National | Virtual Lunch & Learn: Understanding the Gender Pay Gap in the Arts

9 am PDT / 10 am MDT / 11 am CDT / 12 pm EDT

Welcome to our Virtual Lunch & Learn Series! We’re looking forward to seeing you at our complimentary lunchtime professional development series on Wednesdays this spring—join us from wherever you happen to be.

How are we addressing the gender pay gap in our industry as a whole, and in each of our organizations? Is there progress being made, and what are the current challenges? On May 24, please join ArtTable’s Lila Harnett Executive Director, Jessica L. Porter, in conversation with sociologist Dr. Gillian Gualtieri, who specializes in the relationship between race, gender, organizations, and culture, and is the lead on ArtTable’s ArtTable Survey on Working in the Arts.

Dr. Gillian Gualtieri’s cross-disciplinary scholarship examines the field of cultural production in its widest sense: how art is made and valued; and how taste, gatekeeping, and criticism shape prestige. Gualtieri looks at who is operating in these spaces and how systems of racial, gender, class, and national inequality shape the field.

A widely-published scholar, she has studied art and craft as categories—examining where ideas of creativity and function intersect in American fine dining and food writing, and how innovation across and within artistic practices in general is starting to destabilize the traditional hierarchies between art and craft.

Gualtieri is most recently a co-author of “Campus Connections for Creative Careers: Social capital, gender inequality, and artistic work,” in Poetics 96 (2023). This analysis of the data from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP) examines how social capital in college supports more successful post-graduation job searches—but found there are disparities between men and women in their access to social capital and the impact of social capital and its ability to confer career advantages. A recommendation for focused networking and mentorship in the arts is one of the possible calls to action from the study. This is impactful research for post-secondary educators and those who are working with early-career colleagues to consider some of the deeper systemic issues at play as we work toward equity in our professions.

Admission:

• Complimentary with optional donation

Not a member? Join today!

After registration, you will receive an email containing the Zoom link.
All virtual programs offer live automatic closed captioning.

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This program is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

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About Gillian Gualtieri

Gillian Gualtieri, PhD, is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Barnard College. Previously, she was a postdoctoral scholar at the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University and a postdoctoral fellow at New York University. In 2018, Gillian received her PhD in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research broadly considers the relationship between race, gender, organizations, and culture. Gillian has published research on symbolic compliance and sexual harassment on college campuses (in Sociological Forum), the intellectual development of the theoretical concept of institutional logics (in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management) and the gender dynamics of the western literary canon (published in Gender Issues). gilliangualtieri.com

 

About Jessica Porter

Jessica Porter is ArtTable’s Lila Harnett Executive Director. She joined ArtTable as the ED in 2018, after 4 years on the Board of Directors and 8 years of membership. In this role, she is responsible for developing the long-range strategy of ArtTable, providing leadership and oversight in fundraising to meet financial goals, and directing communications and brand management to enhance the success of the organization. She oversees and provides leadership to the staff and the membership as a whole, expanding and educating through research, programs, and communications. In 2020 she was the first to assume the name of ArtTable’s founder, Lila Harnett, and became the Lila Harnett Executive Director. 

Prior to this role, she was the Executive Director of New York Artists Equity Association, Inc (NYAEA) a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1947 by artists and art patrons with the mission to promote opportunities for artists. It operates Equity Gallery, an art space located on the Lower East Side of New York City.  

In 2001, Porter launched Porter Advisory, working with galleries and other organizations as an independent curator, creating exhibitions in alternative spaces and advising artists on unique opportunities and career advancement. From 2006 to 2017, Porter founded and directed Porter Contemporary, a Chelsea art gallery, where she was responsible for the overall strategy, business development and market growth, marketing, communications, and talent acquisition. 

She has spoken as an expert on CNBC about art collecting and investment of emerging artists, to the Harvard Business Women’s Association about starting an art collection, and has participated in panel discussions on such topics as art and music, women in the art industry, art and social justice, contemporary visions of Picasso and art collecting. She is also a lawyer.

Porter’s natural networking skills, combined with strategic event planning and social marketing, have made her a leader in the growth of her own businesses as well as other organizations. Porter demonstrates a commitment to providing guidance and opportunities to other women as part of the Leadership Advisory Board for the Girl Scouts of Greater New York’s annual Women of Distinction Fundraiser and as a Board Member and former Vice President of Membership at ArtTable. She also enjoys coaching little league softball and serving as a supporter and role model to girls in sports. Porter has a Bachelor’s in Art History and French Language and Literature from the University of Delaware and a Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland. 

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