Equity 2020: Aggressive. Inclusive. Responsive. Spring 2017 | Volume 102 | Issue 2 Actors’ Equity Association Equity NEWS Cover photo by Bruce Alan Johnson featuring Equity member Ira Mont GET SOCIAL CONTENTS Spring 2017 | Volume 102 | Issue 2 WITH US /ACTORSEQUITY #OrganizeForTheArts #ChangeTheStage Equity fought to save and Equity releases its ground- fund the National Endowment breaking study on hiring /ACTORSEQUITY100 for the Arts biases in the industry JOIN THE CONVERSATION! EQUITY’S SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS BRING OUR UNION TOGETHER 6 8 ONLINE WITH DISCUSSIONS OF THE ISSUES THAT AFFECT OUR INDUSTRY, INVITATIONS TO EVENTS AND CELEBRATIONS OF GREAT WORK The Actors Fund In House The organization unveils its Read the many ways in which HAPPENING AROUND THE COUNTRY. new Samuel J. Friedman #EquityWorks for its members Health Center @ACTORSEQUITY 19 20 @ASKIFITSEQUITY HIGMEC Theater Spotlight Two members tell us how they Meet Baltimore’s got their Equity card Everyman Theatre @ACTORSEQUITY 22 23 Across the Nation Celebrating Diversity EquityNews Meet your new fave Liaison Equity presented the Kathryn Area: Austin/San Antonio V. Lamkey Award to Chicago Editor Kevin McMahon theatre visionaries Josh Austin Liz Pazik Barbara Roberts Advisory Committee Melissa Robinette 24 26 Christine Toy Johnson Buzz Roddy (Chair) Joann Yeoman Diane Dorsey Nicole Flender Got a question or Bruce Alan Johnson comment? Email EquityNews Heather Lee [email protected] FRONT of HOUSE From the President From the Executive Director Aggressive. Inclusive. Responsive: Here’s to 2020 #ChangeTheStage: It Starts With Actors’ Equity ast month, when elected leaders lobbying members of Congress his issue of Equity News is groundbreaking stopping there. We are LPresident Trump on Capitol Hill, collected thousands of sig- Tfor our union. We have spent months re- looking for other partners proposed eliminating natures on our petition to save the NEA, and searching the makeup of our membership and in the industry to step up the National Endow- launched a social media campaign, #Organize- who is getting hired. This research started by and join us. ment for the Arts, we ForTheArts. looking at gender parity in hiring. It then expand- We need to #Chan- were there on day one As you may have seen, we’ve also started ed more broadly to include the entire member- geTheStage — and part in Washington, D.C. doing more video. And we’re at work revamping ship. The results, empirical and difficult to con- of that is ensuring that fighting back. Equity and improving our public website, which will front, show that institutional hiring bias exists women, people of color, took the lead in pushing back against defunding roll out later this year. in our industry. Something that we instinctively people with disabilities, the LGBTQI commu- the arts. And, with this issue, we’re taking a huge step knew was true is proven out and now we are pub- nity and members who are disadvantaged and That was no accident. With a new President forward on our work to help #ChangeTheStage. lishing that data. disenfranchised have access to opportunities: to elected last November came a lot of uncertainty Our diversity study is historic and important. We are publishing this data not to place blame, perform, to write, to design, to direct, to program and change. And with that, we began a process Here’s the reality – we’ve all known at some but to start an overdue conversation about how and to produce. Only then can the work begin to of listening to you about what you want your level that there simply aren’t enough roles for we move forward as an industry to make sure make real and sustainable change happen. union to look like now and in the future, and women or people of color. Now we have the the stage is more inclusive. This work matters— I hope you’ll join us. what the union can do to better serve you. We data to quantify the problem. This has been a not just for Equity and our membership, but to held listening sessions around the country, from challenge years in the making, and one that goes ensure that live theatre remains relevant for the St. Louis to the Twin Cities to Seattle. beyond just Equity. Our role in releasing the next generation of artists and audiences. We know that these are challenging times for study is not to find fault, but to find solutions, by Nationally, between 2013 and 2015 our mem- all unions and for those who work in the theatre. serving as a catalyst and creating conversation bers were offered 29,788 principal (in a play) We also know that we can’t do everything over- across the industry. contracts in new productions. Almost 60 percent night. We want to have realistic goals. Our vi- I’m excited to report that our work is only of those contracts went to men, leaving only 40 Mary McColl sion, based on your feedback, is called beginning with the release of our diversity study. percent of those contracts to go to women. These Equity 2020—a three-year timeline to create a We will continue to push for those conversations same women, on average, made about $10 less more aggressive, inclusive and responsive as Equity hires our first-ever Diversity Director, per week during that time period because they union. who will be armed with our new data as he or were more frequently hired on lower paying con- What does that mean? We know the re- she helps us #ChangeTheStage. tracts. covery since the recession has been uneven Equity has delivered for you for more than These percentages are even more troubling for and that members want us to be aggressive 100 years. In this issue of Equity News alone, we members of color. Examining new principal con- in creating new work opportunities. In ev- report adding work weeks in theaters across the tracts in a musical offered nationally during the HELP US #ChangetheStage erything we do we will ask, “How does this country, from Colorado and Missouri to Nebras- same time period, we’ve found that 71 percent of help grow the number of Equity theaters ka and Los Angeles. We will continue to fight to the contracts went to Caucasian members. Less This issue explores, in depth, the challenges we face around the country? How does this help us grow expand opportunities for you, and Equity 2020 than 8 percent of those contracts were worked by in moving our industry forward in a commitment to in- the number of workweeks for our members?” will help us to do that work better. You will be African American members, slightly more than 2 clusion. One easy way you can help us achieve fairness in We will be more inclusive. We heard you hearing much more about it in the very near percent were worked by members identifying as casting is to ensure your information is up-to-date in the loud and clear – you want us to improve our future! Hispanic/Latinx and 1.5 percent of the contracts Member Portal. We ask members to voluntarily self-iden- communications efforts. We will rethink how we went to members who are Asian American. tify by race and disability status in order to gather the most accurate statistical data we can. Put simply, when communicate and how we use our platforms to You can read the study further on page 8. Eq- you self-identify, you help us fight on behalf of you and engage with you, wherever you are. uity has a long history of promoting diversity your union brothers and sisters. All use of this data is con- We will be more responsive. One of the things and fostering inclusion within our community. fidential; the data you provide to your union will never we heard in the feedback process is that you We have been negotiating equal opportunity lan- Kate Shindle be shared with an employer or any other outside entity. want a more regular conversation about what guage into every contract we’ve negotiated for de- we’re doing and why. We will give you new cades. What this study shows us is that we CAN- Here’s how you do it: ways to offer feedback on our work and pro- NOT negotiate our way out of an institutionalized 1.Visit https://members.actorsequity.org/ and log in. grams, and we will use that feedback to guide industry problem. 2. Click on “My Account” on the menu at the top of the us as we make decisions on what works By publishing this study we are stepping out screen. and what doesn’t. and stepping up. We intend to be leaders in this 3. Click on “Profile” from that drop-down menu. Hopefully you’ve already started to notice area. We have already announced that Equity is 4. Scroll to the bottom of the left-hand column some progress. Our work to protect the Na- in the midst of hiring its first ever Diversity Di- (marked “My Information”) to find drop-down tional Endowment for the Arts didn’t end at the rector, who will help us create the strategies to menus for sharing your race and disability status. National Press Club – we’ve had members and lead – both inside Equity and out. And we are not 4 | Equity News @actorsequity members.actorsequity.org Spring 2017 | 5 March 16, 2017 Organize House and Senate Fund President Trump announces his proposed budget, which National Endowment for the Arts will eliminate the National for 2017 Endowment for the Arts along for the ARTS with several other arts-driven programs.