The Twin Cities Local traces its roots back to the 1937 founding of AFRA — the American Federation of Radio Artists. Twin Cities AFRA began operating locally out of members’ homes in the mid-’40s. Later, AFRA became AFTRA, and the Twin Cities Local received its official AFTRA charter on March 7, 1957. Still later, the Twin Cities Local of AFTRA entered into a joint agreement with the Screen Actors Guild, and continued to successfully service SAG contracts and members in Minnesota for several decades. That joint agreement ceased for a relatively brief time span in recent years, but now the merger of AFTRA and SAG has brought us back full circle again.
Many of you reading this newsletter are longtime local members of legacy AFTRA and SAG — you know the work of the local from past experience — but others of you are newer members, perhaps unfamiliar with the local. So for our local in particular, the beauty of merger is not only that it unites two legacy unions, but that it brings our business together again under one local — as one united organization.
Who We Are
The Twin Cities Local of SAG-AFTRA covers Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Our current staff of three includes yours truly, the executive director; Timothy Ogren, the assistant executive director; and Kari Forseth-Bales, membership and freelance administrator. Each of us has more than two decades of experience working for the union. We are dedicated to working on your behalf as your professional advocates; we believe in enforcing and expanding union standards and protections for our members; we understand that because our union and our local are part of the labor movement, we have a responsibility to organize and build labor strength in order to uphold the professional standards established by our union. We also partner with our community and our industry. Our local has long held a seat on the Minnesota Film and TV Board; we have proudly maintained active affiliation to and involvement in our statewide AFL-CIO and the regional labor bodies of Minneapolis and St. Paul; and we have partnered with other local organizations in many endeavors over the years. For example, Local Board member Tena May Gallivan will be leading a workshop on public speaking for several hundred Minnesota union women in late April, as part of the University of Minnesota Labor Education Service’s three-day Minnesota Union Women’s Leadership Retreat. This highly focused labor leadership program has been very successful, gathering together women from many different unions from all around the state, with the goal of developing effective women leaders. National Co-President Roberta Reardon gave a boost to Minnesota union women in September, when she was a keynote speaker at the Minnesota AFL-CIO Convention here, helping to kick off the statewide union women leadership initiative passed at that convention.
Our elected leadership is led by Local President Peggy O’Connell. Peggy is a respected actor who regularly performs both under SAG-AFTRA contracts and on professional Equity stages. She is also a devoted mentor to young performers. You will hear more from her in the future about the work of her new committee focused on improving protections for young performers in Minnesota. The other Local Board officers are Barry ZeVan, Tony Saffold, Tena May Gallivan and Mark Bradley. Our National Board member is WCCO-AM personality Denny Long. Other members of the Twin Cities Local Board are Ansa Akyea, Randal Berger, Charles Brin, Bob Davis, Shawn Hamilton, Leigha Horton, Peter Moore and Michael Tezla. They are a talented, seasoned, multifaceted group of pros. I hope you have the opportunity to get to know them. Tell them your interests, ask them questions and express your concerns — and let them know what you will do to support your union. All of them are working professionals taking personal time to volunteer for their union, so don’t forget to thank them and think about ways you can volunteer your time, too.
What’s Going On
Work under our local runs the gamut under both legacy AFTRA and legacy SAG contracts, from broadcast shops to unique radio programming (A Prairie Home Companion) to commercials and corporate/educational media productions to new media, film and more. For example, a quick bit of research shows that in just the months since merger, 28 film productions were done under our local (productions in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota). Those productions included two regular theatrical films, 13 short films, four ultra-low-budget films, four student films, two low-budget modified films, two new media projects and one theatrical TV demo project. We know from past experience that the Twin Cities supports a growing indie filmmaker community, and we are pleased to be able to work with them directly now to offer them flexible film contracts that fit their needs.
We all know that the Twin Cities is historically a strong professional creative center, supporting two professional orchestras, many Equity theaters, and now emerging screenwriters and filmmakers joining the ranks of established pros. It is also a flourishing business center, with an outsized proportion of Fortune 500 companies headquartered here (the Twin Cities ranks first in the nation for Fortune 500 corporate headquarters per capita), and as home base for a number of prominent ad agencies and creative firms. The creative/production sector and the overall media and communications industry play a significant role in the local economy — and our members’ professional talents are needed in that industry. There is work for our members, but it is up to us to meet the challenge of bringing more of this work under union standards.
One local committee that must be recognized began this task pre-merger, as part of our local’s organizing and outreach work under legacy AFTRA. Headed by member Sue Scott, other committee members include Cathy Fuller, Jim Miller, Tammara Melloy and Tena May Gallivan. Kudos to them for their enthusiasm and commitment to finding fresh ways to create more local union jobs via outreach to producers and other industry partners in our market.
Events, Meetings, Elections
The local will participate in the Twin Cities Actors Expo once again this year, with that event taking place on Saturday, March 30 at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. SAG-AFTRA Twin Cities Local members will staff an information table, and Assistant Executive Director Tim Ogren will lead a discussion panel on working on low-budget film contracts. This event attracts hundreds of performers annually, including many young performers, and will bring our local in direct contact with local performers who aspire to work professionally in our industry.
Monday, April 8 is the date of our Local Membership Meeting at the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis. Doors open at 6 p.m., meeting start time is 6:30 p.m. Come to meet and mingle with other local members, hear reports and do other union business. As usual, the membership meeting is open only to Twin Cities Local members in good standing, so please bring your membership card to show at the door.
And finally, don’t forget that elections are coming up soon! Eligible local members can run for Local Board, National Board and, of course, for convention delegate. You will receive more information on that soon, but now is the time to start thinking about whether you want to run for an elected local position. The new SAG-AFTRA elected leadership takes office this summer.
Stay in Touch!
Contact us in the local office any time with your questions and concerns; make sure that you notify the union if you move and change your mailing address, or change your phone contact info or email address. Write something for this newsletter, and feel free to contact us with your suggestions. Send us photos and write-ups of SAG-AFTRA jobs you are doing.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Colleen Aho
Twin Cities Local Executive Director
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