The Kennedy Center’s February 12 change in leadership has become the subject of much discussion among members of the arts community and beyond. Following soon after this announcement was the news that a number of high-profile artists had made the decision to withdraw from their commitments to the center.

Currently, artists, arts creators, and others are reevaluating their relationships with the Kennedy Center. This is their right. As President John F. Kennedy once remarked, “If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision where it takes him.”

The Kennedy Center, a living memorial to the performing arts, has always been a testament to Kennedy’s visionary support of the artists in our society.

Donors and audience members have also begun to reevaluate their support for our national performing arts center and the programming featured there. With respect to the conversations taking place among these groups, little attention has been focused on the impact these actions have on those whose livelihoods depend on the Kennedy Center’s success. It is important to provide additional context to the discourse by considering the implications to these workers.

The participation of artists and art creators is essential to the mission of the Kennedy Center. The Center was created through an act of Congress. First among the obligations of the Center’s Board in the National Cultural Center Act is a duty to “present classical and contemporary music, opera, drama, dance, and other performing arts from the United States and other countries.”

This mandate, focused on presenting these art forms, is not possible without the direct involvement of dedicated artists in each of these disciplines. As Kennedy said, “I see little of more importance to the future of our country than full recognition of the place of the artist.” This message will not continue to be heard without the voices of the artists he championed. The opportunity to utilize this important platform in service of that message will then be lost.

Kennedy Center Artists and Workers

The Kennedy Center is home to two world class orchestras: National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. Their member musicians are represented by Local 161-710 (Washington, DC). We are justifiably proud of the artistic accomplishments of these orchestras and the essential role they have played in establishing the Kennedy Center as a major arts destination.

We also recognize that they are a part of a larger story. The fulfillment of the Kennedy Center’s mission would not be possible without the work of the many arts professionals represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE), Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), and Stage Designers and Choreographers Society (SDC). The livelihoods of more than 1,500 artists and arts workers at the Kennedy Center are dependent on the robust support of the artistic community, audiences, and donors to ensure the continued vitality of one of the premier centers of American cultural life and performance. For more information, please visit https://kennedycenterunions.org.

Kennedy Center Audiences

Nonprofit arts organizations, such as the Kennedy Center, exist to connect audiences with the arts and to greater humanity. Kennedy said, “… art establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgement.”

The success of the Kennedy Center’s mission is as dependent on the support of its audiences as of its artists. While federal funding provides for the repairs, operations, and maintenance of the building, it is public support that ensures performances by the amazing variety of artists employed at the center will continue long into the future. Support focused on specific programs, such as the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera, is important.

Throughout this column I have repeatedly quoted from President Kennedy’s remarks at Amherst College on October 23, 1963. His address on this occasion, in honor of the poet Robert Frost, is truly inspirational and worth revisiting in its entirety. I feel it’s appropriate to end with one last quote from that day, “We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.”

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times …”

When I was a kid tagging along with my dad on his gigs and meeting his musician friends, hearing them perform together in a concert or nightclub was only part of the experience. I also got to hear them talk about the music they were listening to and the musicians they admired.

In that primarily Greatest Generation circle, they really loved music that incorporated South American rhythms, that borrowed from European folk songs, and of course, there was the omnipresent African American jazz and blues influence. Folks worshipped Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Django Reinhardt, Miles Davis, and Chet Baker among others. Musicians have always shared and been influenced by each other’s cultures and experiences. Music has no borders.

But there are barricades to money and opportunity. Good instruments are expensive and opportunities to learn while you earn are few and far between. Some genres basically require an expensive education. Many musicians have teachers who also serve as mentors, but it’s not treated like a real apprenticeship.

Our profession has become increasingly complicated as entry-level, paid, live work has eroded. Recording is more accessible due to technology, but monetizing recordings is a challenge. Technology can be helpful, especially when it comes to education, but it’s always changing and comes with additional expenses. And exploitation of musicians by technology is rampant.

Political and societal changes are creating uncertainty. Technology has made the world smaller, while creating greater divisions. Musicians traditionally have been important in turbulent times, whether by documenting, empathizing, or influencing. I’ve been thinking about folks like Dmitri Shostakovich, Billie Holiday, Woody Guthrie, and Marvin Gaye. We can bring people together, lift up voices, give comfort, and inspire. But beyond making music to the best of our ability, another important role is in our union.

We are the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada. We will work together to build strength in our union and make sure that musicians have a voice in any decision that affects us. We each have a responsibility to ensure that our workplaces are safe and free from harassment. We must make our local unions places where all musicians feel welcome, valued, and respected.

We all have colleagues who are not in the union. Now is the time to invite them in; ask them to join you in the effort to make a better life for musicians. Beyond having the ability to purchase and maintain instruments and pay off student debt, musicians need affordable housing, practice spaces, health care, child care, food, and reliable transportation.

Even if music making is a part-time job, there should be fair compensation and safe working conditions. Much of the work to be done is local, so we must build strong local unions to network with the rest of the labor community, identify community partners, and build relationships with elected officials.

I still have this ideal that success in music making should be based only on the sounds produced. If a musician makes sounds that others want to hear they should be able to develop a career. We have challenges that impact all music makers, and we need to call in all working musicians to unite against the exploitive and divisive forces we are all facing.

Thank you for your work!

As I sit down to write my February column, wildfires in Los Angeles are still burning, Donald Trump is on the eve of commencing his second four-year term, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has resigned as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

The wildfires are certain to have a negative impact on the economy in Southern California. Not only are thousands of persons displaced, but thousands have lost their jobs. For gardeners, cooks, baristas, cleaners, drivers, waiters, performers, far too many occupations to list—the fires have destroyed their workplaces.

Tragically, many AFM and other entertainment union members have also lost their homes and tools of their trades, unable to work as they put their lives back together. The cause of these fires will be investigated. But make no mistake, climate change has played an oversized role with drought like conditions and unusually strong Santa Ana winds.

In my own home province of British Columbia, we too have had our fair share of wildfires. In 2021, the entire village of Lytton burnt to the ground. Not yet fully rebuilt, residents are still living in temporary housing. Severe windstorms are on the increase in Vancouver, and heavy rains have caused catastrophic mudslides as drought ravaged soil cannot absorb the excess volume of water.

In Toronto, our subways shut down last summer when sudden severe torrential downpours flooded the downtown stations. Don Valley Parkway, a major artery into the city, flooded too. Climate change is impacting our lives right in our own backyards.

We now have an individual taking control of the Oval Office, who flip-flops on their position on climate change, querying whether it is really manmade. In Canada, the political party leading in the polls to form the next government also has members who question if climate change is manmade.

Their leader, Pierre Poilievre, is a true career politician who has never known another job. He has yet to share any policies on climate change—except to “axe the tax” (referencing the carbon tax). Other snappy soundbites include “defund the CBC” and “burn, baby, burn.”

Let’s face it, no government is perfect and change in leadership is good, but it should not come at the expense of its citizenry’s well-being. More than ever in these times of change and crises we must elect people to government who work for us. We need government that does not pit worker against worker and that understands that, for our countries to take meaningful action on climate change, we need a just transition for those whose livelihoods are impacted by job losses.

Yet, politics has become driven by emotion and it shouldn’t be. Citizens around the world are electing politicians to governments that do not govern in their best interests, but in that of the politicians themselves and at the beckoning of their billionaire masters.

Emotions and stories, over facts and progressive policies, are driving the narrative. The party with the better stories, rather than the better achievements, is winning the day.

American Author Thomas Frank states: “You vote to strike a blow against elitism, and you receive a social order in which wealth is more concentrated than ever before in our lifetimes, workers have been stripped of power, and CEOs are rewarded in a manner that is beyond imagining … It’s like a French Revolution in reverse in which the workers come pouring down the street screaming more power to the aristocracy.”

My fellow Canadian members, I invite you to join me this spring by helping your constituencies elect a government that works for working people—a government that funds our cultural institutions and the arts, enacts legislation to protect human creators’ copyright, protects jobs in the age of artificial intelligence, acknowledges that climate change is manmade, funds public health care, and upholds the rights of workers to organize, in other words, a government that supports CFM musicians and their families.

We may be apt to disagree on various issues, but we should never lose sight of our and our family’s collective well-being. As AFM President Tino Gagliardi recently stated: “Our solidarity is needed now more than ever.”

The indisputable rise of right-wing leaders in the US government culminated in an unequivocal victory for the Republican Party on November 5. Unfortunately, there is every reason to believe that a similar movement will bring the right-wing Conservative Party of Canada to power within a year.

What are the challenges trade unions face in the wake of the rise of the conservative right—and even the ultra-right? It is unmistakable that many workers, including union members, have abandoned the parties with which they are normally associated. Many workers and minorities say they felt left behind by liberal and progressive elites. That is why a populist like Donald Trump was able to position himself as the outsider capable of bringing about a radical change of course, even if it’s not at all clear that these changes could ultimately help the working class.

How could this happen? The left has not finished writing the postscript of its electoral strategy. However, we can see that, if the traditional base of the more left-wing parties is deserting them to branch off into right-wing populism, something has gone very wrong in communicating progressive ideas.

Yet, our trade union values are simple and universal: democracy, equality, solidarity, social justice, respect, and defense of rights. Now, more than ever, we must continue to fight to bring these ideals to the forefront and find a way to put them at the heart of the political landscape. The role of unions as political and social catalysts will be very important.

What to do now? Here’s a short list of issues that could stimulate the union fibre:

•Passionately lobby for economic policies that directly benefit the working and middle classes: better minimum wage, a social safety net for all artists, etc.

•Communicate directly and authentically with the public and reach a wider and more diverse audience by using more and better social media, such as Instagram, TikTok, podcasts, and influencers. Traditional media are no longer the best way to spread our values and get our message across.

•Get out of the trap of excessive polarization that divides our communities: listen, understand, don’t judge, seek compromise, be respectful, and promote constructive dialogue.

•Collaborate more with local organizations and community leaders to better understand and respond to grassroots needs.

It’s time to organize the resistance and continue the fight for our union values.

Les défis qui attendent le mouvement syndical et progressiste
après la montée de la droite aux É.-U. et au Canada

par Luc Fortin, membre du conseil exécutif international (IEB) de l’AFM et de la section locale 406 (Montréal, Qué.)

La montée indéniable de la droite aux États-Unis s’est concrétisée par une victoire sans équivoque du parti républicain le 5 novembre, et tout porte à croire que ce même mouvement donnera le pouvoir au parti de droite canadien d’ici un an. Quels sont les défis qui attendent maintenant le syndicalisme après la montée de la droite – et même de l’extrême droite – conservatrice? Il est maintenant clair que de nombreux travailleurs, dont des syndiqués, ont délaissé les partis auxquels ont les associait normalement. Beaucoup de travailleurs et de minorités disent s’être sentis négligés par les élites libérales et progressistes, et un populiste comme Donald Trump s’est positionné comme l’outsider capable d’apporter un changement de cap radical, même s’il n’est pas clair du tout que ces changements vont finalement aider les travailleurs. Le constat est cruel pour le mouvement syndical : la classe moyenne et les travailleurs – dont beaucoup de nos membres sans doute – ont vraiment cru que le message des politiciens progressistes et libéraux ne correspondait pas à leurs préoccupations.

Comment cela a-t-il pu arriver? La gauche n’a pas fini de faire le post mortem de sa stratégie électorale, mais on constate que si la base traditionnelle des partis plus à gauche les déserte pour bifurquer vers un populisme de droite, quelque chose s’est vraiment mal passé au plan de la communication des idées progressistes. Les valeurs syndicales sont pourtant simples et universelles : démocratie, égalité, solidarité, justice sociale, respect et défense des droits. Il faut plus que jamais continuer à se battre pour les mettre à l’avant-plan et trouver le moyen de les placer au cœur du paysage politique.

Les menaces pour le monde syndical seront nombreuses; parmi celles-ci, l’affaiblissement des droits des travailleurs à cause de la déréglementation, et la réduction du filet social, particulièrement en santé.

Que faire maintenant? Le rôle des syndicats sera très important en tant que catalyseur politique et social. Pour surmonter ces défis, les syndicats devront développer de nouvelles stratégies et alliances sur les plans national et international Voici une petite liste d’actions qui pourraient stimuler la fibre syndicale :

•Promouvoir avec passion les politiques économiques qui profitent directement à la classe ouvrière et aux classes moyennes : meilleur salaire minimum, filet social pour tous les artistes.

•Communiquer de façon plus directe et authentique avec le public en utilisant plus et mieux les médias sociaux – Instagram et Tik-Tok, podcasts, influenceurs, etc. pour passer notre message et atteindre un public beaucoup plus large et diversifié. Les médias traditionnels ne sont plus la meilleure façon de propager nos valeurs.

•Essayer de se sortir du piège de la polarisation à outrance qui divise nos communautés : écouter, comprendre, ne pas juger, chercher le compromis, respecter et promouvoir un dialogue constructif.

•Collaborer de plus en plus avec les organisations locales et les leaders dans les communautés pour mieux comprendre et répondre aux besoins de la base

Il faut maintenant organiser la résistance et continuer le combat en faveur de nos valeurs syndicales.