Artscape Reviews

2.5

22% would recommend to a friend

(44 total reviews)
avatar

Grace Lee Reynolds

32% approve of CEO

18% positive business outlook

Artscape has an employee rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars, based on 44 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Artscape employee rating is 33% below average for employers within the Non-profit and NGO industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

44 reviews
1.0
26 Feb 2019

Callous/Unscrupulous

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Customer service/entry level employees are genuine, hard working and optimistic.

Cons

The directors are all unqualified figure-heads who exhert their power in oppressive, regressive and otherwise counter productive ways. The company's values are mere fodder for donors, councils and sponsors. The company sees inclusion and diversity as statistics they must achieve, which dehumanizes their staff and audiences' to numbers on a grant application. For years, Artscape has shamelessly taken advantage of their staff, artists, tenants and communities, and will always defer blame and penalties to their most vulnerable stakeholders.

1.0
7 Jan 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The headquarters is very nice.

Cons

There is nothing good about working at Artscape. If you value your mental and psychological health, you'll stay away. - Unbelievable, unmanageable and completely unreasonable workload that would break even the most hardworking and dedicated staff. - It's extremely difficult to move projects along because everyone is busy with absolutely everything and no one has time to review/approve anything, and so it goes until things spiral out of control. - The GASLIGHTING is off the charts. When things do eventually spiral out of control because of the aforementioned crippling workload, directors/ senior managers will blame you for not moving things along, not making goals etc. In reality, it's not the employee's fault, it's just the institutional system and a result of people prioritizing absolutely everything and not understanding that some projects/goals are just unrealistic and not doable in the timeframe provided. Many times I've heard people say: "Well, maybe you're just not the right KIND OF PERSON for the job, or the RIGHT FIT for this workplace." This is just a major gaslighting attempt in order to dismiss people's very real concerns about their workloads and institutional roadblocks. This needs to end immediately. Toying with people's mental health and emotional well being is NOT A JOKE. - No one is happy, and that's evident. Directors/senior managers are cultish in their attempts try to sell everyone on what a cool/hip place Artscape is, and how great the organizational values are, but it's all just facade. At heart of the issue is the fact that this organization wants to help artists thrive at the expense of its employees (many of whom are actually artists). - Concerns are not taken seriously when employees dare to speak up. This is the most disheartnening part of working here. Your concerns are dismissed as minor, or irrelevant. Nothing is done by directors/senior managers to address employees' crippling workload because it's seen as being THE EMPLOYEE'S fault. - As a result of all of the above, the turnover is massive, which only increases the workload of the people who continue to work there, thus continuing all of this in a never ending loop of unhappiness and instability.

avatar
Artscape Response
6y
We appreciate your comments and we acknowledge that Artscape is a busy organization with many pressing goals to achieve that have resulted in larger workloads for some of our teams. We take responsibility for the burdens that some of our employees have dealt with as they continue to meet and exceed expectations towards Artscape's mission. Workload impact on mental health is an area that we are working on. We have a very dedicated group of workers and we are implementing balance reminders. We have begun helping our managers address workload management in positive ways with their staff. In some cases we have open dialogue to check in with staff and have extended due dates and lowered expectations. Most importantly, we are encouraging and modelling better work-life balance strategies at all levels. This included slowing down operations for the holidays to give everyone so time off to rest and relax at home. This is an ongoing work in progress and our employees are working with us to stay on track in the future. Regards, People & Culture
1.0
10 Sept 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are some wonderful people here as the company brings us in by advertising commendable values and a good mission, but the actual reality of what happens behind-the-scenes is the complete opposite of the values that the company prides themselves on. It's unfortunate that people are being treated the way they are and it's what leads to high turnover here.

Cons

Management does not value their employees. The work environment is extremely unprofessional with employees often taking out their aggression on each other in meetings. Morale is low due to disorganized company structure, lack of vision, and lack of support. Onboarding and training is nonexistent. Management constantly undermines and undervalues the work of their employees (often to the point of harassment), and that is where the root of the problem lies.

avatar
Artscape Response
6y
Thank you for sharing your opinions. We take respect in the workplace very seriously and encourage our workers to speak to their manager or to our People & Culture team as harassment is not tolerated at Artscape. We went through a huge period of growth and change in 2018 and 2019. This took a toll on everyone. We acknowledge that while we had good intentions, not always did we make popular decisions. Artscape continues to thrive and that is because we have amazing employees. We are working with our staff and collaborating on solutions for improvement. Response supplied by Nidhi Khanna, COO
Viewing 1 - 3 of 44 Reviews

Glassdoor has 48 Artscape reviews submitted anonymously by Artscape employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Artscape is right for you.