January 2022 Newsletter

January 2022 Newsletter

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This is our regular monthly email newsletter. It includes reminders, member news and important announcements from the Executive Board and the office.

News from the Executive Board

President’s Message – Forward Together in the New Year

I hope you had a great holiday season filled with family, friends, and good cheer. As we enter the new year, I want to remind folks of a few important items. The Annual Folk Alliance conference in Kansas City has been postponed until May. Hopefully this will create a little more space for the virus to settle down. Although there will not be a conference in K.C. in February we will be having our first Membership meeting of 2022 on Zoom on Thursday, February 24th (7:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Central, 5:00 PM Mountain, and 4:00 PM Pacific). Login information is below.

The second item I want to draw your attention to is the Fair Trade Music campaign. This campaign is gearing up to take full flight this spring. We believe that all working musicians deserve a fair and just living wage for live performances and a respectful, safe working environment. We assert that these are rights for cultural workers, not privileges. Fair Trade Music is our organizing campaign to bring these conditions to the greater musical community. The campaign will benefit working musicians, venues and our audiences as it educates all three groups about the power of fair pay, fair working conditions, and fair playing field. More information at our new website. Stay tuned for more information on this campaign.

Don’t forget to check out all the great articles in this newsletter. Your committees are doing fantastic work and they are communicating that work to you through this newsletter.

Forward Together,

Aaron Fowler

Next Membership Meeting

Thursday, February 24, 2022
Time: 7:00 PM EST; 6:00 PM CST; 5:00 PM Mountain; 4:00 PM Pacific

Please plan to attend the first membership meeting of 2022 on Thursday, February 24th. We have moved the day to Thursday because many of you had conflicts with Saturday meetings. The login information is below— we look forward to seeing you all there! The meeting is open to all members in good standing.

Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85772799720?pwd=bTVucm1yWENVREJzdjNLWWxmZE0wdz09

Meeting ID: 857 7279 9720
Passcode: 808159

Convention Delegate Nominations due by January 31st.

The AFM convention is coming up June 20-23, 2022 in Las Vegas. We are allowed to send 2 delegates to the convention. If you are interested in being nominated, please send your name to Charlie King at vaguelyrem@aol.com by January 31st, 2022. The election for these delegates will be at our February 24th membership meeting. 

Membership Dues Reminder

Please don’t forget that for many of us, our yearly membership dues were due the end of December. If you have not paid yet, please do so by going to the website, sending in your check, or by calling Richard at the office to make a credit card payment. Thanks.

Local 1000 Coffee Hours

We’re baaaack! Local 1000’s Zoom Coffee Hour returns in the new year, hosted by Annie Patterson & Aileen Vance.

Bring your own beverage. 
All of us provide the camaraderie, support, check-ins, ideas, laughs, connections.

Wednesdays: February 16, March 16, April 20, May 11
12pm Pacific/1pmMTN/2pmCentral/3pmEastern

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86037179426?pwd=bkxSRkI0NlBTY1pSVHBvY2IvMm1RZz09

Meeting ID: 860 3717 9426
Passcode: 863331

Work Dues Equivalency/Solidarity Pledge

Are you signed up for monthly Estimated Work Dues or Solidarity Pledge payments?

Learn more here. 

Folk Alliance International Conference 2022 POSTPONED

The 2022 Folk Alliance International Conference has changed dates, and will now take place May 18 – 22, 2022. Local 1000 will be there publicizing our Fair Trade Music campaign. The conference will be a hybrid event, with the in-person portion will be held at the Westin Crown Center Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri.
The conference theme is Living Traditions and will showcase various traditional folk music forms regionally, nationally, and internationally. The theme will be explored through topics of music preservation, migration, evolution, and authenticity, while the Global Summit will highlight the work of folklorists.

Local 1000 will be at the conference hosting our regular Showcase Free Zone room as well as having a booth in the exhibition hall. If you plan to attend please stop by one of our events.

If you are interested in attending and need a discount code please contact Aaron Fowler.

MPTF Funds Still Available

The Music Performance Trust Fund is offering grants for live-streamed events, subject to funding availability. Eligible performances are for five musicians or less, and performances require a co-sponsor. Any larger live stream plan will remain 50/50 at the MPTF’s discretion. All local health protocols must be followed and the MPTF reserves the right to cancel, revoke, or otherwise limit the distribution of these grants due to COVID-19 issues. The MPTF will provide production and tech support of up to a maximum $250 per scheduled performance.  Any production cost above that amount must be covered by a co-sponsor.

For more information about available grants and applying through Local 1000, contact Richard Coombs.

MPTF MusicianFest Grants

In addition to regular grants, the MPTF also runs the MusicianFest program. Member Tim Van Egmond reports,

“I’ve been fortunate to have a couple MusicianFest grants in the past arranged through the Local, paying 100% for gigs at Senior Centers. I recently asked Richard at the office if a new round of grants was available, and he said there are 10 allotted to the Local and I was the first to express interest. I thought I’d spread the word a bit.

The fiscal year for this bunch of grants ends on April 30th. In the past the payment has been about $200 plus pension contribution.”

At this time Local 1000 has several slots still available. If you would like more information on how to apply for one of these grants, please contact Richard in the office.

Emergency Relief Fund

Local 1000’s Emergency Relief Fund still has grants available to help with expenses during the pandemic.  Grants of up to $1000 are available to members in good standing while funds last.   To apply for a grant or to donate to keep the fund healthy for members in need, visit our website or contact Richard at the office.

 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Working Group

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Working Group is excited to announce some upcoming events and actions in 2022. 

• Watch for our DEI survey, which will come to you sometime early in the new year. It will be easy and quick to fill out and will help us immensely in identifying who our members are and what they want from our union in terms of DEI issues. 
• DEI members John Acosta and Faith Nolan are collaborating on a project to present concerts in 2022 featuring BIPOC artists.  If you are a BIPOC member our union and would like to get involved in this concert project or in the newly-formed BIPOC Caucus of Local 1000, contact John: john_coz@hotmail.com
• Our Executive Board has committed to ongoing DEI training sessions for our union leadership with a particular emphasis on racism in the labor movement. The first leadership training will take place in March 2022.

Member News

Tell us your news! Have you released an album, won an award, been involved in an interesting initiative that you’d like to let people know about?

If you have exciting news to share with Local 1000 members, we want to know. Submit Your News Here!

We’ll include your news in an upcoming Local 1000 e-newsletter, and we’ll post it on our public Local 1000 page at https://www.facebook.com/local1000afm

January Birthdays

Finally, we would like to wish the following members Happy Birthday! If your birthday falls in January and you don’t see it listed below, or if the date is incorrect, please send an email to Deborah Van Kleef with your birthdate, current phone number and email address. Thanks to Deborah and fellow Birthday Bunnies Arthur McGregor and Tim Van Egmond.

In Solidarity,

AFM Local 1000