16.04 – Drag Resources Action Group Launch Party at Sophiensaele
At the Drag Resources Action Group Launch Party we launched our new guidelines for fair labor. The Drag Resources Action Group (D.R.A.G.) Berlin is a collective of drag artists and adjacent genres*, including performers, bookers, and event organizers, who have been advocating since October 2023 for better working conditions in one of the lowest-paid, most precarious, and socially vulnerable performance genres.
We have created these guidelines to establish basic standards and fair working conditions. To achieve this, we collaborate with drag venues, organizers, associations, and performers to build a better drag scene for everyone.
Mad Kate – The Mathematics of Work
Mathematics. If my average gig is €50, thats 8 gigs to make rent. 30 days in a month, that’s 720 hours. Sleep 6 hours a night, though I know I need 8 to be sane— still that’s 180 hours a month
asleep. 720 hours minus 180 thats 540. 8 hours per performance, 1 for getting there, 1 for sound check, 1 for makeup, 1 for getting into costume, 1 for a pre-performance stretch, 1 for food, 1 for
the actual performance and 1 to pack down — for 8 gigs — that’s 64. So 540 hours minus 64 equals 476 hours left in the month. Per performance I need: 8 times 8 hours for 8 concepts. Thats 8 times 8 hours for 8 costumes, 4 hours times 8 musical tracks, 4 times 8 performances of absolute minimal rehearsal time That’s 192 hours of preparation. Bare minimum. 476 minus 192 equals 284. Then I’ve got an hour each performance for writing my bills — that’s 8 hours. Remind them again. Promotion. Promote myself, promote the show — that’s 2 hours per show, let’s say, so that’s 16
hours. That’s 260 hours left. Eat 3 meals a day, take as little time as possible, I should either eat out (faster) or cook (slightly longer, costs less). Go to the shop. That would be 3 times 30 equals 90 meals. 15 minutes for buying or preparing food, 15 minutes for eating. 30 minutes times 90 meals equals 45 hours.
That’s 215 hours left. There’s about 4 hours per month to go shopping — that’s 211. My child, care split between 3 coparents? That’s 10 days a month. 1 hour to school, 1 hour for pickup, 2 hours to spend with them on reading, appointments, or studying — that’s 40 waking hours. That’s 171 hours left. Exercise! An average of 30 minutes a day — another 15 hours. That’s 156 hours left. But what about a doctor’s appointment or therapy — 2 maybe 4 fours. But thats just my rent. I need €150 for KSK, €200 for food, €50 for costumes. Thats another €400 if I live off €800. Sure. Minimal. Take a day job, 40 hours at €10 an hour — I’ve still got 110 hours per month. That’s an extra 3.6 hours a day I haven’t yet allocated. That’s to use for freetime — like seeing friends or seeing a gig or being an activist or just getting a sleep-in or putting my child to bed or. I don’t know. It’s all quite possible. But I can’t take 1 flight home. And I can’t have 1 emergency. I can have 0 things happen to me. And I can’t have 1 thing happen to my child. I will be strict about everything. Buy nothing. Buy nothing day and buy nothing every day nothing day. Mathematics.
Photos by Mayra Wallraff