“In many professional fields, the concept of negotiating a fee for services is standard operating procedure. But, in the fields of visual and performing arts, it is less common. The mission of WAGENCY is to defang the process by standardizing and depersonalizing it. Unlike a union, WAGENCY does not promote collective bargaining, nor does it employ representatives to oversee and mediate negotiations. Instead, it is a campaign of self-regulation and mutual accountability. As a workforce, artists are heterogeneous and atomized, working with many different institutions in the course of their careers. Artists who sign up will have to negotiate on their own behalfs, with the blind hope that others are doing the same. The question is whether there are enough artists who are determined to see their names among those of other WAGENTS or who will make collaboration integral to their artistic practices. And there’s the question of how receptive arts organizations will be to these demands.”