Friday, June 3, 2016

Did you know - contracting deadlines

As of the recently renewed CTA and ITA agreements, new provisions have been added to ensure contracts go out to the artists in a timely manner. These join a number of existing rules for executing and signing contracts. Here are the terms currently in effect:
  1. 35:08  Execution of Engagement Contracts
    1. (A)  Issuing Of
      When the Theatre confirms to the Artist that agreement has been reached on the negotiated terms for an upcoming engagement, the Theatre shall issue a CTA Engagement Contract to the Artist within ten (10) business days. In any event an Artist must receive his/her CTA Engagement Contract no later than twenty (20) business days prior to the start date of his/her engagement.
      This provision does not apply to activities contracted under Article 56:00 or
      Article 57:00 in which the contracted engagement period is less than two weeks.
    2. (B)  Signing Of
      Unless contracts are signed concurrently, they must be signed first by the Theatre. If the contract is not signed concurrently the Theatre may in writing at the time of sending the contract to the Artist notify the Artist that unless the contract is signed and returned or postmarked, by the Artist to the Theatre within ten (10) business days (Saturday, Sunday and holidays excluded) after receipt thereof by the Artist, the offer of engagement is withdrawn and the contract shall be null and void. 
So, the long and the short of the recent changes is that CTA and ITA engagers now have a new obligation to issue contracts promptly following agreement upon terms, and contracts must reach the artist 20 days before the engagement begins. Except for certain small-scale projects, that means no more signing contracts on the first day.

As always, engagers are also prohibited from sending unsigned contracts to an artist for them to sign first. The engager must sign the contract before the artist, in order to confirm the terms being offered.


And, of course, artists have their obligations, too. If the contract is being sent out to you for signing, you may have only 10 days in which to do so and return it. If you don't get the contract back in time, the engager has the ability to withdraw the offer. Note, however, that the engager must specifically inform you of this time restriction; it does not apply automatically.


If you work under agreements other than the CTA and ITA, different rules may be in place. Opera and ballet agreements each have their own deadlines.


Remember, it you are working under the CTA, ITA, ballet or opera agreements and your contract is late arriving to you or your agent, please call staff for assistance. If an engager is not meeting the deadlines, staff can't address the situation unless they know about it.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Update on the Council Focus Survey

Thank you to all the members who filled our Council Focus Survey back in October and November of last year. Your input is very valuable to us and is the basis for our strategic planning.

Council has begun the work of winnowing through the various submissions and assigning them for action. We tackled the first nine topics at our most recent meeting, and would like you to know what's up.

First up are issues focussing on diversity and inclusivity. Council already has a Diversity Committee on the go (Minh Ly is the liaison) and they have been provided with the contact info for those of you who expressed an interest in the subject. Greater opportunity and more diversity onstage were the big topics here, and the committee will also be doing follow up work from last term's Census, turning data into action.

In response to the stage management submissions, Council has renewed the SM Committee (Kate Sandeson will be the liaison), and they expect to be up and running again shortly. If you provided contact info in relation to this topic, that has now been passed on to the committee for outreach. Issues surrounding apprenticeships dominated the submissions, and that will likely be an early focus of their discussion.

There were quite a few submissions dealing with indie theatre, although spread across a range of aspects. Member education and general calls for support were two of the big topics identified. In order to get a bit more focus for any future committee work, liaisons Katey Wright and Jaron Francis will be getting in touch with members who provided contact info, and then report back to Council with a more concrete proposal for action.

Improvement to the insurance plan remains an ongoing topic, and Council has asked staff to prepare a  report on the various topics addressed in the submissions. We'll be reviewing that in February.

Calls for a greater partnership with ACTRA was next up in terms of submissions, and those comments will be shared with the Council committee already dealing with that. The liaison for that group is Allan Teichman.

Not far behind were a range of comments on member engagement and involvement. Sedina Fiati is Council's point person for that work, and contact info has been passed to her for outreach as she gets going on the topic.

As with the last term, a range of opera issues have been brought forward, and Peter MicGillivray will be heading up that committee as it gets going.  Contact info has been passed on from those survey participants who asked that we share the info.

Members also flagged a number of issues dealing with work on contract. These have been passed over to staff for the negotiation and review file, and they will also be providing follow-up to Council at a later meeting.

The last topic we tackled was advocacy and lobbying. As with some of the other issues, there was a range of things identified. Council has asked for more status info from staff on current advocacy initiatives, and they will report on that in February.

More to come as we tackle the next slice of survey responses in February. As always, we are open to your ideas any time of the year. If you have any feedback or thoughts on these issues or any other, please don't hesitate to get in touch.