A Message from the Twin Cities Local President

To the huddled masses of Twin Cities thespians and broadcasters yearning to breathe free and prosper in the vineyards of well-compensated, uplifting and respected professional toil: Greetings!

I will be leaving the fold temporarily (I have a four-month-long out-of-town gig), and turning over the helm of the good ship SAG-AFTRA Twin Cities Local to 1st Vice President Peter Moore. He will be your host at our upcoming annual membership meeting, to be held this year on Monday, Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the IFP MN office at 550 Vandalia St., Suite 120, in St. Paul. Also at the meeting we will hear from National Board member Abby Dylan and special guest Sean Hennessy, SAG-AFTRA Chicago’s manager of Commercials, Corporate/Educational and New Media contracts, who services those contracts for Twin Cities Local members. Sean is looking forward to meeting local members in person and talking to you about the state of commercials and Co/Ed production in the Twin Cities. I encourage you to attend. At that meeting, you will also receive an update from our National Board member, Randal Berger, who will report on the National Board meeting held on the weekend of Oct. 15.

I was in Los Angeles that weekend to attend a meeting of the Local President’s Forum. That is a group comprised of the presidents of all the locals, from L.A. and New York all the way down to little ol' us. It is a fascinating and unusual group in that we meet as equals, regardless of the number of members in our locals. It is a chance to talk off the record and compare notes and learn from each other in an informal way. I’ll fill Randal in and he can let you know how it went at the annual meeting.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to point out the efforts of a few outstanding Local Board members who are doing excellent work on your behalf. Our Education and Outreach Committee — chaired by Sandra Thomas and consisting of Edward Villaume, Elena Gianetti and Shelli Place — is our front line in specific actions to recapture local work. Look for an upcoming collaboration with IFP Minnesota. Mark Bradley, chair of the Organizing Committee, is also our liaison to other locals and to national organizing efforts. Also, the tireless and formidable Sue Scott, while not on the Board, has hand-held our Calculator project (more on that soon) from the beginning and is also the spearhead, ably assisted by the Education and Outreach Committee, of our Second Monday Mixers. If you haven’t stopped by, we meet every second Monday of the month at Bar Louie in Uptown from 5 to 7 p.m. All are welcome, and free swag is on offer!

And, to all members who join me in keeping the faith and working to sustain this union that is, in reality, just all of us looking out for each other, I say thanks!

In unity,

Bob Davis
President, SAG-AFTRA Twin Cities Local

This item was originally featured November 2016 local newsletter.