A Message From the President

Happy holidays, SAG-AFTRA Michigan members!

I can’t believe 2016 is quickly coming to an end. As I look back at this last year, I am energized by the activities and events that SAG-AFTRA Michigan members participated in. From Coffee Connections to voiceover seminars to time spent volunteering with students through the A Call to Arts initiative, SAG-AFTRA members have been busy! The personal highlight for me was our annual membership meeting held at Forgotten Harvest in April. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing from Executive Vice President Rebecca Damon, mingling with fellow members and the volunteer activity of packing food that was delivered to people in need. Everyone participating had so much fun while we were volunteering. It really emphasized to me how strong we are as a union when we work together, stand together and support each other and the communities we live in.

I took over as president of the Michigan Local in July, succeeding Jayne Bower. I would like to offer a personal word of thanks to Jayne. She has served on the boards of AFTRA and then SAG-AFTRA for many years and has made an incredible impact in the lives of our local members. I have learned a great deal from Jayne the last several years working together on the Local Board and I look forward to continuing to support our membership. We do have a hardworking, energetic board and I’m extremely thankful for the board members’ creativity, dedication and passion for union service.

As your president, I want to make sure that we are offering the types of programs, events, activities and services that you desire. When I took over the role in July, our President Gabrielle Carteris called me to introduce herself. We discussed on the call that we both felt one item above all was extremely important: member engagement. As such, I would like to hear from you. Feel free to suggest ideas for future events, what kind of member educational seminars you would like to participate in, community outreach you feel we should consider or any ideas to increase our membership. Also, think about ways to increase the number of SAG-AFTRA commercials (radio and TV) produced in Michigan or any other questions you might have. One of my goals is to ensure that our members feel engaged and supported by their union. My email address is michigan.president@sagaftra.org — please feel free to contact me and I promise a reply to every email. Whether you work as a broadcaster, an on-camera actor, a voiceover artist, a stunt performer or a musical artist, we are all SAG-AFTRA and together we can accomplish incredible things.

I hope to see many of you at the SAG Awards party on Jan. 29, 2017, at the Triple Nickel in Birmingham. I wish you and your family a happy and healthy holiday season and a wonderful 2017!  

Eric Wydra
President, Michigan Local Board

This item was originally featured in the December 2016 local newsletter.