Elsa Hiltner
@elsahiltner.bsky.social
She/her. Activist for pay equity in the arts. Co-founder of @onourteam.bsky.social Views are all mine, as some require us to say.
Pinned
Elsa Hiltner
@elsahiltner.bsky.social
· Feb 21
Is Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events on the ropes?
The department has lost about a quarter of its staff in the last year. Other signs point to problems at DCASE, which helps drives crucial economic activity for the city.
chicago.suntimes.com
My OpEd is out in the Sun-Times. I had a lot to say in 650 words, and there is so much more to be said. I hope others pick up the threads and start pulling.
Because DCASE is so important.
chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/...
Because DCASE is so important.
chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/...
We have all these streaming fireplaces and yet not one in 2025 is a dumpster.
December 7, 2025 at 1:36 AM
We have all these streaming fireplaces and yet not one in 2025 is a dumpster.
“'There’s a time and a place for protesting and this isn’t it,” said Susan Jobst..."
It's taking some people a long time to catch up with 2025. Not that you need one, but this is definitely the time and the place.
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
It's taking some people a long time to catch up with 2025. Not that you need one, but this is definitely the time and the place.
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Kristi Noem draws protesters at Chicago Christmas tree charity event
Trump's deportation chief presided over the "Christmas Tree Ship" ceremony at Navy Pier Saturday. She led one of the early aggressive immigration raids near Chicago.
chicago.suntimes.com
December 6, 2025 at 10:10 PM
“'There’s a time and a place for protesting and this isn’t it,” said Susan Jobst..."
It's taking some people a long time to catch up with 2025. Not that you need one, but this is definitely the time and the place.
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
It's taking some people a long time to catch up with 2025. Not that you need one, but this is definitely the time and the place.
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
How come we don’t hear about the profit-loss performance of the FBI?
What is the CIA’s quarterly revenue target?
Does the Treasury get defunded if it doesn’t make a profit?
Once you start to #QuestionThePremise, the idea of the government as a business sounds utterly ridiculous.
What is the CIA’s quarterly revenue target?
Does the Treasury get defunded if it doesn’t make a profit?
Once you start to #QuestionThePremise, the idea of the government as a business sounds utterly ridiculous.
The USPS posting a NINE BILLION DOLLAR LOSS!!! sounds terrible. Certainly worse than if you said "USPS costs thirty dollars per person per year" even though that means the same thing and more accurately describes a government service
December 5, 2025 at 1:54 PM
How come we don’t hear about the profit-loss performance of the FBI?
What is the CIA’s quarterly revenue target?
Does the Treasury get defunded if it doesn’t make a profit?
Once you start to #QuestionThePremise, the idea of the government as a business sounds utterly ridiculous.
What is the CIA’s quarterly revenue target?
Does the Treasury get defunded if it doesn’t make a profit?
Once you start to #QuestionThePremise, the idea of the government as a business sounds utterly ridiculous.
Get on it you all!!
IT'S TIIIIIIIIIIME!!! December is here, which means the inaugural 2025 #FOIAdvent calendar has arrived. ☃️✨
Every day this month, the calendar will update with a new records request prompt for you to file with an agency of your choosing, for a fun run of holiday FOIA requests. bit.ly/31-days-of-f...
Every day this month, the calendar will update with a new records request prompt for you to file with an agency of your choosing, for a fun run of holiday FOIA requests. bit.ly/31-days-of-f...
The Very Official 2025 FOIA Advent Calendar
bit.ly
December 4, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Get on it you all!!
I just love artists.
Beeple's installation at Art Basel features Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg among other tech bros as dogs laying poop on the floor as they scramble about. youtube.com/shorts/3kCBO...
Beeple on his ‘Regular Animals’ (2025) is a hybrid sculptural at Miami Basel
YouTube video by Art Plugged
youtube.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:36 AM
I just love artists.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
No-strings-attached, zero-means-testing, no-questions-asked cash payouts have been proven, over and over again, to be the most effective form of charity/aid going.
It gets people in housing, and it saves the state money. We know this. It's fact, not theory.
It gets people in housing, and it saves the state money. We know this. It's fact, not theory.
An Oregon pilot program giving cash to homeless youths sees a staggering reduction in homelessness. The program gave participants $1,000 cash payments each month for two years, and at the end of the project's first phase, 91% of participants reported being in stable housing.
Oregon pilot program giving cash to homeless youths sees staggering reduction in homelessness
The state program gave participants $1,000 cash payments each month for two years. At the end of the project's first phase, 91% of participants reported being in stable housing.
www.streetroots.org
December 3, 2025 at 7:12 AM
No-strings-attached, zero-means-testing, no-questions-asked cash payouts have been proven, over and over again, to be the most effective form of charity/aid going.
It gets people in housing, and it saves the state money. We know this. It's fact, not theory.
It gets people in housing, and it saves the state money. We know this. It's fact, not theory.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
Scientists if you’re like “man I wish more people knew about X” then I humbly suggest hiring an artist to make a thing that communicates X and then put it into the world because it’s so fun, extremely “hell yeah” inducing, you gotta try it.
December 3, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Scientists if you’re like “man I wish more people knew about X” then I humbly suggest hiring an artist to make a thing that communicates X and then put it into the world because it’s so fun, extremely “hell yeah” inducing, you gotta try it.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
I hope someone draws this wonderful story about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the power of the arts to help us see things differently, to the attention of our Education Secretary. Do read it, it will lift your spirits.
December 2, 2025 at 10:59 AM
I hope someone draws this wonderful story about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the power of the arts to help us see things differently, to the attention of our Education Secretary. Do read it, it will lift your spirits.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
I have come to the idea that we have to collectively, brutally, ritualistically kill Target just to show capital that we truly aren’t fucking around.
December 1, 2025 at 7:39 PM
I have come to the idea that we have to collectively, brutally, ritualistically kill Target just to show capital that we truly aren’t fucking around.
Art > AI
"You can get ChatGPT to help you build a nuclear bomb if you simply design the prompt in the form of a poem, according to a new study from researchers in Europe. "
www.wired.com/story/poems-...
www.wired.com/story/poems-...
Poems Can Trick AI Into Helping You Make a Nuclear Weapon
It turns out all the guardrails in the world won’t protect a chatbot from meter and rhyme.
www.wired.com
November 30, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Art > AI
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
As we work on our next judicial election guide, we want to hear from you: What should voters know about these attorneys and judges? If you recognize any of these names, send us your tips. buff.ly/DlOqYRA
November 25, 2025 at 2:01 PM
As we work on our next judicial election guide, we want to hear from you: What should voters know about these attorneys and judges? If you recognize any of these names, send us your tips. buff.ly/DlOqYRA
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
It’s useful to think about things like this in numbers of tenure track professors.
$53M is 575 assistant professors. Or more than thirty percent of the total number of full-time faculty at LSU.
$53M is 575 assistant professors. Or more than thirty percent of the total number of full-time faculty at LSU.
November 28, 2025 at 3:38 AM
It’s useful to think about things like this in numbers of tenure track professors.
$53M is 575 assistant professors. Or more than thirty percent of the total number of full-time faculty at LSU.
$53M is 575 assistant professors. Or more than thirty percent of the total number of full-time faculty at LSU.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
These stories may help us feel better about our choice to engage with art that doesn't pay the creator. Or it may help us feel better when we allow our creativity to be exploited.
But either way, it's a tool to divide, exploit, and limit who has the resources to create and share their work. 2/2
But either way, it's a tool to divide, exploit, and limit who has the resources to create and share their work. 2/2
November 26, 2025 at 10:25 PM
These stories may help us feel better about our choice to engage with art that doesn't pay the creator. Or it may help us feel better when we allow our creativity to be exploited.
But either way, it's a tool to divide, exploit, and limit who has the resources to create and share their work. 2/2
But either way, it's a tool to divide, exploit, and limit who has the resources to create and share their work. 2/2
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
We tell ourselves so many stories in order to justify low pay for creative workers.
"It's a passion, not a profession."
"You can make a killing, but not a living."
"Do it for the exposure."
And the below "class traitors" line,
Etc...
Both creative workers and consumers tell stories like this.1/2
"It's a passion, not a profession."
"You can make a killing, but not a living."
"Do it for the exposure."
And the below "class traitors" line,
Etc...
Both creative workers and consumers tell stories like this.1/2
Just saw someone claim that authors who want to be paid for their work are "class traitors" because we "only let the wealthy" read our books, and I think I need to go into the woods to scream into the night for a bit.
It's $5, not your first-born child! I need that $5 for health insurance!
It's $5, not your first-born child! I need that $5 for health insurance!
November 26, 2025 at 10:25 PM
We tell ourselves so many stories in order to justify low pay for creative workers.
"It's a passion, not a profession."
"You can make a killing, but not a living."
"Do it for the exposure."
And the below "class traitors" line,
Etc...
Both creative workers and consumers tell stories like this.1/2
"It's a passion, not a profession."
"You can make a killing, but not a living."
"Do it for the exposure."
And the below "class traitors" line,
Etc...
Both creative workers and consumers tell stories like this.1/2
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
The problem with ICE is not that it's targeting people who aren't criminals. The problem with ICE is that it's an unaccountable secret deportation police. It cannot be reformed under a better president. It can be made less terrible, but the instrument of repression remains for the next tyrant.
November 26, 2025 at 5:04 PM
The problem with ICE is not that it's targeting people who aren't criminals. The problem with ICE is that it's an unaccountable secret deportation police. It cannot be reformed under a better president. It can be made less terrible, but the instrument of repression remains for the next tyrant.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
Archeologists in Wisconsin found an ancient canoe that is over 5,000 years old!! The discovery was in a canoe “parking lot” along a popular waterway and trail system.
Wisconsin archaeologists identify 16 ancient canoes in a prehistoric lake 'parking lot'
Archaeologists have identified more than a dozen ancient canoes that Indigenous people apparently left behind in a prehistoric parking lot along a Wisconsin lakeshore.
apnews.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Archeologists in Wisconsin found an ancient canoe that is over 5,000 years old!! The discovery was in a canoe “parking lot” along a popular waterway and trail system.
While we're all talking about pies... Serviceberry (Amelanchier, Juneberry, etc...) is one of my top. Maybe the top. It's a tough call. I love pie.
Every year I plan to freeze some for later, but we end up eating them all in June.
Every year I plan to freeze some for later, but we end up eating them all in June.
November 26, 2025 at 2:49 AM
While we're all talking about pies... Serviceberry (Amelanchier, Juneberry, etc...) is one of my top. Maybe the top. It's a tough call. I love pie.
Every year I plan to freeze some for later, but we end up eating them all in June.
Every year I plan to freeze some for later, but we end up eating them all in June.
Multiple theft accusations by and from the folks making the most (leadership/department heads and the board, wherever they work), all while many museum workers aren't making a living wage.
@hyperallergic.com
@onourteam.bsky.social
hyperallergic.com/1059426/phil...
@hyperallergic.com
@onourteam.bsky.social
hyperallergic.com/1059426/phil...
Philadelphia Art Museum Accuses Former Director of Theft
After Alexandra Suda accused the museum of wrongful termination, the institution said she misappropriated funds to increase her salary.
hyperallergic.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Multiple theft accusations by and from the folks making the most (leadership/department heads and the board, wherever they work), all while many museum workers aren't making a living wage.
@hyperallergic.com
@onourteam.bsky.social
hyperallergic.com/1059426/phil...
@hyperallergic.com
@onourteam.bsky.social
hyperallergic.com/1059426/phil...
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
We're working on re-balancing the scales in the arts. We all need to do our part to end pay inequity in all sectors.
Q4 is ripe with layoffs while CEO's continue to make 281 times as much as typical workers. It's time to re-balance the scales.
Read more: www.epi.org/publication/...
Read more: www.epi.org/publication/...
November 24, 2025 at 8:57 PM
We're working on re-balancing the scales in the arts. We all need to do our part to end pay inequity in all sectors.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
An excellent piece by @yasminzacaria.bsky.social in @inthesetimes.com
inthesetimes.com/article/cult...
inthesetimes.com/article/cult...
Cultural Preservation as Resistance
A tribute concert for the late Lebanese artist Ziad Rahbani celebrates SWANA creativity and liberation.
inthesetimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:26 AM
An excellent piece by @yasminzacaria.bsky.social in @inthesetimes.com
inthesetimes.com/article/cult...
inthesetimes.com/article/cult...
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
AI is going to use up all of our power and water, and all because tech bros are upset that no matter how much money they have, they will never have artistic talent. Why couldn’t they just invest in a Broadway show like normal rich people
November 18, 2025 at 2:36 AM
AI is going to use up all of our power and water, and all because tech bros are upset that no matter how much money they have, they will never have artistic talent. Why couldn’t they just invest in a Broadway show like normal rich people
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
Even though some federal agents are leaving the city, arts and culture executives want to be sure of their rights and responsibilities when it comes to protecting staff and visitors.
Chicago museum leaders — likening the moment to active shooter drills — practice what to do if ICE shows up
chicago.suntimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Even though some federal agents are leaving the city, arts and culture executives want to be sure of their rights and responsibilities when it comes to protecting staff and visitors.
Reposted by Elsa Hiltner
She painted these during Hyde Park's urban renewal days, surrounding the house where she lived, when the doors of condemned buildings were used as worksite barriers.
Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977), “Demolition Doors” (1964), oil on masonite.
November 15, 2025 at 7:08 PM
She painted these during Hyde Park's urban renewal days, surrounding the house where she lived, when the doors of condemned buildings were used as worksite barriers.