Since 1975, Council has regularly solicited nominations from members across the country for deserving honourees in (now) four categories. The nominations and support material are reviewed by a Council committee, and the final candidate list is presented to Council for approval. The awards themselves are presented at a honours evening to which the general membership is invited.
Going forward, Council will be changing the honours schedule from an annual to a biennial activity, and will be combining the presentation event with the national AGM. This change is intended to save money, since the expense of holding the event is not inconsiderable, and neither is the cost of bringing honourees in from across the country. The new schedule will maintain Equity's ongoing commitment to peer recognition, while recognising the financial situation in which the association currently finds itself.
The first presentation under the new schedule will take place in February 2014. Nominations already received in 2013, as well as any held over from previous years, will be considered for presentation at that time.
The upside of this change, however, is that if you have been considering nominating a colleague for one of the honours, you now have a bit more time in which to do it. If you catch yourself thinking "people really ought to know how special that person is", head to the nearest computer, or give the office a call, and submit a nomination. That is exactly the kind of person the honours exist to celebrate.
Life Membership is awarded to members who have made an outstanding contribution to the performing arts within the jurisdiction of Equity. It recognises not only an extraordinary career, but also colleagues who have gone "above and beyond" in other ways that contribute to the benefit of either Equity or its members.
Honorary Membership is awarded to an individual who is not an Equity member, but who has made an outstanding contribution to Equity and/or its members, or to the performing arts within the jurisdiction of Equity.
The Larry McCance Award is awarded to a member or to a former staff member, who has made an outstanding contribution to the Association and its members, through elected representation, notable service on staff, or other exemplary action and advocacy.
The CAEA Award of Distinction may be given to any organisation, individual, or group of individuals, excluding current staff, in recognition of significant contribution within the realm of live performance benefitting the membership of the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association.
Full details on the honours categories, as well as a nomination form and instructions, can be found here. Nominations are accepted all year, and will automatically be considered for the next available round of honours, depending on the submission date.
Another National AGM has come and gone. Well, not entirely gone...
If you were not in the Toronto area on February 25, or couldn't make it to the meeting, videos of the main presentations are posted at www.caea.com, along with information on Equity's new insurance plan and the most recent audited financial statement. Swing on over and have a look. It's your association, and we want you know what's going on.
As mentioned in prior postings and dues referendum information, Council has been exploring the creation of a members' directory, where engagers and directors could find member listings and be able to contact members directly. Council was preparing for a small-scale survey to determine the extent of the need for this kind of service, especially since there are other directory services out there.
Regrettably, Council has had to shelve the project due to budget limitations. Although the survey itself would have been inexpensive due to a limited scope, Equity does not currently have the financial resources or staff to bring a directory project to fruition, should it have received member support.
We'll keep the idea on the books for a possible future revival, if finances permit. Staff will also keep an eye out for alternative cost-effective options to create such a directory.
A member recently contacted me with some money-saving ideas around paying dues, one of which was creating an electronic payment page on the Equity website. Although that is not within our financial or server capabilities, we offer three other options that accomplish the same thing. I thought I'd draw them to your attention.
As with many household bills, members may arrange pre-authorised payment of dues from their credit card or bank account. In order to set this up, complete and send in the appropriate debit or credit card authorisation form. Please note that members are responsible for keeping the office up to date with a new expiry date upon receipt of a replacement credit card; dues payments will be declined by the credit card company if our records have not been updated.
Members can also pay dues electronically, directly from their bank account, by setting up the payment in the same way as other common bills, including recurring payments if your bank permits that. Details on how to do this may be found here.
If you have any questions about this process, you can contact the Membership Administrator by email or telephone.
Each of these options save Equity time and money for processing, and we encourage all members to make use of them.
Beginning in 2006, Council changed bylaws to enable us to take one in-person meeting of Council on the road each year. Equity is a national organisation, and we felt it was important that members across the country had access to Council meetings, similar to that enjoyed by Toronto-area members. Since the implementation of this policy, we have held meetings in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal, Halifax and St. John's. Our meeting this summer was to be held in Saskatoon.
Regretfully, Council has had to cancel the Saskatoon meeting due to financial constraints and the meeting will, instead, be held in Toronto. Convening Council outside Toronto entails significantly greater cost (potentially as much as $15K more), and meetings across the country have attracted scant or no attendance by the local membership. Despite our desire to continue making Council meetings more accessible, we cannot currently afford the cost and the time-consuming long distance planning required for these to continue.
Council will be reexamining the bylaw on meeting locations at its February meeting, with the goal of maintaining as much cross-country access as possible, while reducing expenses. We welcome ideas for how Council can help members across the country remain connected to their elected representatives.
The following question arose during the recent dues referendum:
Can you please explain why we are renting an office in expensive downtown Toronto. Surely there are cheaper places to rent.
I admit, this issue kind of snuck up on me. The assumption seems to be that, due to our location, we must be paying a frivolously high amount of rent. I don't know how widespread the concern is (according to some, everyone is always talking about it), but it's certainly worth a look.
To start with, the location of the head office is set out in the Constitution, so the Toronto part is a given. However, where in Toronto is not specified. For members not familiar with our address, we are in the heart of downtown, one street off the main drag.
The decision to move to Victoria St. goes back to 1996.We used to have offices not too far away on Richmond St. We needed more space and ended our lease to take advantage of the fact there was a glut of downtown office space at the time. Because the landlord was keen to rent, we were able to secure a very favourable price on a ten year lease for our current offices. We have renewed the lease once since then, again for another 10 years, and this time were even able to secure some needed renovations as part of the renewal negotiations.
Council policy requires staff to consider all options for decisions of this magnitude. Upon renewing the lease, staff reported that the new terms were competitive with other suitable locations, both downtown and in outlying areas. They also took into account the high cost of relocation and needed renovations. (Commercial spaces typically lease "as is". At the class of office space we can afford, generally very as-is.)
Yes, the amount of rent is large (about $300K per year to cover both offices), but commercial office space is no cheaper than any other real estate. Still, our rent is way below the typical market rates for the downtown. Our building is rated Class C (the lowest grade), which is described by one commercial real estate source as: "older buildings […] in need of extensive renovation. Architecturally, these buildings are the least desirable and building infrastructure and technology is out-dated. As a result, Class C buildings have the lowest rental rates, take the longest time to lease, and are often targeted as re-development opportunities."
Since posting this originally, I've received a copy of the quarterly office report put out by Colliers International, a major commercial real estate firm. I can confirm that our rent is well below typical for all buildings in the financial core (about 90% are buildings in Classes AAA to B), and about 20% below average for the Class C buildings in the area. Looking from Bayview to Dufferin (the greater downtown area), we are about 35% below average for our class.
OK, so does it have to be downtown? Well, we think it is desirable to be somewhere near the theatre district and where our members live and work, or at least within a reasonable subway ride. Looking at the rest of the GTA, we'd have to travel out to the fringes to get a rental rate that would make the relocation and renovation costs worthwhile. We'll always review the situation again when the lease is up for renewal, but Victoria St. remains a good deal for the moment.
Still not convinced? Do a bit of math. Consider what you would pay for a modest 500sf 1-bedroom apartment, then multiply that by 12 months, then multiply that 14 (we need 7000sf), then add CAM and occupancy costs* sufficient to run an office of 20 people. At this point, you will be well over $200K, which is what we pay for the Toronto office.
*Leasing agreements for commercial office space work differently than residential leases do. They're typically split into two components: leasing of the physical space (net rent), and the common area maintenance (CAM) and occupancy costs. CAM and occupancy includes a tenant's share of heating, electricity, water, property taxes, interior and exterior building repair, office cleaning, window cleaning, snow shovelling, building insurance, waste disposal, security, etc.
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