Interweave Yarn Fest is a four-day fiber and yarn festival. The 2017 event will take place from March 30-April 2 in Loveland, Colorado. The event is in its third year.
For the past two years the teacher contract for the event had been fairly standard, according to the five instructors I spoke with. “I had always been very happy working with Interweave as they have taken designer compensation and teacher fees seriously, and were one of the most respectful shows to work for,” one veteran Yarn Fest teacher said. “The contract they had been using wasn’t the best I’d seen, but it wasn’t bad and I was happy with the compensation.”
The contract issued on August 1 for the 2017 show, however, looked very different and thus sparked the #FairFiberWage discussion.
- 1-8 students = $50 per hour of teaching
- 9-16 students = $75 per hour of teaching
- 17+ students = $100 per hour of teaching
With this formula a teacher was guaranteed to make at least $150 for a 3-hour class, and $300 for a 6-hour class no matter how small enrollment numbers were.
The new contract has a completely different formula for teacher compensation: instead of being paid by the hour teachers are paid by the student. The pay is as follows:
- $25 per student for a 3-hour class
- $60 per student for a 6-hour class.
This change removes the guaranteed baseline pay. Under the new contract it’s possible for a teacher to come away from 3-hours of teaching with only $25 and from 6-hours of teaching with just $60.
The contract contained one other significant change: the coverage of travel and lodging. In last year’s contract teachers received a $250 stipend per full day of teaching, or $125 per half day, to cover flights, meals, and shipping. They were also given up to four nights at the festival hotel based on their teaching schedules.
The new contract states, “Travel, meals, lodging, ground transportation, and all other fees (except materials fees) are the sole responsibility of the instructor and will not be reimbursed by F+W.”
I reached out to F+W for comment on the new contract, but they didn’t respond.
The new contract immediately caused concern among teachers. “It was a huge surprise compared to last year,” one instructor told me. “My mouth literally dropped open.” Another instructor noted, “Interweave has been so pro teachers up to now, and this contract is something totally out of the blue for them.”
Under the new terms teachers are pressed to fill their classes to the maximum or face losing money on the event. In an email to instructors Yarn Fest event manager Sarah Gagnon wrote that while F+W will promote the event, “…the new structure also encourages instructors to help promote themselves and their classes. F+W will provide marketing resources & tools in order to assist you with self-promotion through various outlets. This type of collaboration allows for accelerated success for both the instructor and the event.”
Teachers who’ve signed contracts for Yarn Fest are bound by non-disclosures stipulating that they can’t share the terms of their contracts. Yet when the new contract was sent out alarmed instructors began reaching out to past faculty to see if the terms had changed.
Several instructors chose to withdraw from teaching at Yarn Fest rather than accept the new contract. Others pushed back, asking for better terms. Ten days later, on August 10, F+W issued a revised contract to those teachers who hadn’t yet withdrawn.
“F+W has experienced some recent changes, and as such, we’ve amended the attached contract in a few areas,” Gagnon wrote in an email to instructors with the new contract. “Our goal is to create and promote the most successful event we can, and that means we need outstanding teachers like you!”
The revised contract gives teachers a $500 stipend to cover expenses such as travel, food, lodging, and shipping, but reduces the per student pay rate by three dollars, from $25 to $22.
By way of explanation Gagnon wrote in the email to instructors, “The new contract is modeled after other successful events in the Interweave brand portfolio. Those events only pay per student; and cover no other costs. We recognize that the fiber community is used to a different pay structure; however, we feel that this formula will result in similar pay as last year and the opportunity to make more.”
Still, the revised terms force instructors to taking on more risk than they have in the past. “Even with the $500 stipend, the scenario can still be daunting for a teacher; hotel rooms at the venue are $170/night, $180 if you share, and if a teacher’s classes don’t sell well, they could end up taking all the risk,” one instructor explained.
In her email Gagnon points out that under this year’s terms instructors have the potential to earn more money than they have in the past if they fill their classes. Yet instructors who have taught at events like Yarn Fest know that many factors go into filling a class, some of which teachers have little control over.
The day and time a class is scheduled also affects enrollment. “If the venue schedules a teacher’s classes on Friday afternoon, Saturday, or Sunday morning there’s a much better chance that their class will fill up quickly than if it’s scheduled on a Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday morning or late on Sunday,” one instructor explained, noting that those are travel days for many attendees and the vendor marketplace isn’t open. Another teacher added that if a popular lecture is scheduled for the same time as her class attendance could be compromised. “If Clara Parkes is speaking at the same time as my class? I’ll only have four students,” she laughed.
Teachers are the heart of a show like Yarn Fest and many instructors emphasized that even teachers who don’t fill large classes are valuable to the event. One teacher noted, “The tone in past years was ‘We’ll work together to make this happen’ and the tone this year is ‘You must do our bidding,’” pointing out that “there’s no way a show like this can work if we don’t all work together.” “Interweave benefits from offering a large roster of teachers which, even if a student doesn’t take a class with all of them, looks great and I believe encourages more folks to come,” one said.
“It was shortsighted for F+W to make teachers unhappy,” an instructor remarked. “The pool is not infinite and these are the same people they need to write for the magazines.” Another remarked, “Part of them hiring you is for your draw, like hiring an entertainer. But putting out bad contracts to professionals as if we don’t know better doesn’t make us want to do business with you again.”
The concern over teacher pay at Yarn Fest resulted in hundreds of #FairFiberWage tweets and several in-depth blog posts from instructors, vendors, yarn shop owners, and event organizers. Together these helped to raise awareness of the value of professional teachers of fiber arts both within the teaching community and among students. As one instructor pointed out, “Many of my loyal, repeat students scrimp and save to make attending my classes be their major hobby splurge for the year. They would be horrified to discover I was not making a living wage.”
This is exactly why I teach primarily at quilt guilds and quilt shops. I keep learning the hard way to either not sign a contract with this kind of pay structure or to negotiate for payment that is acceptable to me.
The way fiber artists have been treated is disgusting and one step above child labor. I am so glad this has been made public and I will not attend a fiber fest that treats teachers this poorly and I will tell my knitting group and social media contacts to do the same. Shame on them!
Wow. If you are hiring a professional to teach at an event in a hotel, you fly them there and put them up, and then you pay them. This is utterly unprofessional and ridiculous.
As someone who used to work organizing classes for a 501 c3 group where we hired instructors, this structure is appalling. Our instructors were flown in or paid mileage if they drove and materials (usually much more expensive because we were training flower show judges) were also paid for.
I’m not even an instructor and this pisses me off no end. I’ve attended the yarn fest both years it’s been happening and thought it was one of the best ones I’ve been to, precisely because of the caliber of the teachers it draws.
The old Interweave Press never would have treated instructors this way! I taught for some spinning and yarn biz classes at the old SOAR events and was very fairly paid. F&W reputation is hurting from this behavior.
Negotiate. Easier said than done, but a contract requires a “meeting of the minds.” Cross out and initial what you won’t stand for. Write in and initial what you want. Sign it and send it back. You risk losing the opportunity to teach but they risk losing you. And they don’t want to individually negotiate every contract.
What an absolutely appalling situation! I hope they change their act and I hear some good news soon about this.
This is such a depressing read, but I have to say, even that new contract is better than what is offered to teachers at the Twisted Thread Knitting & Stitching shows here in the UK, a show which claims to be “The most highly regarded textiles and craft show in the UK” and prides itself on the number of classes it offers.
Teachers at this show receive NO subsistence payments for food and accommodation and based on today’s exchange rate, Knitting & Stitching show tutors will be paid less than half of what Yarn Fest is offering – just $7.92 per student for a 3h class.
Creative skills seem to be valued so little, especially in the UK and what really makes me sad is that when more experienced people say no and walk away, there will always be an enthusiastic newcomer to the industry willing to do it for less or for free which just makes the problem even worse.
You have that last part exactly right. And I had one European venue that when they explained their poor pay scale said most instructors look at it as a little pocket money towards the “vacation” (of going to their event to speak). Needless to say they were not paying any travel expenses either.
Wendy,
It’s so interesting to hear the perspective from overseas. Your comment also brings up another issue- vetting talent- which I think would be another interesting topic for CIA to cover.
Absolutely agree Mallory. Experience and training don’t really seem to count for much. However, if shows did apply some quality control to their teachers they’d also end up having to pay them more. It feels like a viscous circle to me. I only really started to be taken seriously in this industry once I’d had a book published despite years of relevant experience and training coming before that. I’d definitely be interested to read a piece from CIA on this subject too!
I have talked about this issue with so many other talented undervalued makers. It’s time we create a UK Union.
I kind of agree Rachel but I can see the formation of a union being counter productive too – how would it be funded? Probably by member donations, immediately alienating anyone without the funds to invest. Also a union only has power in numbers and needs the majority of workers in an industry (or sector) to join. I think the answer lies in education and awareness raising among consumers of classes, patterns, books, supplies,etc. I want to believe that the majority of our customers/readers/fans would be shocked at practices like these Yarnfest teaching contracts and some of the ways bIg fabric companies treat their designers that Abby has also previously written about. I honestly believe a big part of the problem is that our industry is dominated by women; typically paid less than men and typically not as confident in negotiating payments that reflect their real worth.
Wendy, I agree with you about the newcomer thing. I conduct tatting workshop and was approached by a local organisation. The co-ordinator wants the class size to be minimum 20 and I told her that means I need an assistant. But another trainer claimed that she can teach a bigger class all alone and within 2 hours. All participants’ work are to be displayed in the premise which means participants cannot bring any unfinished work home to complete (Once they bring home they will either not bring it back or leave it unfinished.). In the end, the contract was awarded to this trainer. I am waiting to see if she can deliver what she promised.
Sounds so familiar Tess. Good for you for standing your ground.
I was thinking the exact same thing Wendy! A few years ago, I decided that I would benefit from speaking at the larger shows so I got in contact with the appropriate people, pitched the topic and got the go ahead. I was shocked that there wasn’t even an offer – low or otherwise – to pay for my travel, which was only for mileage. But I went ahead anyway. I WAS that newcomer who did it for free but after I did it once, something clicked in my head that it was wrong and I haven’t done one since.
When I was at the event, I did have a chat with the lady that organised the speakers and she said, by way of apology, that all the money had been spent on getting the main speaker.
Ouch.
Maeri, another good point – let’s have some transparency in pay too – all speakers should be treated fairly, as should all teachers and magazine contributors regardless (for example) of whether or not they’ve appeared on TV.
I’ve always thought that it’s astonishing that when we teach for a small not-for-profit guild in a small town entirely made up of volunteers, they are able to pay all of our expenses as well as our standard teaching rates. However, large fiber shows don’t pay standard industry rates for teaching and either don’t pay expenses or ask you to share a hotel room?! But as long as instructors allow themselves to be treated this way, nothing will change. All it would take would be for ALL instructors to boycott one show and everything would change.
I’m not a big fan of boycotts. I think spreading good information like rates and contract terms and having an open discussion about what these rates and terms mean helps all instructors have full information and make the best decisions for themselves. Secrecy is the enemy here.
I’ve been teaching at a local Joann’s and the $$ they pay to contract teachers is also appalling. I tried reaching the corporate office with no luck. I receive 60% of whatever the student pays for the class. The avg class is $35-45, so I would make about $22 (for a 3-hr class) per student. However, Joann’s offers 50% coupons for class price, so if the student pays $17 instead of $35, I make $11 for 3 hours. Classes are rarely more than 2-4 students at my particular store, so for 2 students, I’d make $22 for 3 hours. They no longer write off yarn for models and they also want me to be present once every other month for a 2-hr open house, which is a chance for ME to promote their 50% classes. I don’t get paid to be there. I also get a card good for one year for 15% off my purchase, but they routinely offer 15-30% off purchase coupons online and in their flyers, so this is a benefit anyone can get. So, I recently stopped teaching. I guess they think teachers are so thrilled to get paid anything for a class, they’ll take less than minimum wage. I refuse to believe that knitting is a skill that should be given away for free in a business setting.
No skills should be given away free in any business setting. Otherwise how are we going to pay bills and put food on the table.
This is TERRIBLE! What an awful system.
I’d wondered about those classes at JoAnn’s. Thanks for exposing this. Looks like I’d be better off taking classes at the county recreation department.
To me this a ploy to only get the most sought after teachers. If you are a newer teacher or don’t have a hot book – you won’t make money to live on. It does beg the question: It can’t just be the teachers who have to shoulder more risk right? Are they restructuring the vendor contracts too? What about sponsors – are the now offered profit sharing opportunities?
Funny how some places think that “exposure” is an instructors most desired experience. We’ll do just about anything for “exposure”, including accepting almost nothing pay. Well, I look at exposure in the negative. If I go to a workshop, get exposure but don’t make enough to cover my expenses and have a profit, I cant make my bills or buy food pay my rent and will die from exposure. Same as if I’m in the elements and cant cover myself from the elements, death by exposure. No thanks. I love my art and love teaching but if I’m going to teach for free I’ll teach someone I love in my home, not some person who doesn’t value me or my skill level off somewhere I must pay to stay. Not right, not gonna do it.
First they take away SOAR. Now they are threatening our teaching cadre. What next? No marketplace? We have an amazing community of dedicated, sophisticated artisans and this is an absolute outrage. This company does not have the corner on the fiber market and we are not so dedicated to them that we can’t all go elsewhere.
This event, like others, gives members of the community a chance to get together once a year and enjoy collaboration, friendship and learning. However, other festivals are out there and are more dedicated to fiber arts than to the commercial aspect of the corporation. They should get back to the basics of why we do what we do (the love of the arts) rather than to using us to increase their bottom line. They should make a profit, yes, and we are all willing to help with that. But don’t just use us and abuse our training leadership.
I have experienced this type of contract at other fiber festivals. When I’ve asked the reason for it, the replies – while not coming out and saying so – indicate they want to keep their event small and use only local instructors. This has always seemed backwards to me as local instructors are often not seen as ‘special’ or valued as much because they teach local classes all the time. I really am sorry to see F+W go this route.