1933 when a short-lived group of 25 New York artists who worked at the Emergency Work Bureau published a manifesto that demanded sponsorships for art projects and economic aid. The union influenced the Public Works of Art Project and the Federal Art Project and changed the arts in America forever.
ES board members, who claim to strive to be forward-thinking, read aloud their letter of response to union organizers over a Zoom call on March 25 in which they did not acknowledge the union. Under the PROAct, a bill that has not yet passed but is supported by President Joe Biden, this would be illegal as a captive audience meeting, with anti-union talking points and mandatory attendance. After the meeting, the board closed off any form of communication with organizers.
A former employee of the 61st Street Farmers Market, who asked to remain anonymous, says that an accusation of sexual harassment among vendors was brushed off by leadership as an impossibility. Because the ES employee handbook lacked proper guidance and verbiage for such a situation, the manager of the market drafted a sexual harassment policy and an internal procedures grievance document to show leadership in an attempt to ensure safety is a priority in the future. “Leadership did not encourage or assist in the development of this much-needed policy, nor did they follow the protocol,” explains the former employee, who ultimately had her own complaint about sexual harassment in the summer of 2020. When she came forward to address her experience, as well as the inability for leadership to follow protocol, she was dismissed. She was later told her relationship with ES was “no longer tenable” and that she had become “less committed, and less friendly.”
Blackstone Bicycle Works is a linchpin in the Woodlawn community, where regional racing events, participation in the Bud Billiken Parade, and other festivals are a part of annual programming. But the shop has a history of folks leaving over frustrations and discrimination. Over the years, ES has lost several employees—and since 2020, at least ten have left—due to growing frustrations.
Another Blackstone youth alumni, who asks to remain anonymous, explains that they dealt with problems at the shop for more than five years. They said that the grievances and opinions of bike shop employees were ignored. “The shop no longer felt like the community bike shop that it once had at first. The shop was more strict, not allowing people to hang around as they used to,” they said. BBW is known for its efforts working with kids from the surrounding area, teaching them bike mechanics and providing a space for socializing and connection. The youth program is free and open to any student from eight years old to high school seniors. But ultimately, the shop has changed. “You had to do more work; a place where you came to hang and see your friends had turned to a non-paying job.”
