becoming a member of ZEAL IS A RITE OF PASSAGE.

COMMUNITY MEMBERSHIP IS OPEN! (Metro New York & Los Angeles ONLY. Stay tuned for our membership for other affiliate locations in the future.) We ask that you review our membership FAQs below and fill out our interest form if you are interested in becoming a member. More information will be made available on membership levels and benefits in 2024.

We recognize for many of our incoming members this may be the first time they have ever encountered or been a part of a cooperative business culture and structure. We believe in collaboration which comes with mindset and habit shifts with the willingness to embrace ones own individuality while releasing the belief in scarcity and individualism. We believe in artists and creatives as workers who are able to build their capacity and embrace their unique skills and talents as innately worthy and sufficient in earning a living by sustaining acts of solidarity through collaboration. In other words, as a cooperative we desire to have zeal for being 100% responsible for ourselves, each other, and being accountable to our collective creativity. If you do too, then this is the space for you!

All members go through a ladder of engagement through the cooperative’s levels of membership. We are an official partner of Guilded Freelancers Cooperative, an affilate of Freelancers Union.

• Class C: Community Member: You can apply to our worker owned creative arts studio alliance at this level of membership initially with minimal obligation and rights to the cooperative. You pay $12/month in dues. After you’ve been given an orientation, you go through a 6 month grace period where you are able to freelance with clients with a required coaching session, and then you are then are eligible to become a studio member, if you so choose. Our membership interest form is below in order to apply for membership.

• Class B: Studio Member: After the initial grace period, community members can apply to become studio members which makes them eligible to bring in contract work or propose in-house projects as a freelancer that can be managed through ZEAL. Studio members enter into our community studio incubator program and pay $25/month or 250/year in dues. They have cooperative rights to ZEAL’s trademark by permission of the principal members of the cooperative on projects they are leading. They also are eligible to additional member benefits.

• Class A: Principal Member (worker-owner) : After a year of freelance practice as a studio member along with additional qualifications, a studio member can be invited to go through an interview process to then become a worker owner of the cooperative. They pay an initial fee of $250 to open their internal capital account (ICA) which gives them shares within the cooperative and then pay $25/month or $250 a year in dues. This comes with operations, finance, tax, legal, and studio account management responsibilities. Worker-owners can be paid through their equity in shares through disbursements and allocations as well as have cooperative rights to ZEAL’s trademark in the production of their own body of work as a member.

General membership faqs  

How does someone become a member? Who is eligible? 

• Must be a Black creative that centers their work, play, and rest as part of a committed, functional, and liberating act of their humanity spiritually and/or personally in the communities they are a part of. This stands in the legacy of our ancestral lineages and evolution of the politics of Black aesthetics. You have an eminent knowing that your creativity is your birthright.

• Must believe in the vision, mission, values, principles, and manifesto of ZEAL.

• Must be able to pay dues and/or work required hours (depending on level of membership, studio location/or an affiliate studio site) to support the services, programming and affairs of the cooperative.

• Any Black creatives who wants to freelance with ZEAL automatically becomes a community member. After one year of studio membership, where the studio member is able to freelance through ZEAL, bring in contract work, and invoice at least for $1750 worth of work, they are eligible to be invited to become principal members of the cooperative (one time initiation fee of $250 is required for principal membership).

What is the process?

Potential members must:

• fill out an intake form and if chosen to move forward, you will complete a membership application

• go through an orientation on the history of ZEAL, our services, programming, and standards based on membership level 

• agree to all policies as outlined in our cooperative’s operating agreement and membership manual as they are legally binding documents in the State of California and New York.

• be in good standing for at least three months based on membership eligibility standards from the time their membership application was submitted according to the membership manual.

What rights does a member have?

• Community members are able to make proposals about ZEAL’s programming and services after their 6 month grace period. Community members can be invited to work on contracts but they can’t bring in contracts they are leading until their grace period is complete. They do not have any operational decision making power entering into the cooperative.

• Studio members, can only offer advice and feedback the operations, finances, and overall strategy of the cooperative in addition to making proposals. They can also bring in contract work and receive commission for bringing in contracts.

• Principal members (worker-owners) are the final decision makers in the operations, finances, and overall strategy of the cooperative.

Can a member become “inactive?”

• A Member can freeze their membership up to three (3) times in a two (2) year period. If a Member attempts to freeze their Membership more than the allotted times, their Membership will automatically terminate and would then need to reapply as a Community Member thereafter.

More information on membership roles, responsibilities, and guidelines will be given at membership orientation where community, studio members, and principal members receive an operating agreement and all members receive a membership manual for review and signature.