Launch of New Virtual Meeting Conservatory Class

Washington-Mid Atlantic Local
Launch of New Virtual Meeting Conservatory Class

The Washington-Mid Atlantic Conservatory has recently completed another successful semester with 14 workshops offered to our members free of charge. Most of the workshops took place at the SAG-AFTRA office in Bethesda, Maryland. However, for the first time, the conservatory held two workshops via webinar using Zoom, an online meeting platform, allowing members to attend or teach no matter where they work or live. 

“We wanted to make it more convenient for members to participate without having to drive to the office,” said Jess W. Speaker, III, SAG-AFTRA business representative and staff liaison to the conservatory. “Our local is large and covers North Carolina as well as West Virginia.  We hope to offer more workshops this way and reach more of our members.”

Craig Klein, a member living in Petersburg, VA, has for years taught his workshop about setting up a home studio in the Bethesda office. This November he tried it for the first time from the comfort of his own home.  “While I’m always happy to go to Bethesda or Richmond or elsewhere within our territory to teach the workshop, I was very, very pleased with how things went today and look forward to doing it via Zoom as often as is needed,” said Klein.

Using Zoom opens the possibility for our members to participate in the conservatory as either an attendee or a presenter remotely. If you are interested in teaching a conservatory workshop, either in person or via webinar, email  jess.speaker@sagaftra.org and include a description of the proposed class, your background and experience.  

There’s still time to register for this Saturday’s online conservatory workshop “#Actors Life: Understanding and Navigating Social Media for Performers- Level 1” taught by Moly DuBelle. This one-hour workshop has been rescheduled for noon-1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 21, and will be followed by a one hour Q&A. This workshop will be held via webinar using Zoom. To register, email jess.speaker@sagaftra.org.

The Washington-Mid Atlantic Conservatory is free and open to members of our local in good standing. Members can take as many classes as they like but need to register for each class individually. For the fall semester the conservatory served 105 members and registered 212 mentee hours for A Call to Arts. The calendar for the spring semester will be posted on the SAG-AFTRA website in March.