ArtCube Nation became the best Art Department Job Site through frustration.
It all started with an Art Department Coordinator without an Art Department Resource.
Here began the Sustainable Filmmaking movement.
In January 2007, founder, Eva Radke was an Local 829 Art Department Coordinator working on a toothpaste commercial that was particularly complex. There was no such thing as “Art Department Jobs in Film Site” or “Art Department Vendor List” to search for. There were no resources at all!
The fateful job that started it all required a heated truck to meet a prop plane on the tarmac of JFK to collect hydroponically-grown mint plants from a Florida grower.
It was one of those jobs.
By wrap, the only set dressing leftovers were the mint plants and a mid-century credenza, which was getting picked up by Craig’s List connection by 4 pm.
They never showed up.
A sustainable filmmaking mission was born.
Time for sustainability in the entertainment industry.
Eva posted the mint plants on various listservs and peddled them around to other productions on the Silvercup campus. EVERY mint plant found a new home.
But it was suddenly 4:30 then 4:45, then, 4:55. The Craig’s List connection ghosted, and the stage was going into overtime in five minutes.
“Toss it in, boys.”, Eva ashamedly told the construction grips. It was the only thing left to do besides go home. Reeling from the fact that she made this big, hairy job happen without a hitch, she couldn’t give a $1,700 Soho Boutique credenza away in New York City.
This would not stand.
It was clear; Art Department has the same problems, all the time, everywhere.
Time to build a custom Art Department Resource.
That was the takeaway after one year of reading posts on ArtCube.
So, Eva quit accepting freelance gigs and founded Film Biz Recycling, a 501(c)3 reuse center that accepted donations of Art Department assets in exchange for a tax deduction.
From 2008-2015, ArtCube remained free to join for the eight years that Film Biz Recycling was in NYC.
When the operations in Brooklyn came to an end in 2015, there were thousands of Cubers in twenty-one cities that had long outgrown the Google Group platform.
So, we built our own site and that’s how to work in the film industry became accessible to so many people. Just by building an inclusive, welcoming space to live and work a creative life!!
Today, ArtCube Nation is the best site for Art Department Jobs and Art Department Resources - in real-time.
The crew and artists make this community great.
Once we launched our custom platform, it was off to the races. Art Department is complicated, never the same, and requires specialties and nuanced features.
Our goal was to reduce stress, reduce waste and connect the logistical dots to create a space for art department resources and vendors to connect to active productions – fortifying the local economy!
ArtCube Nation has given enumerable boosts to careers in Film and TV (and theatre and events) by being accessible, affordable, and effective.
Founded by a Local 829 Art Department Coordinator, ArtCube Nation is the ONLY film jobs platform to stand up for higher wages and get involved in non-payment and unsafe work environments. (SO RARE, but 100% positive resolutions).
We support the Artists and Makers of our membership above anything else.
