I sit, humbled, in front of a dias of 12 extraordinary men and women. They represent the new Presidium, which are the 5 new Vice Presidents as elected by The Congress and the 5 Vice Presidents to which we owe our thanks for four years of hard work and dedicated service - along with current and re-elected President, Ferne Downey.
Collectively, there is at least 150 years of excellence in not only their own craft and artistry but also expert levels in their skills at negotiations, labour relations, steadfast leadership, determination and faith in the common good, and least of all dedication to the cause which is to raise the profile and to better the lives of artists as we know it. This list could go on - almost as long as their enduring stamina and dedication to the members, their families, colleagues both represented and future brothers and sisters who will enjoy the fruits of our collective hard work, under their leadership.
I am know honoured to call them colleauges and friends. I have a sense of relief and gratitude that I was able to ‘get in under the wire’ in meeting and working with the following list of Vice Presidents before they continue to make their individual marks on the world as they have been doing for the past 4 years in FIA on the Presidium, not to mention their prior and unwaivering contributions to FIA for years (some decades) prior. They are Jorge Bosso of Spain, Catherine Alméras of France, MiKael Waldroff of Denmark, John McGuire of the USA and Simon Burke of Australia.
Their successors have large shoes to fill, and having met and worked with them over the past week, I am confident they will pick up the reins and along with Mme President Ferne Downey, will aptly lead FIA and position the congress perfectly so that the aims and direction we have collectively decided will be graciously and successfully met.
We, the 21st Congress passed and adopted 27 motions that will further the madate of FIA and indeed, enrich and enhance the lives of performers around the world. We also heard and passed 6 emergency motions that will directly impact the lives of seriously endangered artists in their current and I am very sorry to say, extremely dire situations.
Directly following the conclusion of congress, the executive committee will convene in order to prioritise and discuss the very initial steps on how the resources of the congress should be allocated to meet and support these motions. Diversity, The Status of the Artist, Fair Working Conditions, Safety among Colleagues, hiring practices and major work around Intellectual Property are just some areas of focus of the Congress and the Executive Committee.
At the conclusion of the address to congress of the LGBT working group, one of their recommendations was to dispense with the LGBT working group in favour of merging with and moving forward with a more inclusive Global Diversity Working Group. This is not to suggest atht LGBT issues are not deserving of their own working group, but rather to welcome them and focus on these issues on a global scale, along with other global diversity issues - as, unfortunately, discrimintation is a global concern that we all need to address. Canadian Actors’ Equity members and its council have identified that Diversity and Inclusion is an area of major priority and are already moving build on and solidify a firm foundation to and to realize and substantiate our own set of tools and tangible resources from which we as an organization can grow an and become change agents!
I have demonstrated to several parties that this is an important area for Equity to be involved and I am pleased to report that Equity will indeed be on the Global Diversity Working Group.
This is all very exciting work! I can’t wait to get started.
VP on the move!
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