Tag Archives: player conference

It has been difficult writing for my colleagues during this pandemic, especially since so much can change during the month that will lapse between the time I am writing this and the time many of you will be reading it. But I am optimistic right now that we are heading to the coda of this rather long piece (after having had to take a few repeats that nobody wanted to take—I am sure all my orchestra colleagues have been on that gig).

Despite the severity of the pandemic during the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, all OCSM members that have service guarantees are being paid at least 65% of their normal compensation levels—the majority of these are being paid between 75 and 100%. For the general state of orchestras in Canada, I highly recommend two items found in the “Resources” section of Orchestras Canada’s website (https://oc.ca—look under the “Learn” tab on the homepage). One is a survey: OC surveyed its member orchestras last fall, and of the 57 that responded, 84% of these tried some sort of digital initiative during the pandemic, whether that be online concerts, special outreach projects, or online fundraising events. The other is the Comparative Report of orchestra finances from the 2019-20 season. That shows the direct initial financial impact of the pandemic.

The state of our organizations will be very much in mind as we look to the fall of 2021. All of us will hope to be released from side letters that were designed to get us through the pandemic, and we will need to be prepared for these negotiations. I think it is safe to say that at some of our organizations will want to continue producing online content. This may fill a need to serve patrons who are unable to make it back to the concert hall just yet, or they may just want to continue to develop digital content as part of the orchestra’s overall mission to serve its community.

With that in mind, and thanks to the tireless work of our two Canadian Symphonic Services Division employees, Richard Sandals and Bernard Leblanc, we now have an Integrated Media Agreement for Canada (IMAC). Richard has already presented it to OCSM delegates at our recent online meeting in January. Some of our orchestras have already ratified it. It is my hope that all orchestra committees and their locals will take a serious look at adopting the IMAC—it will create a national standard for media work in our field in Canada.

Beyond that, what lies ahead for OCSM? At our last executive meeting, we decided to recommend to the delegates that we continue to meet online for now, and hold our next live conference in 2022. As much as everyone is suffering from “Zoom Fatigue” (another new term the pandemic has given us), it has been an effective tool for us. We have started to invite observers from the orchestra committees of non-OCSM orchestras and it is my hope that this is a prelude to the expansion of OCSM—perhaps even to create two different organizations like our colleagues in the US (ICSOM and ROPA).

I am in my third decade of involvement with OCSM now, and there are issues that, despite the progress we have made, are still in need of work. One is the treatment of freelance musicians in our ranks. We call them “extras,” but who is kidding whom? Many of them are anything but “extra”. In some of our orchestras these “extras” have dedicated substantial portions of their careers to an ensemble, but they have never been afforded the benefits given to musicians doing essentially the same job. Nowhere was this made clearer than during the pandemic, when those without the protections afforded by our collective agreements were left behind, especially those musicians without the aforementioned service guarantees.

The pandemic brought another term to our everyday vocabulary, the idea of the “essential worker”—one whose services we cannot do without. We need to redefine what “essential workers” are in our orchestras, at least in terms of whom we protect with our collective agreements.

And lastly, I have always believed that union members should be activists by extension; and to that end, we need to continue to address the issues of Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (the IDEA acronym) within our organizations, whether it be our orchestras or our union. This will be an uncomfortable process for some of us; we will have to face down our history—right back to when the first orchestras were formed under aristocracy—and challenge many long-held notions of what we do. The conversation around this issue started years ago; it is now moving toward the action stage.

I hope this has given you all some food for thought. I can always be reached at president@ocsm-omosc.org and my colleagues among the OCSM executive committee and delegates are always willing to engage on these topics. I wish you all well in the remainder of this season.

Il est où, le signe de coda ?

par Robert Fraser, président de l’OMOSC et membre de la section locale 247 (Victoria, C.-B.)

J’ai trouvé difficile d’écrire à l’intention de mes collègues durant cette pandémie, notamment parce qu’entre le moment où j’écris et celui où vous me lisez, il peut se passer beaucoup de choses. Mais je me sens optimiste en ce moment, je crois vraiment que nous nous dirigeons vers la coda de cette longue pièce (après quelques reprises que personne n’avait envie de faire – je suis sûr que tous mes collègues d’orchestre ont connu ce genre d’engagement).

En dépit de la gravité de la pandémie à la fin de 2020 et au début de 2021, tous les membres de l’OMOSC qui profitent de garanties de service reçoivent au moins
65 % de leur rémunération normale, la plupart d’entre eux recevant entre 75 et 100 %. En ce qui concerne l’état général des orchestres au Canada, je vous recommande fortement deux lectures qui sont accessibles dans la section Ressources du site Web d’Orchestres Canada (https://oc.ca/fr/ – sous l’onglet « S’informer » de la page d’accueil). Le premier document est une enquête : Orchestres Canada a sondé ses orchestres membres l’automne dernier, et des 57 orchestres qui ont répondu, 84 % avaient tenté un genre ou un autre d’initiative numérique pendant la pandémie, qu’il s’agisse de concerts en ligne, de projets spéciaux de liaison avec la communauté ou d’activités de collecte de fonds en ligne. L’autre document, c’est le Rapport Comparatif financier des orchestres pour la saison 2019–2020. On peut aisément y constater l’impact initial direct de la pandémie.

L’état de nos organismes sera une préoccupation importante au moment d’envisager l’automne 2021. Nous voudrons tous nous libérer des lettres d’entente qui ont été conçues pour nous permettre de traverser la pandémie, et nous devrons être prêts pour ces négociations. Il me paraît clair que certains de nos orchestres voudront continuer à offrir du contenu en ligne, une option qui pourrait convenir à certains mélomanes qui ne sont pas en mesure de retourner à la salle de concert pour le moment ou qui pourrait s’inscrire dans la mission globale de l’orchestre en matière de service à sa collectivité.

Compte tenu de tout cela, et grâce au travail inlassable de nos deux employés de la Division des services symphoniques, Richard Sandals et Bernard Leblanc, nous disposons maintenant d’une Entente canadienne sur les médias intégrés (IMAC). Richard l’a présentée aux délégués de l’OMOSC lors de notre récente réunion en ligne, en janvier, et certains de nos orchestres l’ont déjà ratifiée. Je souhaite vraiment que tous les comités d’orchestre et leurs sections locales envisagent sérieusement d’adopter l’IMAC; nous aurions alors une norme nationale au Canada pour notre travail en matière de médias.

Au-delà de tout cela, qu’est-ce qui attend l’OMOSC ? À la dernière réunion de notre comité de direction, nous avons décidé de recommander aux délégués de continuer à nous rencontrer en ligne pour le moment et d’attendre 2022 pour tenir notre prochaine conférence en personne. Bien que tout le monde souffre de « fatigue Zoom » (une autre nouvelle expression issue de la pandémie), c’est un moyen qui s’est avéré efficace. Nous avons commencé à inviter des observateurs parmi les comités de musiciens d’orchestres non-membres de l’OMOSC, et j’espère qu’il en résultera une expansion de notre association ou peut-être même la création de deux associations différentes, comme chez nos collègues des États-Unis (l’ICSOM et la ROPA).

J’en suis maintenant à ma troisième décennie de participation à l’OMOSC, et en dépit des progrès que nous avons accomplis, il reste des enjeux qui réclament notre attention. Parmi eux, je pense au traitement réservé aux musiciens pigistes dans nos rangs. Nombre d’entre eux sont tout sauf « surnuméraires ». Dans certains de nos orchestres, ces « surnuméraires » ont dédié une partie importante de leur carrière à un ensemble en particulier sans jamais profiter des bénéfices accordés aux musiciens réguliers qui font essentiellement le même travail. Cela n’a jamais été plus évident que durant la pandémie : ceux qui ne jouissent pas des protections offertes par nos ententes les collectives ont été laissés de côté, particulièrement s’ils ne profitaient d’aucune garantie de services. D’ailleurs, la pandémie a introduit une autre expression dans notre vocabulaire de tous les jours, à savoir l’idée de « travailleurs essentiels », ceux et celles qui offrent des services dont nous ne pouvons pas nous passer. Nous devons revoir notre définition des « travailleurs essentiels » dans nos orchestres, au moins pour déterminer à qui nous accordons la protection de nos ententes collectives.

Enfin, j’ai toujours cru que les syndiqués devaient être des militants par extension; dans cette optique, nous nous devons de continuer à traiter les enjeux que sont l’inclusion, la diversité, l’équité et l’accessibilité (l’acronyme IDEA) au sein de nos organismes, qu’il s’agisse de nos orchestres ou de notre syndicat. Ce sera un processus dérangeant pour certains d’entre nous; nous devrons regarder notre histoire en face – remontant jusqu’à la création des premiers orchestres sous les aristocrates – et remettre en question des conceptions peut-être dépassées de ce que nous faisons. Les discussions autour de cet enjeu ont commencé il y a plusieurs années, nous en sommes maintenant au stade de l’action.

J’espère vous avoir donné matière à réflexion. Vous pouvez toujours me joindre en m’écrivant à president@ocsm-omosc.org, et mes collègues du conseil de direction de même que les délégués de l’OMOSC sont toujours disposés à échanger sur ces questions. Je vous souhaite tout le meilleur pour le reste de la saison.

ROPA Update and Hopes for an In-Person Conference in 2021

April 1, 2021 John Michael Smith

To prepare for writing this article in International Musician, I looked back at my report in last year’s April issue of IM, which annually features the AFM Symphonic Services Division (SSD) and the symphonic AFM player conferences. At the time I wrote that article, we were a little over a week into the national pandemic work stoppage for our musicians, orchestras, and organizations. It’s interesting to see how quickly we responded to the sudden halt to our live performances, plans, and schedules for our seasons and upcoming work. Orchestra managements were just beginning to make decisions regarding work, pay, benefits, and work rules, with some orchestras invoking force majeure and cancellation clauses in their collective bargaining agreements. For Regional Orchestra Players Association (ROPA) musicians, this also meant work alteration or stoppage in other areas, as most of our musicians have other avenues of employment that were also catastrophically affected by COVID.

I can’t say enough about how thankful and impressed I was, and still am, with the response of our SSD staff: Director Rochelle Skolnick and Director of Symphonic Electronic Media Debbie Newmark. They jumped in immediately in dealing with so many questions and issues which came up daily. I know their email boxes must have been constantly overflowing with details to be worked out, and the beginning of many, many side letter agreements to our CBAs and symphonic media agreements. Thanks also to the rest of the SSD staff: Negotiator/Educator/ Organizer Todd Jelen, Negotiator Jane Owen, and Contract Administrator Laurence Hofmann; all doing much extra duty and working from home with the flurry of work stoppage and constant changes. ROPA, the other player conferences, and the AFM cannot thank you enough for efforts in what you had to deal with.

Since the COVID pandemic, the Player Conferences Council (PCC) has continued to have regular Zoom meetings. The symphonic PCC members (ICSOM, OCSM, and ROPA) have also continued to meet regularly with SSD staff, both US and Canadian, to discuss the current events and issues facing us. Our communication has never been more frequent and fruitful. As a result of these regular meetings, an increased sense of unity and purpose has grown.

This unity became reality in the recent political action efforts around the AFM-EP Fund and the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021, which was included in the giant American Rescue Plan. The player conference leaders joined AFM Legislative, Political, and Diversity Director Alfonso Pollard, Michael Manley and Alex Tindal Wiesendanger of the Organizing Division, Communications Director Antoinette Follett, and others in a campaign to contact by email and Zoom phone bank our AFM members who are constituents of Democratic US House of Representatives members and US Senators to contact their legislators to vote in favor of the rescue plan. And as I am writing today, the American Rescue Plan has become reality, passing all legislatures and heading for President Biden’s signature. We are stronger together!

With the killing of George Floyd and others and resultant racial unrest and awareness in our communities over the past months, ROPA has taken an active role in addressing and changing our symphonic organizations’ systemic racism and notion of white supremacy. ROPA has formed an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusiveness Workgroup made up of ROPA musicians that will focus on awareness, education, and activism for racial and cultural diversity, and on becoming a resource in these areas for our orchestras.

ROPA was involved in the discussion and creation of the recent National Alliance for Audition Support (NAAS) Recommended Audition and Tenure Guidelines. This document was a collaborative project of the Sphinx Organization, the League of American Orchestras, the New World Symphony, and the AFM (ICSOM and ROPA player conferences). The committee that worked on this document was made up of musicians, orchestra managers, and conductors. Its purpose is to offer some guidelines for creating greater diversity and inclusion at all levels of our orchestra organizations, particularly in the areas of auditions and tenure.

ROPA is tentatively scheduled to hold its 38th annual conference July 27-29 at the Hilton Costa Mesa Hotel in Orange County, California. This is the same location that we planned for last year’s conference, which became virtual because of the pandemic. The ROPA Executive Board will be monitoring where we are with COVID and will make a decision in the coming months as to whether we can safely hold an in-person conference this summer, or if we will again be virtual. We had about 300 registrations for last summer’s conference, and with nearly 200 in attendance for many of our presentations. Being virtual does open things up for more people to attend! We know we can do a successful virtual conference, but we would sure like to see everyone in person.

Get your vaccinations, wear your mask, wash your hands—strength, patience, good thoughts, and prayers for us all. Keep Calm and Carry On!

Officer Columns, President's Message

Player Conferences Are Essential to the Promotion of Internal Member Involvement

September 2, 2019 Ray Hair

Each August, I have the pleasure of attending the annual meetings of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM), the Regional Orchestra Players’ Association (ROPA), the Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians (OCSM), and the Theater Musicians’ Association (TMA). ICSOM, ROPA, OCSM, TMA, together with the Recording Musicians Association (RMA), comprise five intermediate bodies within the AFM known as player conferences.

Player conferences promote internal member involvement by providing forums for musicians from similar workplaces throughout the Federation to share their experiences, to identify, articulate, and prioritize their needs and discuss and develop plans of action to address those needs. The flow of accurate information from the workplace to local and Federation officers and staff from rank-and-file committees, through their conferences, is vital to our support toward the bargaining of our members’ collective agreements, as well as efforts to organize additional meaningful employment for musicians.

I find it extremely beneficial to attend player conference meetings. It demonstrates that despite differences in instrumentation, wage scales and benefits, or the hundreds or thousands of miles separating our members by country and venue, we all share the same fundamental problems—exploitation by employers and managers who make way more from our labor than we do, but who couldn’t do what we do as musicians in a million years.

Player conferences elect their officials by a vote of delegates from constituent workplaces. A consistent goal of my administration has always been to maintain close working relationships and clear and effective lines of communication between the Federation and all conferences, including our geographical conferences.

Player conference leaders perform an important role in our union—they channel musicians’ attitudes, experiences, opinions, hopes, and desires directly to the union from the workplace, so that, as a team, we can organize to bargain and bargain to organize. After my election as your president nine years ago, I supported a policy of rotating player conference leaders as monthly columnists in the International Musician.

This month, I am reintroducing AFM’s player conference leaders in this column, each with a bit of biographical information. They are wonderful people and I enjoy working with them. I’d like to thank them for bringing their energy, dedication, and commitment to bear on behalf of their talented constituents as we continue to build real unionism and a unity of purpose for the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada.

ICSOM Chairperson Meredith Snow, a graduate of the Juilliard School, has been a member of AFM Locals 802 and 47. She began her career as a violist with the Colorado String Quartet, then San Francisco Opera Orchestra, and for the past 30 years has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. She was elected as a delegate to ICSOM in 1991 where she served as a member-at-large to the ICSOM Governing Board until her election as ICSOM chairperson in 2016.

OCSM President Robert Fraser became secretary-treasurer of AFM Local 247 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in 1991 early in his career as a trombonist with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra. He continued to serve as an officer of Local 247 until 2002. He became a union activist as a result of his experiences as a local union officer and also, he says, because he was inspired to activism by the leadership of Canadian locals, the player conferences, the Federation leadership and Federation senior staff. Robert represented the Victoria Symphony as a delegate to OCSM from 1999-2003, then served as OSCM secretary from 2003 through 2013, when he was elected as president of OCSM.

ROPA President John Michael Smith. A bassist in the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, John Michael’s involvement in ROPA began in 2007, serving first as an alternate delegate and later as delegate to ROPA from the Minnesota Opera Orchestra. He began his performing career with the Norfolk (VA) Symphony, has been a member of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and has performed, recorded, and toured with both the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra. He was elected to the ROPA Executive Board in 2011 and became president in 2016. John Michael also serves as chair of the ROPA Electronic Media Committee and served on the AFM’s negotiating team for the recently concluded Integrated Media Agreement (IMA). He is an active freelancer in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and is a Life Member of Local 30-73.

RMA International President Marc Sazer is an active performer both in the recording studios of Hollywood and in Southern California concert halls. Marc has performed for innumerable film, television, recording, and other media projects, from TV shows like Animaniacs and Pinky & the Brain to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Empire, films from My Big Fat Greek Wedding to the currently-scoring Star Wars Episode IX, to records for Shirley Horn, Frank Sinatra, and Randy Newman. He is a current a member of the Pasadena Symphony, and has performed with virtually every orchestra in the Los Angeles area. He currently serves as first vice president of the LA Chapter of the Recording Musicians Association, and international president of RMA. He has been at the forefront of campaigning for fair contracts, fair tax credits, and fair employment for AFM musicians.

TMA President Tony D’Amico. A freelance bassist in the New England area, Tony performs regularly with the Boston Pops, Boston Philharmonic, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Portland (ME) Symphony Orchestra. He also performs with locally produced and touring theatrical musicals when shows are presented in Boston. He is a member of Boston Local 9-535 and Providence Local 198-457, has served on the Executive Board of Boston Local 9-535 since 2001, and has served on that local’s theatre committee for many years. He founded the Boston TMA Chapter in 2006 and was elected as TMA president in 2016.

International Musician

What Is a Player Conference?

April 2, 2018 IM

by John Michael Smith, President Regional Orchestra Players Association

There are five player conferences within the AFM: the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) founded 1962; the Recording Musicians Association (RMA) founded 1969; the Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians (OCSM) founded 1975; the Regional Orchestra Players Association (ROPA) founded 1984; and the Theater Musicians Association (TMA) founded 1991.

The five player conferences function as a resource for information and advocate in their respective areas of specialization within the AFM. ICSOM, OCSM, and ROPA are symphonic in nature; they represent symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, opera orchestras, and ballet orchestras. RMA and TMA represent musicians in their areas of specialization, recording studios and theaters. Each player conference holds general meetings, executive board meetings, and other meetings. These communications are necessary to provide resources and information to their members.

For ROPA, the organization is made up of delegates from each of our 86 member orchestras. ROPA has two membership levels: full and associate. Each delegate is selected by their orchestra, with the support of the AFM local. As a delegate, they gather and provide valuable and current information and resources for both the orchestra and their local through communications with the other ROPA delegates, the ROPA Executive Board, and by attending the annual conference.

The ROPA Executive Board is elected from full member orchestras, and consists of a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and eight members at-large. The ROPA Executive Board also includes a delegate at-large to the AFM Convention who is a nonvoting member of the board. ROPA has several adjunct positions: editor of its publication, The Leading Tone; social media coordinator for Facebook, Twitter, etc.; historian; webmaster; conductor evaluation coordinator; and conference coordinator. There are several standing committees, including Legislative, Electronic Media, and Annual Conference. The ROPA President, with approval of the executive board, appoints musicians to these adjunct positions.

It is important to realize that all of these positions in our player conferences are voluntary. There are small honoraria for the titled officers and other labor-intensive positions for most of the player conferences. Travel and meal expenses for board members and others working for the boards when attending meetings are covered. The AFM musicians who hold these positions are doing this because they feel strongly that this is work that needs to be done. By taking on these roles, they are supporting their orchestras, as well as fellow musicians, their local, their player conference, and their union. They want to play a vital role in making a difference.

It is also important to remember that the player conferences are partners with the AFM locals where their delegates and orchestras are members. I’ve always been impressed by the number of local officers and members of the local boards of directors who are also ROPA delegates and executive board members.

The player conferences frequently work with AFM international officers and staff. In negotiations for national agreements, representatives from the player conferences are vital members of AFM negotiating committees, and serve side by side with AFM President Ray Hair, Secretary-Treasurer Jay Blumenthal, International Executive Board (IEB) members, local officers, and staff. Representatives from both ICSOM and ROPA have participated in orchestra musician education programs with AFM Symphonic Services Division staff. Player conference representatives also participate in the AFM Convention. And in years when there is no AFM Convention, player conferences send representatives to a meeting of the Players Conference Council (PCC) and Local Conference Council (LCC) with the AFM IEB, for the purpose of exchanging information and ideas on issues of common importance to the AFM, its locals, and its members.

I am so appreciative of all the work my colleagues in our player conferences do for our orchestras, our musicians, our locals, and our AFM. Thanks to you all!

Making the Most of Player Conference Membership

July 1, 2016 IM

by Robert Fraser, OCSM President and Member of Local 247 (Victoria, BC)

At this writing, many of our orchestras in the Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians (OCSM) are finishing up their regular seasons. The OCSM Executive Board is in “summer mode”—getting ready for all the various summer conferences, including our own. This summer our conference will be at the Hotel Arts in Calgary. All are invited to attend the open sessions August 9-11.

Another set of dates you may wish to save: May 11-14, 2017. This is when the fourth triennial International Orchestra Conference of the International Federation of Musicians will be held, in Montreal, Quebec. The International Federation of Musicians—known by its French acronym, FIM—is a member organization of approximately 70 musicians’ unions from all over the world, including the AFM. Since 2008, FIM has been holding orchestral musicians’ conferences every three years, and we’re thrilled that Local 406 will be hosting the 2017 conference.

All the player conferences report to you through their delegates and through the International Musician, so conference activities are probably well known to you. Representatives from each orchestra give reports on their orchestra’s activities throughout the year. We zero in on specific issues and topics and establish working committees that consult throughout the season (especially on issues such as electronic media). We hear from all parties related to our industry: union leadership, management service organizations, pension funds, legal experts, and guest speakers in fields ranging from public relations to health and safety. For example, this summer, former Alberta Senator Tommy Banks will be addressing the Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians (OCSM) Conference. Many of you will have worked with Banks, as he has been a part of Canada’s music scene for many years. He will be giving us an insider’s look into the workings of government in Ottawa.

Since the activity of our conference will be reported in detail later, I will devote the rest of this space to ways you can help OCSM. OCSM is a grassroots organization; it is run by your volunteer delegates and is meant to be a network of musicians acting as one. (I will refrain from making obvious analogies about orchestras!) OCSM thrives on the activities of its members, so here’s how you can help:

For Orchestra and Negotiating Committee Members

Please include your OCSM Delegate in your regular deliberations and communications. In cases where the OCSM Delegate is on one or both of these committees, that’s not a problem, but sometimes we have delegates who feel “out of the loop” because there are poor lines of communication. An OCSM Delegate can be a valuable asset. Because they have attended multiple conferences, met key people from each orchestra, and gained valuable knowledge, they can assist in a number of situations. Furthermore, the delegates communicate to each other through a secure e-mail list, so they can easily gather and share information.

For Long-Serving
Orchestra Musicians

Take time to compile your orchestra’s history. As orchestral musicians we do a good job of passing our musical knowledge to the next generation. But what about our knowledge of negotiations, strikes, temporary shut-downs, changes in our orchestra’s business practices, search committees, and so forth? In my 25 years as a musician I have seen too many things repeated from orchestra to orchestra that should not have been. Staff and boards come and go, but some orchestra members that have been there longer than 40 years. Use them. I wrote an article about this in OCSM’s newsletter Una Voce last year. A good place to start is to make a simple chart of your orchestra’s negotiating history for the last three contracts. Be sure to at least include wage changes for each year and your orchestra’s operating expenses. Thankfully, some of this has been done for all of you already. The AFM is in the process of putting all our OCSM wage chart data online, going back several years.

Other Ways to Get Involved

Perhaps most importantly, there are ways to get involved and help your orchestra and OCSM without spending hours on a committee. I understand that some people in your orchestra will never be on the orchestra committee or the negotiating committee, and that’s okay. But do you have a skill that could be put to use part-time? For example, if you are good at photography, take candid pictures from the musicians’ perspective. These are great for musicians’ social media presence. Maybe you write well. Offer to write a blog or newsletter article. Maybe you work well with children and do a lot of outreach concerts. Share your experiences with us; these stories are a gold mine when musicians need some press presence.

OCSM’s mission is to be the voice of Canadian professional orchestral musicians. I look forward to meeting with your delegates very soon to hear about all of your contributions to our great profession this year.