President's Remarks

President’s Remarks

by Barbara Grant

I want to wish each and every one of you a happy New Year; I hope that 2013 is a blessed and wondrous year for all of us.

For our Nevada Local, we are coming off of one of our better years in a while. We had several large productions in town, our usual commercials load and even an industrial. New media and Short Film Agreement productions are still going strong, and our local membership has grown. Plus, we flew our banner high at the Las Vegas Halloween parade and had over 400 attendees at our annual All-Industry Holiday Mixer. While we are not Hollywood yet, we are certainly a vibrant local that will continue to go all-out for our members.

We can also be proud of the Nevada Conservatory. We have already had a dozen great presenters in this fiscal year, including the great Lee Garlington, Ken Lerner, Michael Pearlman, etc., and have the driving desire to keep up the fine lineup. Right now, we have a very important presenter at the end of February — Terri Becherer, the national director, specialty performers (background, stunts, dancers and singers). Our executive will talk more about this in his article, but we are proud that Terri will make the trip from Los Angeles, mostly to talk about background performers, but will also answer questions about the other aspects of the members she covers.

Last, but not least, I’d like to acknowledge your wonderful Local Board members and local committee members who make everything we do here in Las Vegas useful. No one person can claim responsibility for the accomplishments of the Nevada Local, rather it is the collaboration of many terrific and strong union volunteers that take on accomplishments such as our Halloween Parade and our holiday mixer, and make them special for those members who want to participate. One of our goals in 2013 is to increase that participation and keep the Nevada Local the special entity we know it to be.

Members having fun during Halloween. Photos by Bobbie Wolf

The SAG-AFTRA banner on display at the Halloween parade.

This item was originally featured in the February 2013 local newsletter.