National Theatre Conference
  • Home
  • About
    • History
    • Members >
      • Board of Trustees
      • 2022 Inductees
      • 2021 Inductees
      • 2020 Inductees
      • 2019 Inductees
      • 2018 Inductees
      • 2017 Inductees
      • Past Presidents
    • Past Conferences >
      • 2021 Conference >
        • 2021 New Members
      • 2020 Conference >
        • 2020Program
      • 2019 Conference
      • 2018 Conference >
        • 2018 Program
      • 2017 Conference >
        • 2017 Program
      • 2016 Conference >
        • 2016 Program
      • 2015 Conference
  • Awards
    • Person of the Year
    • Stavis Award
    • Outstanding Theater Award
    • The Paul Green Award
    • Emerging Professional Award
  • Initiatives
    • #BlackLivesMatter Statement and Resources
    • Stop AAPI Hate Statement & Resources
    • Living Legacies
    • Women Playwrights Initiative
    • NTC Celebrates Harlem
    • Pipelines for New Work >
      • Forum
      • 2019 Program
      • Submit a Post
  • National Theatre Conversation Blog
  • Member Portal
    • PayDues
    • Member Contacts
    • Code of Regulations
    • Submit News
    • Forgot Password?
  • NTC Member Productions and Publications 2021-2022
  • NTC on YouTube
  • Gun Statement

Labor Day and Theatre

9/4/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
This Labor Day Weekend brings me to pause and think about the unions under whose contracts I have labored, especially with respect to my first love, Theatre. Theatre is a calling and I have been "blessed" to have heard this clarion call for decades. Yet how is it defined? What constitutes "theatre?" It used to be that a live performance before a group of people in one space was an adequate definition. Now we are doing live shows from different spaces for virtual audiences across the globe. Our labor union, Actors' Equity Association, appears to not think of this new actor/audience relationship as theater. It's communicated on a screen so it must be under SAG/AFTRA jurisdiction. I can understand if the work is on video or film. But live? Has our union abdicated oversight of a form of theatre that is not going away and is going to grow? Post COVID-19, throughout the next decade, this new technology is not going to go away. It is going to grow. AEA needs to grow with it.


PictureBroadway is Closed until 2021 - (NY Post photo)
On another note, how are the labors of our theaters doing? So, far, quite simply, most of us are not working. Some of us lucky ones are working virtually. But overall, it's bleak. If you are in theater you know this, of course. ​

​
The Brookings Institution recently published a report "LOST ART: Measuring COVID-19’s devastating impact on America’s creative economy" in which it estimates losses of $150 billion in creative industry revenue while calling for more federal support for cultural workers. Of this $150 billion, it states:

PictureApollo Theater (Elias Williams photo)
"The fine and performing arts industries will be hit hardest, suffering estimated losses of almost 1.4 million jobs and $42.5 billion in sales. These estimated losses represent 50% of all jobs in those industries and more than a quarter of all lost sales nationwide... The creative economy is one of the sectors most at risk from the COVID-19 crisis. Arts, culture, and creativity are one of three key sectors (along with science and technology as well as business and management) that drive regional economies. Any lasting damage to the creative sector will drastically undercut our culture, well-being, and quality of life. ​


Picture
So, I posted this last month, but it bears repeating:

CONGRESS MUST ACT!

LINKS FOR ARTS/THEATRE ADVOCACY
WE NEED NOW:


ACTORS' EQUITY - Extend Pandemic Unemployment Compensation

ExtendPUA.org: Pandemic Assistance Should Continue Until the Pandemic is Over 


Be An Arts Hero: An Open Letter to our US Senators

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Past President David Fuller blogs on items of interest to the NTC Membership and the Field at large.

    Archives

    May 2022
    November 2021
    June 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020

    Categories

    All
    Drag
    National Theatre Conference
    Playwrights
    Theatre
    Unity

    RSS Feed

Contact Us