Local 1000 April-May 2021 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
Turning on a Dime
I don’t know the date when you performed your last show prior to everything being shut down last year, mine was March 13, 2020. I had just finished a week of shows in the schools around the Hays, Kansas. I would not be back in a school until just last week when I worked with a group of high school students in Johnson City, Kansas doing my Stories to Songs residency. For many of us, the pandemic forced us to have to “turn on a dime.” For some, the days that followed were dark and filled with uncertainty. This course change touched not only us but those that worked alongside to bring the music to our audiences.
We were all forced to change, alter, or augment our work. For some, it forced us to learn new skills and become experts in lighting, sound, internet speeds, and green screens as we started doing online shows. For others it meant moving to teaching on line. Some of us started doing things we never thought we would be doing. For me it was taking on an interim Head of School position at a Quaker elementary school.
May 1st, 1886 was another day where workers turned on a dime. 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history. In Chicago, the epicenter for the 8-hour day agitators, 40,000 went out on strike. Being nimble and ready to change the way we do things has insured we will not be defeated in the work we bring to the world.
As we slowly begin to move back to being together in person, I ask myself what lessons have I learned and how will it change my work in the world? If there is one lesson I have learned it is that we need each other. I saw that as we came together in our ERF work. I saw it again in the ways we sought out each other’s expertise to do new and different things. We saw it in the strike in 1886. Personally, I saw it in the relationships among the students I worked with each day. We are resilient!
As we have had to turn on the metaphorical dime, let us move forward, together, as a strong Union, committed to each other and the work of bringing great music to the world.
Together we are Mighty!
Aaron Fowler, President
Membership Meetings
Mark your calendars! Local 1000 will hold 2021 membership meetings on Zoom on the following dates:
Saturday, June 19th
Saturday, August 21st
Saturday, November 13th
Times for all meetings are 2:00 EST, 1:00 CST, 12:00 Mountain, 11:00 Pacific.
Zoom links will be published and distributed as we get closer to the dates.
New Deal Spring 2021 Now Available
Our yearly journal, The New Deal, is now available. It includes articles on Local 1000’s response to the pandemic, member profiles, a piece remembering Anne Feeney and much more.
AFM Local 1000 Zoom Coffee Hours
Local 1000 member Coffee Hours carry on! We meet every other Wednesday, hosted by members Annie Patterson & Aileen Vance.
Feel free to drop in just to say hi or to stay for the duration. We would love to see you!
Upcoming dates are on May 5, May 19 & June 2.
All meetings are on Wednesdays on Zoom @ 4pm Eastern/3pmCT/2pmMt/1pmPacific.
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89063539938
Meeting ID: 890 6353 9938
Password: 651074
ERF Update
Thanks to the generosity of our members and fans, Local 1000 still has Emergency Relief Fund COVID-19 Grants of up to $1000 available to any member in good standing, while funds last. This is money you do not have to pay back. These funds should be used to help cover cost-of-living expenses like rent, utilities, groceries, and medical expenses during the Covid-19 crisis. If you have questions regarding these ERF grants, contact Richard in the office, or e-mail Aileen Vance {insert links or the current L1K contact for Richard and myself info here}.
To access the application: https://www.local1000.org
Fundraiser for the ERF
Gil’s Hootenanny is a union-sponsored organization based in Ottawa that presents an annual May Day sing-along concert celebrating songs of hope and protest. This year they are presenting “Singing Together Apart,” a 1 hour video of the most sing-along-able songs performed over the years with a few new songs specially recorded for this presentation. The concert premieres on May 1 at www.gilshootenanny.ca.
This is a free concert with donations accepted for the Local 1000 ERF.
Pension Fund Update!
Following the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) the AFM-EPF Trustees met to review an actuarial analysis of the pension relief provisions, and they decided to withdraw the Plan’s application to reduce benefits under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA). The U.S. Department of the Treasury has been notified of the decision.
As a result, there will be no MPRA benefit reductions. Please disregard the “Notice of a Proposed Reduction of Your Pension Benefit” that you received in January 2021.
The Trustees will apply for financial assistance under ARPA, which is intended to permit the Plan to pay benefits for the next 30 years, through 2051. ARPA provides lump sum grants to qualifying multi-employer pension plans, which do not need to be repaid.
Urgently Needed National Survey of Musicians
Whippoorwill Arts, in partnership with six national musician membership organizations, is launching a national survey of US-based working musicians who draw inspiration from Roots, Americana, Blues, Bluegrass, Folk, World, and Acoustic music. This research will result in a public report in summer 2021 that will inform advocacy and policy efforts to better support professional working musicians, especially those whose income streams have been drying up. The survey takes about 15-20 minutes to complete and all participants will eligible to win a $500 VISA gift card or one of five $100 VISA gift cards. Responses to the survey will be anonymous.
Click here or paste this link into your browser: https://selfserve.decipherinc.com/survey/selfserve/dee/wa?list=2
The deadline to complete the survey is by midnight on Monday, May 10.
Submit Your 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? You can let us know by filling out the form here: https://www.local1000.org/my-account/submit-member-news/
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
Solidarity News
Will the Stimulus Stop States From Slashing More Jobs? Last year more than 1.3 million state and local government workers lost their jobs. States and cities are forecasting big budget shortfalls that could translate into more cuts. Thankfully, the federal American Rescue Plan Act, passed in March, includes significant aid to local governments—but it’s only a one-time infusion. For a more secure future, some labor activists are pushing to raise the abysmally low taxes on corporations and the super-rich. Read more. <link to: https://labornotes.org/2021/03/will-stimulus-stop-states-slashing-more-jobs>
MPTF Funds for Streaming Concerts
The Music Performance Trust Fund will now fund up to 100% for a free live streamed concert. This is a great opportunity for members make decent money from an online concert. The concert must be sponsored by another organization, and there are specific rules and steps to go through to have your live performance approved. Please contact the office at together@local1000.org for more information.
Union Protection for Self-Presented Live Streams
The Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) is a simple AFM contract that you can sign for self-presented live stream concerts which will safeguard your performing rights if the content is used by another organization in future. We’d like to encourage all our members to use this contract for self-presented streaming concerts.
Local 1000 Livestream Guidelines
The Local 1000 Fair Trade Music Committee, following on the recommendations from the AFM, has created guidelines for negotiating with venues for live stream concert engagements. These are guidelines to help you negotiate fair deals with presenting organizations that take into account how long a live stream will be left up on the internet, what are minimum guarantees and minimum percentages for income earned through a livestream concert, and so on.
Canadian Corner
Local 1000 Canadian Committee
Our new Vice President from Canada, Arthur McGregor is seeking volunteers from Local 1000 to participate in the Canadian Committee. If you are interested, please contact him at vicepresidentcanada@local1000.org
Member News
Do you have a new album coming out? Did you recently receive an award?
If you have exciting news to share with Local 1000 members, we want to know. Submit Your News Here!
Bennett Zurofsky was recently named the “Peace Action Person of the Year” by the New Jersey Peace Action. The award was formally presented at New Jersey Peace Action’s Spring Peace Gathering on April 18, 2021, at 1 p.m. Find out more here: https://www.njpeaceaction.org/events/spring-peace-gathering
Ken Whiteley was recently honoured with a Lifetime Achievement “Blues With A Feeling Award” at the Maple Blues Awards, Canada’s national blues awards. www.kenwhiteley.com
April-May Birthdays
Finally, we would like to wish the following members Happy Birthday! If your birthday falls in April or May and you don’t see it listed below, or if the date is incorrect, please send an email to our Birthday Bunny, Deborah Van Kleef with your birthdate, current phone number and email address.
April
|
Armand Aromin Michael Browne Aviva Chernick Andrew Collins Kev Corbett William Danforth Lydia Adams Davis Roger Day Benedict Gagliardi David Hakan Chad Huval |
Janis Ian Si Kahn Erika Kulnys Dennis Mackrel Catherine MacLellan Darryl Poulsen Ian Robb Dave Rowe Ken Whiteley John Wort Hannam |
May
|
Charles Brodsky JT Brown Jeremy Carter-Gordon Shawna Caspi Michael Celia Jon Cobert Nicholas Davies Guy Davis Carl Fichtenbaum Aaron Fowler Alasdair Fraser Dave Fry Chet Gardiner Tanya Tagaq Gillis Fred Gosbee Jimmy Keane Charlie King Nadine Landry |
Dana Lyons Brenna MacCrimmon Boyd MacKenzie George Mann Samantha Martin Dave McCann Michael McGeary Donna Mulhollan Carrie Newcomer John Roberts Andrew Ryan Jaden Spanier Eric Stein Rob Szabo Lucie Tremblay Vi Wickam Andrew Woods Peter Yarrow |
In Solidarity,
AFM Local 1000
New Eventually Brothers Album out now!