The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and the American Music Guild have entered into a mutual agreement that will allow members to more easily move between the two connections.
By agreement, members of a union in good standing may join others 50% off introductory fees (full fees are $1,000 at AGMA and $2,000 at SDC). The agreement aims to bring the two unions closer together and make it easier for artists to consider other employment opportunities.
Members of SDC are stage directors and choreographers who work in professional theatre. AGMA members include singers, dancers, stage managers and directors working in opera, ballet, concert dance and choral performance. Currently, there are 40 artists who are members of both AGMA and SDC. AGMA also has a reciprocity agreement with Actors’ Equity.
The first member to make the deal will be Robert O’Hara, the director slave game On Broadway when preparing for a director X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X At the Metropolitan Opera in 2023.
The partnership between COSUDE and AMGA continues into May 2020, in which unions jointly contracted a medical advisory panel and worked together to develop COVID-19 safety protocols.
“This is the next step of what we started during the pandemic,” said Sam Wheeler, CEO of AGMA. “As our unions seek closer cooperation on a number of fronts, including communication and organization and other strategic initiatives, it made sense that this type of reciprocity would also be agreed at the member level.”
This step is not meant to be a push for more members as people would have to join any association to work in this field. Instead, SDC Executive Director Laura Penn says it helps make it easier for members to find employment, especially in a climate that can still feel “inconsistent.”
“We think it’s important for SDC members to work,” Penn said. “And while there are many different ways to join SDC, [joining] It matters through employment.”
Source: Hollywood Reporter
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