Local 1000 December 2019 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.
Whatever you celebrate at this time of year— or if you don’t celebrate anything— we wish you all the best from Local 1000!
News from the Executive Board
Membership Meeting in New Orleans
Our next membership meeting will be January 23, 2020, in New Orleans at the Folk Alliance International conference. If you are coming we hope to see you at our membership meeting on Thursday morning at 9:00 am in the Evergreen Room.
If you are not able to be at the conference you can join us via our video link provided by Zoom. The call will be January 23rd 2020 at 9:00 CST.
The link to the call is below:
Time: Jan 23, 2020 09:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/968593047
Meeting ID: 968 593 047
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Local 1000 at Folk Alliance International Conference
We hope you are coming to the 2020 Folk Alliance International gathering in New Orleans in January. If you have not registered there is a discount code available through our office. Also, check out the FAI conference website at www.folk.org for conference details.
Local 1000 staff and the Executive Board will be at the conference providing lots of opportunities to sing, share and recruit. Stop by our booth and say hi as well. Hope you can join us at one of these events:
Tuesday & Wednesday
Executive Board meeting.
Wednesday Night
Members social gathering in room 1026 from 10:30-12:00.
Thursday Morning
Membership meeting 9:00-10:30 AM in the Evergreen Room.
Showcase Free Zone Schedule – Room 1026
Thursday Night
11:30-12:30 John O’Connor
12:30-1:30 Open
Friday Night
11:30-12:30 Erin Mae Lewis
12:30-1:30 Open
Saturday Night
11:30-12:30 Erica Kulnys
12:30-1:30 Vi Wickam
Urgent: Proposed Changes to P2 Performing Visa Fees for Canadian Musicians
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Department of Homeland Security is currently proposing to increase the fees for P2 visas for foreign performing artists by up to 53%, from $460 to $705. This would be a huge increase for our Canadian members who already endure an uncertain and expensive process to obtain performing visas. We all benefit — and our music scene as a whole benefits – from exchanging and learning from each other, and this would make it much more difficult for our Canadian brothers and sisters — or any foreign artist — to tour and perform in the U.S.
Local 1000 is unique in being the only local of the AFM to have significant membership on both sides of the US-Canadian border. Canadians have no say in shaping US government policy, so although this is an urgent issue for musicians across Canada, Canadian locals of the AFM are not able to have any say about these proposed changes. Local 1000, on the other hand, can have a say through our US members.
Please take a few minutes and make your voice heard for your Canadian brothers and sisters. We urge all our US members to visit the website for commenting on the proposed changes and register your opposition. Commenting is open until December 30th.
For more information about the proposed changes, please click here.
The AFM and other US arts organizations have written to the Department of Homeland Security to protest these changes. For more information, contact Liana White [email protected].
In Solidarity,
Eve Goldberg
Your Prez
Here is a sample comment (thanks to Local 1000 member Cathy Fink for letting us use her comment as the basis for this):
“I am strongly opposed to increased fees for visiting artists. As a full time professional musician, I do not feel threatened by artists from other countries and I believe that the opportunity to share their art with us is critical to using the arts as a viable method of cultural and personal exchange. The person to person impact of cultural exchange is both a beautiful and critical way to find what brings us together, what we have in common, and to discuss what we differ on. I urge the Department of Homeland Security to make it easier, not harder, and less costly instead of more expensive, for artists from abroad to tour and perform in the US.”
WE MOVED! New Address Effective December 1, 2019
Local 1000 has moved out of our old office on 48th Street in New York City, and into brand new space inside AFM headquarters around the corner on Broadway. Effective December 1, our new address is:
AFM Local 1000
1501 Broadway, 9th floor
New York, NY 10036 USA
Our phone and email remain the same:
(212) 843-8726
Alert: Membership Dues Increase Jan 1!
At our Nov 8 membership meeting, members approved by-law changes that will increase our membership dues over the next three years, and also will increase the surcharge on quarterly dues.
The increases will be different for US and Canadian residents, in order to recognize the effect of the exchange rate for our Canadian members.
Effective January 1 2020, the new dues will be:
US members:
$188 annually
$47 per quarter plus $5 surcharge = $52 per quarter
Canadian members:
US$180 annually
$45 per quarter plus $5 surcharge = $50 per quarter
Billings for the quarter beginning Jan 1, 2020 will be sent out shortly with the new dues rates.
Special Savings!! Members who pay their annual dues before December 31, 2020 can renew at the 2019 membership dues rate.
(If you are currently paying quarterly, you can switch to Annual payment to save.)
Emergency Relief Fund
Please help your brothers and sisters in need by contributing to our Emergency Relief Fund: https://www.local1000.org/product/emergency-relief-fund
Canadian Corner
All Cheques for Canadian Pension Contributions Must be Made Out to Musicians’ Pension Fund of Canada
The Musicians’ Pension Fund has advised that, starting November 1st, 2019, they are changing the Custodian for their investment accounts. This change is being implemented to reduce custody fees and improve accuracy of reporting.
Due to these changes, ALL CHEQUES MUST BE MADE OUT TO THEIR CURRENT NAME, MUSICIANS’ PENSION FUND OF CANADA, or some version of said name.
Starting on November 1st, the new custodian will not accept cheques made out to AFM, AFM-EPW Fund or any variation of their old name, as they will have no record of that being the name of the Fund.
Click here for more information.
New Travel Insurance for Canadian Members
Did you know that you can get a great deal on travel insurance through the new Union Savings program offered by CFM?
Visit https://unionsavings.ca and sign up for deals on travel insurance, rental cars, hotel stays, luggage, and more. Contact Cathy Lee, CFM Membership Services Coordinator for more information: [email protected], 416-391-5161 ext. 231(1-800-463-6333).
P2 Processing Times
The CFM is currently advising Canadian members applying for P2 visas to get their application in at least 60 days before the first engagement.
If you are applying, please make sure you download the latest application, which can be found here:
English: http://www.cfmusicians.org/services/work-permits French: http://www.cfmusicians.org/services/permis-de-travail
Please contact Canadian VP Kev Corbett or the CFM for more information.
Take Action!
Butch Lewis Act – Protect Your Pension!
U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Lamar Alexander have put forth a proposal that would amend the Butch Lewis Act and make the situation much worse. The Grassley-Alexander proposal would cut retirees’ benefits and threatens the future of the entire multi-employer pension system.
Call your senators at 844-551-6921 and urge them to reject the Grassley-Alexander proposal, which would harm the Butch Lewis Act.
Musicians and other working people did not cause this crisis and we should not be penalized because of it. The Grassley-Alexander proposal not only includes big cuts to retirees’ benefits, it also would impose hefty costs that would destabilize multi-employer pension plans like the AFM-EPF.
Tell them to support legislation that will provide retirees with their hard-earned benefits and stabilize the multi-employer pension system overall. Anything less is unacceptable.
Face The Music Collective
Face the Music Collective is a small group of music industry folks and performers working for positive change and are authoring a nonpartisan how-to guide that helps creative activists use performances to inspire individual action, one event at a time. For performers who want to focus on elections in 2020, our group will provide matchmaking with artists, partner organizations and winnable, strategic campaigns. If you are attending Folk Alliance International Conference in New Orleans, please check out their showcase open jam in room 1203
http://FaceTheMusicCollective.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!
December Birthdays
Finally, we would like to wish the following members Happy Birthday! If your birthday falls in December 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.
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12/02 Carol Oppenheimer 12/03 Craig Harley 12/03 Nicholas Williams 12/04 Frank Evans 12/05 Lenore Elaine 12/06 Patricia E.D. Belcon 12/06 Nitanju Bolade Casel 12/07 Marcus Browne 12/07 Chris Jones 12/10 Reggie Harris 12/10 Dirje Childs 12/10 Alfredo Ortiz 12/11 Matt Turk 12/11 Dong Uk Kim 12/12 Chris Kerba 12/12 Rae Sovereign 12/13 Greg Greenway 12/15 Teresa Gonda 12/19 Claude Methe |
12/19 Jason Roe 12/20 Billy Bragg 12/22 Sharon Marshall 12/22 Tania Elizabeth 12/24 Alexandra Bradbury 12/24 Louis Simao 12/25 Tom Rawson 12/26 Tom Kastle 12/26 Tommy Slothower 12/26 Peter Katz 12/26 Steve Deasy 12/26 Jesse Palidofsky 12/27 David Cofell 12/29 Ken Giles 12/29 Daniel Senie 12/30 Sue Barnett 12/31 Billy Kemp 12/31 Laurel Premo 12/31 Faith Senie |
In Solidarity,
AFM Local 1000
Urgent: Proposed Changes to P2 Performing Visa fees for Canadian musicians