Since 2020, Chicago Dancemakers Forum has been a Working Artists for the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E).-Certified Organization. This national program operated by W.A.G.E. publicly recognizes nonprofit institutions demonstrating a history of, and commitment to, voluntarily paying artist fairly — to establish a sector-wide standards for compensation, as well as a clear set of guidelines for the conditions under which artistic labor is contracted. While the following rates are imperfectly aligned with the particulars of dance work in our ecosystem, they provide a framework for fair pay benchmarks.

CONTRACTING

All individuals contracting with Chicago Dancemakers Forum (artists, paid interns, independent contractors, vendors, etc) are provided a window of time to review and edit agreements prior to signing. Staff offer to meet with artists to talk through and explain their agreement.

Executive Director Joanna Furnans regularly shares letters to the community regarding programming, organizational updates, and behind-the-scenes decision-making via e-mails to subscribers. These letters are made available to the wider community via social media.

For any program with a competitive application, the review process, selection criteria, prioritizations (where applicable), panelists’ names, and panelists’ guidelines are shared publicly. There are no fees to apply to Chicago Dancemakers Forum programs.

Only prior program participants and recent finalists–currently approximately 200 artists and collectives/companies/crews–are eligible for participation in Chicago Dancemakers Forum’s monthly newsletter and social media communications. Submission and distribution policies related to marketing were revised in 2024 and are available by request.