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One of the great challenges in administering our membership is that Equity doesn't really control how new members join. With the exception of the stage management discipline, apprenticeship is either not offered, or widely bypassed. How widely? Approximately 85% of new joins do so directly, with no apprenticeship credits at all. An additional 10% complete at least part of a 3-credit apprenticeship, but still join before completing it. Only about 5% of new members join having completed an apprenticeship, and most of those are in stage management, where completing an apprenticeship is mandatory.
So, how is it that those new members come to join? Well – assuming you are one of the 85% – pretty much the same way you did. An engager offers an Equity contract to a non-member, and voilà! – instant Equity member. In short, engagers create almost all of our new members.
Neither Equity (nor the engager) nor the new member really know, at the point of joining, whether that first contract will ever blossom into any kind of sustaining and sustainable professional career. Let's be frank – a great many don't. Without question, we should be offering people the highest degree of benefit and protection under contract that we can, but should we compel them to become full members when their career has barely gotten off the ground? That is the question Council has been wrestling with.
There are some obvious plusses and minuses to the current system.
From a new member perspective, it's a quick route to full membership. However, it costs $750 for that first contract, which is not a small chunk of change. It also locks the new member into an obligation to work under future Equity contracts at a point in their career where they don't have much of a professional engagement history (if any) with which to attract subsequent contracts.
From an Equity perspective, it brings in a steady stream of initiation fees, but it also means that we are constantly adding to our membership and benefit obligations.
Council is currently considering a new system (for members working in theatre) that would not offer instant membership to new joins, and perhaps work in a manner similar to our current probationary membership option. It would offer almost all the benefits of regular membership on those first contracts, but wouldn't lock a new member into a long-term obligation to Equity at such an early stage in their career, when a mix of pro, semi-pro and non-pro opportunity is important for gaining experience and honing skills.
At this point, Council has made no firm decisions, and we are still looking at the administrative and financial impacts a new approach would have, but we wanted to keep you up to speed.
Comments welcome, as always.
Comments welcome, as always.
As someone who is a new member who joined on her first contract, I somewhat disagree with this new approach you are proposing. I have been performing in theatre for over ten years. Unfortunately, a lack of Equity performance opportunities in Ottawa (lots of guest artist contracts, but no apprentice credits) have meant that I worked on professional projects without ever getting credits. It also means that when general auditions are called in other cities, I was put at the bottom of the pile since "Equity members will be seen first" and never got a shot at being in the room.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was granted an opportunity to join this year, I jumped on it. I can still create my own work through the Fringe and the Independent Theatre reviews mean more opportunities for the future. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything because I want a professional career in the arts and so joining Equity has been a goal of mine for some time.
Great point - thank you for making it.
ReplyDeleteYou said you "somewhat" disagree, and perhaps you could expand on that. What are the points of agreement and disagreement?
Could you suggest an amendment to the idea that would give Equity control of its membership, without having the downside you mention? Would some kind of junior or associate membership do the trick, so that you remain a member for purposes of audition opportunity?
As noted, we are still in the discussion phase on this, and input such as yours is vital at this stage.
An excellent idea - as a young artist I've recently had the chance to work with UdA's Letter of Permission system and it works very well.
ReplyDeleteI take issue, however, with making CAEA's new system Theatre only. Opera has an even greater need for the new system.
If anything, Opera is even more semi-professional experience dependant as roles in Equity houses are rarely cast age appropriately. As a result, houses are consistently putting a new, 20 year old equity member who just happened to have joined an Equity chorus up against a seasoned 50 year old veteran in an audition/resume vetting process which virtually guarantees forcing young artists to either join too early, when it harms their development, or to pass up on opportunities to make real money in their art while still developing a full scale career.
If you have the chance, could you please explain why Opera is excluded from these schemes (in the British sense of the word,) when those young singers would be those who would need it most?
Hi Gerrit,
ReplyDeleteUp until now, no one has suggested to Council that changes were needed in how members working in opera joined. Council has long been made aware of joining issues in theatre, but on the opera front, I don't think we've heard a peep. Thanks to your comment, that has now changed. I'll make certain that Council is aware of the suggestion.