Fellow AEA Members:
Thank you for voting!
Check out the BIPOC Delegates for AEA Facebook Page
My running platform for AEA Eastern Principal Delegate!
Social Determinants of “Equity”
Did you know your zip code can predict your health outcomes more than your genetic code? As a public health professional I study something called the “social determinants of health”. Healthy People 2020 defines social determinants of health as “conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.” As members of AEA, we know the value of quality, so it’s important we understand the benefits as well as the assumed risks involved in building new worlds as theatre-makers in our profession. This year 2020 hit our industry in ways only Bill Gates and Susan Rice had slightly predicted! Just as there are determinants of our health, there are also social determinants to success in our union. Major lessons through COVID-19 and our nation’s current reckoning with white supremacy, racism, and anti-Blackness prove tenfold its time for change. We have an opportunity to pivot from a reactionary position to instead a more proactive posture. It’s time to address the systemic flaws of our “show business as usual”.
Let’s champion equity in Equity together!
Five Action Areas To Reimagine
Economic Stability
(i.e Secure Living Wage To Overcome Poverty Among Members)
Staff and Member Education
(i.e Implement New Anti-Racist & Discrimination Accountability Measures)
Social and Community Context
(i.e Champion Sense of Community, Advocacy, & Disability Rights/Accessibility)
Health and Health Care
(i.e Boost Affordable Insurance, Access to Care, & Literacy)
Neighborhood and Built Environment
(i.e Appraise Physical & Cultural Climate, as well as Exclusionary Policies)
My five year anniversary…
of receiving my Equity Card was this January! I joined the union just a few years after graduating from Emerson College’s BFA Acting program in Boston, MA.
Between 2013-2016, I worked full time and mostly performed in local fringe productions. I was so pumped to be offered my first contract at an Equity house that I didn’t realize what it meant to be offered “min salary” nor that I could negotiate and ask for more! At this point, I had spent a number of years performing mostly for free, so I really just felt lucky to be in the room! Uninformed is an understatement and I’ve certainly learned my lesson!
Since joining AEA, I’ve worked LORT, NEAT, and LOA contracts. Now that I know I should definitely be negotiating any and every contract, I always use the super handy MIT Living Wage calculator to ground my ask. Some of my most recent employers had never heard of it — in some networks it not only puts to shame what non-union artists make, but even our “wage-protected” union-approved rates! My whole world cracked open once I learned the small ways employers could close the pay gap. I think our union would benefit widely if we were to ensure a living wage commitment to every member. This perspective came when I paused from acting in full productions to study how theatre could embody values that make us stronger collaborators in advocating for health.
Not having performed in more than a development workshop or community block party in 2.5 years before January, it was altogether exhilarating to return to the stage. It reminded me of all the ways theatre lights up my life. Even though it was disappointing to have my first show “back” come to an early end, it meant the world to close with respect to public health. There’s no doubt about it, this year has been incredibly difficult. I hope we’re able to hold onto our dreams and cast healthy vision for the fairer, more inclusive, and equitable union and theatrical industry that awaits. I hope to be helpful as an AEA Eastern Principal Delegate.
Photo Credit: T. Charles Erickson
IMPORTANT DATES
Monday, August 17
Distribution of Ballots via E/mail
Wednesday, September 9
Deadline to Request Replacement Ballot & Deadline to Cast Ballot
Members’ Dues Must Be Paid Up To Have Ballot Counted
(5PM ET / 4PM CT / 2PM PT)
Thursday, September 10
My Birthday & Tabulation Day
Notification of Results
Photo Credit: Marc J. Franklin