Selected press
When Paying Dues Doesn’t Pay the Rent, How Does the Theater Survive?
Frank talk about salaries and the end of unpaid internships are positive steps, but the cost may be fewer opportunities to learn the ropes.
By Jesse Green, The New York Times, July 6, 2022
“If theater, as Hiltner puts it, operates under a scarcity model — “there’s not enough and there will never be more” — perhaps it’s because we undervalue it ourselves. Noxious stories about the value of suffering and a lifetime of scrounging exist to convince ourselves of the false idea that a passion cannot be a profession.”
Stronger Together: Building a More Resilient Art Community
by Kerry Cardoza, Sixty Inches From Center, October 28, 2022
“Elsa Hiltner is one of the preeminent Chicagoans working on creating a more sustainable and equitable art world.”
“Hiltner believes in incremental change, and that means, in part, changing the conversation around art-related labor, getting funders and institutions to think holistically about compensation, and engaging the public in the fight for fair pay.”
Photo by zakkiyyah najeebah dumas o’neal.
Clint Ramos, Elsa Hiltner Honored with Michael Merritt Awards
American Theatre Magazine, May 10, 2021
“Costume designer, pay equity activist, and director of development Elsa Hiltner has been awarded with the inaugural Arts Advocate Award.”
Show Them The Money
A movement for pay equity and transparency for theater designers scores a victory
By Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader, April 9, 2021
“Talking about who makes what (and where and why) has often been shrouded in secrecy in the arts—even as arts organizations pat themselves on the back for their commitments to equity and justice.”
Elsa Hiltner advocates for transparency in theater design salaries
by Sheri Flanders, Chicago Reader, October 27, 2020
“Most frequently, calls for pay equity have centered on the most visible members of the industry—actors, directors, playwrights, and arts administrators—but have often ignored a large group of critical theatermakers working diligently in the shadows: designers and technicians. Enter: Elsa Hiltner.”
Collaboraction’s Peacebook includes Karen Olivo in her first time on stage since departing Broadway’s ‘Moulin Rouge!’
by Jerald Peirce, Chicago Tribune, September 29, 2021
“A lot of this activism work is trying to show new models of how we produce theater and new ways of doing things,” said Hiltner, “because the industry is so deeply entrenched in inequity, racism, white supremacy, misogyny, and ableism.”
Overworked, Underpaid, Unheard: Chicago Theatre Freelancers Speak Out
Behind and beyond recent reckonings at the city’s theatres are countless tales of exploitation, harm, and silencing—but it’s not too late for change.
by Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel with interview support by Tanuja Jagernauth, American Theatre Magazine, July 1, 2021
“Artist-led initiatives in Chicago like Not In Our House, the Chicago Inclusion Project, and On Our Team have emerged to fill knowledge gaps on the working conditions of artists and to present community standards that could offer bare minimum commitments toward fostering spaces and processes that are thriveable.”
Support Our Troupes: Workers at Smaller Theatres Win Pay Transparency & Labor Equity
by Derek Ludovici, The Indypendent, April 26, 2021
‘“We are celebrating the changes Playbill and BroadwayWorld have made and the transparency it will lead to,” says Elsa Hiltner, cofounder of On Our Team. “And beyond this campaign, we’re inspired by all the action and activism by theatre workers that is leading to positive systemic change.”’
Looking Back in Gratitude
In the pandemic, performing artists took care of each other. We should take better care of them.
by Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader, December 31, 2020
“Self-advocacy also continued to figure into the work of people like costume designer Elsa Hiltner, whose crowdsourced spreadsheet on salaries helped provide much-needed transparency on the issue of who gets paid what and where.”
Pay Transparency In Theatre: The Campaign To Playbill For Equity
by Michelle Sciarrotta, Theatre Art Life, March 24, 2021
“Playbill is the last major theatre industry job site in the United States without a requirement for clear rates of pay. Meanwhile, the need for a more diverse and equitable arts industry has become more urgent and apparent than ever. On Our Team and Costume Professionals for Wage Equity are calling on Playbill to join the ranks in championing the arts by helping to create a more honest and equitable theatre industry.”
Looking at the activism that led to pay transparency on Playbill and BroadwayWorld's job postings
by Irene Martinko, OnStage Blog, April 26, 2021
“Thanks to the activism and hard work of the groups On Our Team and Costume Professionals for Wage Equity, Playbill and BroadwayWorld now require that anyone posting a job must include salary in their announcement.”
