Former Artscape workers seek involvement in not-for-profit's future

Artscape Wychwood Barns used to be a row of abandoned transit barns but is now home to art studios. (Chris Young / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

A group of 25 former Artscape employees who suddenly lost their jobs on Aug. 28 when the Toronto-based group of non-profit organizations announced that it was going into receivership say they want those who run and fund the corporation to pay them what they’re owed and involve them in its future plans.

In a Sept. 5 letter to Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, Parkdale-High Park Coun. Gord Perks, Artscape’s Board of Directors, and TD Bank, the group, known as Artscape Workers United, outlined five demands.

The first of which is “fair and timely compensation,” specifically termination pay amounting to two months of wages per year worked as well as vacation and time in lieu.

“We are the Artscape workers cast into precarity because of its forthcoming receivership,” they wrote, noting that their sudden loss of work was “triggered by TD Bank’s refusal to extend (Artscape’s) line of credit.”

The open letter’s authors went on to charge that Artscape “saw this crisis coming for months and gave us no notice.”

“Given its receipt of public funds/development fees and large corporate structure, it is unacceptable for Artscape to not pay their staff during this wind-down process,” they said, adding collectively workers have “devoted decades of expertise and energy into the organization.”

“We (performed) essential work while watching those in charge make risky and unaccountable decisions. Many of us offered warnings, to little avail,” they said.

“Artscape’s mismanagement led to egregious levels of debt that have brought us to the situation we face today.”

The group also wants the not-for-profit to prioritize re-hiring former workers when the organization gets a new owner or if it is restructured.

“There are complex operations that require our knowledge,” they wrote.

Another one of Artscape Workers United’s demands is to keep the Artscape’s spaces and hubs for artists to live and work and ensure that the buildings in its portfolio aren’t “lost to the private, speculative real-estate market.”

“Listen to the tenants of the buildings for their own self determination,” they urged.

Lastly, the group says it wants Artscape to “give workers a say” and meet with them to discuss and “provide staff with greater operational and administrative control” of the corportion and its assets down the line.

“We know this workplace best,” they said.

Artscape Weston Common is shown in this image taken from a promotional video on its website. (Artscape Weston Common)

In a statement provided to CP24.com late Tuesday afternoon, Artscape said that despite experiencing “challenges in financial recovery from the pandemic and meeting debt payments on our project,” they’ve “been working to reset its business model and engaging in financial restructuring efforts since emerging from the Pandemic” and have advised staff about those difficulties since the spring “with hopes of positive outcome to our efforts.”

“Our inability to sell (our Daniels) Launchpad property (at 130 Queens Quay East) in the current real estate market and finally an end point to additional borrowing, places us in this situation today,” Subagini Sivapatham, Artscape’s vice-president of community experience, wrote in an email.

“We are disappointed and sorry about this situation and for the stress and impact to staff.”

Sivapatham went on to say that they have made “all payments for time worked” and “made sure to stop employment when we could not make these payments.”

“Employees can access financial support through government programs such as WEPP for unpaid vacation and termination pay, all of which has been communicated to our staff,” she said, adding the City, TD Bank, other lenders, and community leaders are working with Artscape to “find solutions that will allow for spaces to continue supporting artists and creatives.”

“The financial challenges are critical, as are those facing the City. But we are doing our best to complete a restructuring while maintaining a skeleton staff,” Sivapatham said.

“Thank you to especially those in our communities and those who have worked with Artscape, for their support and understanding.”

CP24.com also contacted the office of the mayor, Coun. Perks, and TD Bank for comment, but did not hear back prior to publication.

Artscape was founded in 1986 in response to an affordability crisis that threatened to price artists out of the city. Currently, the non-profit organization operates 14 sites and owns four locations across Toronto providing artists with both affordable housing and studio space.