Eva heads ArtCubeNation.com, a worldwide network for Art Department freelancers and businesses in film, TV, theater and events. ArtCube members post jobs, get quotes from fabricators, offer leftover set dressing and materials, and help their peers problem-solve in real time.
In 2008, Eva founded Film Biz Recycling, a non-profit prop house, in response to egregious, needless waste and transformed the problem into a job opportunity and a community resource. This effort earned her an EPA award in 2014 and succeeded in raising awareness about the throwaway, dumpster culture in the arts. Film Biz Recycling relocated to Savannah, Georgia and is the only prop house serving the Savannah film community.
Eva graduated from the University of Texas with a film theory degree. A lot of good that did her!
Newel Props greatly supports ArtCube Nation and together we’ve hosted two fun networking events – a Pre-Summer Picnic in 2018 and Halloween Warehouse Bash in 2019. We have enjoyed meeting the members of ArtCube and introducing them to the magic of Newel Props and our showroom / warehouse in Long Island City.
Q+A with Eva Radke
Q.
What are your morning and bedtime rituals?
A.
I play puzzle games when I wake up and before I go to bed! In the mornings, it’s a way to get my brain activated, lounge in bed for a while, listen to NPR, drink a cup of coffee, and get ready for a big day of “real” things. After a bit, I am ready to wake up, get my kiddo fed and to school, take in the news, and crack open my computer for a day’s work on ArtCube Nation.
At night, it’s a way for me to shift my focus away from the day’s events, concentrate on something other than work and what’s in the news that can otherwise keep me up. I find puzzling a relaxing and satisfying distraction – and good for brain health!
If I had to recommend a puzzle to people in our line of business, it would for sure be The Room by Fireproof Games. It’s fascinating and mechanical, based on 19th-century puzzle boxes with mysterious trap doors, parts to assemble, and secret compartments for you to discover!
Q.
What are you most excited about at this time in your life?
A.
Well, we are smack-dab in the middle of a pandemic. With that in mind, the most exciting thing is seeing how our industry has leapt into action on behalf of frontline workers and the distinct possibility of new inroads between local industries.
First off, this industry has trained us for emergency response. We already work with lightning speed and develop ingenious solutions with limited time and resources with no room for error. Customers started sewing countless masks, prop makers organized and made thousands of face shields, fabricators used their machinery to boost production, PMs and PAs formed a logistics team to deliver PPEs – all with a COVID-appropriate protocol to keep everyone in our small and effective supply chain safe.
On top of that, new relationships are being formed. ArtCube “adopted” SUNY Downstate in their transition to an all-COVID hospital. ArtCube member, Brower Propulsion Lab (BPL), is making intubation shields for Downstate to place around a patient getting hooked up to a ventilator as another layer between medical teams and infection. Downstate also has ventilator parts on back order that BPL can reproduce with various machinery in their lab. Two industries that seemed a month ago to have nothing in common, now have a direct relationship that could transform sourcing and productivity for both.
Networks and communication are everything. I’m excited that the ArtCube Nation community used our platform to mobilize and make a real difference in people’s professional lives. That’s what it’s for.
Q.
How did you get started in this field?
A.
I was a receptionist at Lopes Picture Company in the early ’90s. After a year, I went freelance as a commercial production PA for Giraldi, Fahrenheit, R/GA, Bruce Dowad, etc. Somehow all my PA jobs were huge, hairy bears. I then started production coordinating and I PMed a few jobs and hated it. I just wanted to hang out at the prop table. The job of the Art Department Coordinator was emerging, and I just quit taking PM jobs and announced I was an Art Department Coordinator not a PM. I was unemployed for a very nervous (and broke!) three weeks. Then the ADC calls started coming in and never stopped. Lesson? Stick to your guns and just do only what you want to do.
Then there was the fateful day in 2007. I had to toss a mid-century credenza in a dumpster. My Craiglist taker flaked, the grips didn’t want it, the trucks were full, and the boutique would not take it back. In the dumpster it went. It was then and there I started a Google Group called ArtCube to get ADCs in communication with one another. A year later, I founded the non-profit Film Biz Recycling so productions could get a tax deduction when they donated. We had a nice 7-year run and it then made more sense to have it move to Savannah, where it was embraced and supported by the Film Commission, Stages and community. By that time, eight years later, ArtCube had grown and was a full-time job! My business partner and I invested in custom software to migrate off Google to our own custom platform. That was two years ago and now ArtCube is in over 120 cities around the world.
Q.
What do you consider to be your career highlight?
A.
In 2014, Film Biz Recycling was awarded an EPA award for Environmental Excellence. It was a complete surprise as we did not apply, they just found us and sent the letter to show up! There I met one of my heroes, Majora Carter, and we became friends. I had always felt so scrappy and since nothing like FBR existed anywhere I always had a little voice asking me if I was kidding myself. That day galvanized my belief that what we were doing was innovative and a worthwhile endeavor.
Q.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Describe your 10-year plan
A.
ArtCube Nation’s ten-year plan is to keep doing what we’re doing and scale our impact. Consistently, we add features, improve the product, and use technology to get people work and give set dressing and raw materials a second, useful life. Given our recent work with emergency relief, I’d like for the capabilities of the NYC’s ArtCube Army to expand to all cities and be a resource for all publicly-funded institutions in an emergency or not. For instance, how cool would it be to give a firehouse a fresh coat of paint with leftovers and pay scenic artists in between film gigs? What if we could repay our educators with a stylish teacher’s lounge with sofas and side tables hot off the set? I want ArtCube Nation to be able to give back, so we’re not just taking up parking spaces and stopping people walking home until we cut. We have such potential and power. It’s time to use it.
Q.
How would you define your work in three words?
A.
Connecting Art Department
Q.
Favorite city to recharge?
A.
Austin, Texas with my bestie and BBQ!
Q.
What’s your favorite time of day?
A.
Sunset.
Q.
A book that everyone should read?
A.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Q.
Biggest pet peeve?
A.
People who stand in doorways looking at their phone.
