EPISODE 194:
PAY EQUITY IN THEATRICAL DESIGN WITH COSTUME DESIGNER ELSA HILTNER
Host: Ethan Steimel
Release Date: 1/4/2026
Release Date: 1/4/2026
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Costume designer Elsa Hiltner talks about the lack of pay equity in theatrical design and what she is doing about it.
Topics: ⭐️ Living wage ⭐️ The Pay Equity Standards ⭐️ The Theatrical Designer Pay Resource ⭐️ Annual income for Chicago-based non-union costume designers |
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Links and Resources
Video Version:
https://youtu.be/8DZsxRe0w_g
https://www.elsahiltner.com/
Elsa Hiltner is an organizer and activist for pay and labor equity in the arts. She has worked for over 15 years as a freelance artist and arts non-profit administrator, including as director of development for Collaboraction Theatre Company and her current role as director of programs at a legal service organization that supports artists in Illinois.
These experiences as an arts worker deeply inform her work as an arts advocate. Her essays on labor and pay equity have inspired systemic change in the theatre industry, and the tools she has created including the Pay Equity Standards and the Theatrical Designer Pay Resource have been used nation-wide by individuals and organizations to promote pay transparency and pay equity. She is a co-founder of On Our Team, and in 2021, she was honored to receive the Michael Merritt Arts Advocacy Award.
Photo of Elsa by zakkiyyah najeebah dumas-o'neal
Instagram Handles
@elsahiltner
@ethansteimel
@nicolevsteimel
https://youtu.be/8DZsxRe0w_g
https://www.elsahiltner.com/
Elsa Hiltner is an organizer and activist for pay and labor equity in the arts. She has worked for over 15 years as a freelance artist and arts non-profit administrator, including as director of development for Collaboraction Theatre Company and her current role as director of programs at a legal service organization that supports artists in Illinois.
These experiences as an arts worker deeply inform her work as an arts advocate. Her essays on labor and pay equity have inspired systemic change in the theatre industry, and the tools she has created including the Pay Equity Standards and the Theatrical Designer Pay Resource have been used nation-wide by individuals and organizations to promote pay transparency and pay equity. She is a co-founder of On Our Team, and in 2021, she was honored to receive the Michael Merritt Arts Advocacy Award.
Photo of Elsa by zakkiyyah najeebah dumas-o'neal
Instagram Handles
@elsahiltner
@ethansteimel
@nicolevsteimel
