New project, a deadbeat? Several collaborators denounce the “unreasonable” payment periods of the magazine, which sometimes takes more than six months to remunerate its freelancers. They deplore a lack of transparency, but also of consideration for their work.
“I didn’t want to play that card, but I was waiting after that to pay my rent. Writing is work,” says Sarah Toussaint-Léveillé, winner of the 2022 essay competition, in an interview. New project for his text “The Flowering of Mirrors”, published in September of the same year.
A year after learning of his victory, the non-binary artist says he still hasn’t received his $1,000 prize. Sarah Toussaint-Léveillé has however twice revived the review team, but each time she was told that the wait was longer due to “significant liquidity issues”.
“I spent a lot of time rewriting this text, which was very personal. I felt that my trust had been abused, I was abused, “says the artist, who decided to denounce this situation on his social networks on Tuesday, hoping to “open a discussion” and change things.
Many people quickly relayed his message, some saying they had experienced the same situation. Among them is the author Laurence Pelletier, who won third place in the 2022 essay competition of New project. She received her $250 prize a few weeks ago, but after months of relentlessly chasing the review team. She even ended up calling on the legal services of the Union of Quebec Writers and Writers to move the case forward.
“Ironically, the essay I wrote for this competition was about precariousness. Two hundred and fifty dollars is not a lot, but in principle, and in the economic context which was mine, I found it revolting not to be paid, ”she explains.
Charlotte Lehoux for her part “found the courage” on Tuesday, thanks to the publication of Sarah Toussaint-Léveillé, to claim the $ 700 that New project owes him for a year, for his photos accompanying the text “The vulnerable times of the university”. It was the first professional contract for this amateur photographer.
“I thought I had fallen into the cracks, I didn’t dare to start them again. But this situation is unacceptable”, she denounces in an interview, specifying that she has refused any other contract since, “greatly cooled” by this experience.
And the situation is nothing new, according to several former collaborators. After the publication of Sarah Toussaint-Léveillé, the former solidarity deputy Catherine Dorion said that she had to claim four times a stamp that had remained unpaid since 2020, before finally receiving the sum two years later.
Sarah’s story, she says, is not “an unfortunate oversight”, something “fallen through the cracks, an exception”. According to her, it has been years since New project pays its employees very late. She also gives as an example the case of her friend Martin Bruneau, several of whose drawings can be found in her book The fruitful strugglespublished in 2017 by Atelier 10, the publisher of the journal New project.
The painter confirmed to Duty having had to “hit, hit and hit” the management team to receive his compensation. “The response was always cavalier, disrespectful, not attentive to the situation. It took months, almost a year to get paid, ”he laments.
A period of turbulence
Contacted by The dutyNicolas Langelier, editor-in-chief of New project and director of Atelier 10, acknowledges with regret that there are currently “particularly long” payment delays due to liquidity problems. “We would like to pay people faster, that’s for sure, but it’s important to say that they all end up getting paid. […] There is a pile of invoices, then we go one by one, and finally, we arrive at them, ”adds Mr. Langelier, without being able to advance on the number of craftsmen awaiting payment.
He points out that the magazine is going through a turbulent period, like many print magazines in the country. The cost of paper has jumped, newsstand sales are down, advertising revenues are melting like snow in the sun and subsidies are scarce.
“We are not making a profit and there are a lot of things to pay at the moment. But the magazine is not in danger, money is coming in the coming months, ”he assures, specifying that he is waiting for a grant from Heritage Canada. “We will be able to make a nice catch-up. »
He acknowledges with regret that payment delays have been piling up for several years and says he is working hard to resolve this problem. But it is out of the question for him to reduce the amounts allocated to employees. “As former president of the AJIQ [l’Association des journalistes indépendants du Québec]it has always been important for me to pay employees well […] but I can’t invent money. »
“If a company is able to issue and manage bi-weekly employee payrolls, there’s no reason they can’t wire money or send a one-time check to freelancers in reasonable delays, “said the AJIQ in a post written on Instagram on Wednesday, while several of its members are also awaiting payment. The association also ironically raises the fact that Nicolas Langelier won the editor-in-chief of the year award this week at the Canadian Magazine Awards. ” This is unacceptable. »