Welcome to the NAIA Advocacy Action Line. This service is available to NAIA Artist Members to assist in resolving specific issues or problems that the artist member may be experiencing with an art show related to the NAIA’s official list of advocacies.
The focus of this Action Line is to address matters that run at cross currents to the NAIA’s advocacies. In warranted cases, the NAIA may also assist artists with matters outside the advocacies. However, this is not a place where vague and nonspecific accusations about shows or a show director are appropriate. For example, general complaints about rising booth fees, application fees, etc., can be addressed on the NAIA Member Forum.
FAQs:
WHAT DOES A FACILITATOR DO, AND WHY IS THIS CALLED ‘FACILITATION’, INSTEAD OF ‘MEDIATION’?
The facilitator can assist the artist in working through an issue with a show by acting as an objective third party. The facilitator can communicate with a show on behalf of the artist in a manner that allows the artist the comfort of non-direct confrontation with the show.
Mediation typically implies that the artist and show would discuss an issue face-to-face, using a mediator to assist with the communication. Conversely, in our model, facilitation allows discussion of the issue to take place without the artist or show having to directly confront one another, and the facilitator can act as a conduit.
WHO WILL ACT AS THE FACILITATOR FOR MY ISSUE?
NAIA Executive Director, Ardath Prendergast, will act as the facilitator.
WHO CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS ACTION LINE?
This service is available to NAIA Artist Members who are current on their membership dues.
WHAT IF I JUST WANT TO BRING AN ISSUE OR PROBLEM TO THE ATTENTION OF THE NAIA?
That’s fine, too. NAIA recognizes that often an artist may simply want to bring to someone’s attention that a show’s policy runs counter to the NAIA’s stated advocacies, but may not have a personal issue dispute with a show. We have set up a process to contact a show about policies in conflict with NAIA advocacies. You may use the Action Line to bring this to our awareness.
PRIOR TO INITIATING AN ACTION LINE REQUEST, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU ASK YOURSELF TWO QUESTIONS:
- Does the show in question have in place an official way of handling complaints or grievances?
- Is there some other compelling reason why you prefer that the NAIA act as an intermediary?
THE STIPULATIONS :
In order to proceed, you must agree to the following stipulations:
- The NAIA will not be held responsible for any outcome that does not meet the expectations of the Artist.
- The NAIA reserves the right not to facilitate a complaint if it is judged to be frivolous or otherwise lacks legitimate standing.
- Unless otherwise specifically agreed to in writing by all parties, the Artist agrees to hold any communications between the NAIA facilitator, show officials and the Artist in confidence.
- Although the NAIA will not disclose the Artist’s identity to the show in question without the Artist’s consent, the NAIA will not be responsible or liable if the show is able to identify the Artist as a result of the specific nature of the issue or complaint.
ACTION LINE PROCESS:
- Artist requesting help fills out and submits the Action Line Request Form.
- Facilitator will initiate a telephone call with Artist to discuss the issue in more detail.
- Facilitator will contact the show in question by mail and/or telephone to initiate discussion. Before any facilitation begins, the show will be requested to hold specific discussions in confidence, and to agree not to adversely respond to any artist involved (i.e., blacklisting). Depending upon the nature of the issue, facilitator may need to have further contact with the Artist during the course of discussions.
- Final resolution of the issue will be communicated to the Artist and the Show in writing.
- Evaluation forms will be sent to Artistand the Show for feedback on the process.
REPORT TO THE NAIA MEMBERSHIP
The NAIA reserves the right to report the outcomes of any Action Line facilitations without specific identification of the Artist or Show involved. The purpose for this report is to show the success or failure of the Help Site process as a measure of the effectiveness of the NAIA advocacies. If the Artist wishes not to have the outcome reported, they may specially opt out on the Help Site Request Form.