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What is the Leap To 15?

While 2nd Story has paid all of its artists small stipends for over a decade, this upcoming season 2nd Story (and its Company and Board of Directors) is committing to a multi-year campaign, dubbed “The Leap To 15.”
This campaign includes:

Adopting a transparent pay model.
Paying stipends based on a $15/hr rate for every artist.
A commitment to evaluate artist pay every season to adjust for cost of living changes and inflation.

How Do We Get There?

In Chicago (and around the world), leaders are reckoning with an unprecedented challenge and answering the question, “What does recovery look like?” As we think about economic recovery, we have to remember the vital and essential role that artists play in communities of all shapes and sizes. A thriving economy is fueled by a robust and diverse arts community.

In January 2020, the 2nd Story Board reviewed a much different budget than the one that they ultimately passed in June 2020. In Year One (August 2020), we increased artist compensation to $10/hr. In Year Two (August 2021), we increased artist compensation to $15/hr.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

In April 2019, our Artistic and Managing Directors began talking in earnest about how we could close the equity gap for our artists, and how we might leverage 2nd Story’s recent growth to support this initiative. It is no secret that artists, specifically 1099 freelance contractors,* are historically an underpaid and overworked workforce, and we must address Chicago’s (and the nation’s) long history of pay inequity in the arts. This will not happen unless we don’t commit to paying a living wage** to all of our artists. At 2nd Story, we believe that art is work and that artists should be appropriately compensated for that work. Our budget is a statement of our values, and our budget says, in explicit terms, that we value artists.

*You might be asking yourself, “How can someone make less than minimum wage?” It is a great question. This is because independent contractors are not considered employees of the organization and are therefore not entitled to minimum wage. Independent contractors—such as actors, designers, directors, and producers—work for hire, and can therefore be grossly underpaid. The Leap To 15 seeks to right this wrong and pay artists for their work.

**Chicago’s minimum wage is $15/hr. Illinois’s minimum wage is $12/hr. The Federal minimum wage is $7.25/hr.