Speaking with Edward Pierce, President of USA 829
On Friday, May 6, the American Theatre Wing, and the Broadway League announced that United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, IATSE, will receive a 2022 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre. The Local Union joins four other outstanding contributors to the Broadway industry, including the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC); Broadway for All; music copyist, Emily Grishman; and Feinstein’s/54 Below. The Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre were established in 1990 and are awarded annually to institutions, individuals and/or organizations that have demonstrated extraordinary achievement in theatre but are not traditionally eligible in any of the established Tony Award categories.
“All five of this year’s honorees have made outstanding contributions to our Broadway community,” said Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League and Heather Hitchens, President and CEO of the American Theatre Wing. “Their dedication, commitment, and support to the Arts is now more important than ever, and we are thrilled to shine a light on these organizations at this year’s Tony Honors.”
United Scenic Artists (Local USA 829) is the national labor union and creative community of designers, artists, and professionals working across the entertainment industry. For over 125 years, Local USA 829 has proudly represented and advocated for its members and professionals working in live performance, film, television, and commercials through collective bargaining, action, and solidarity. From coast to coast, Local USA 829 seeks to foster the continuous improvement of the working and living standards for its members as well as elevate and celebrate the many crafts and categories of its membership, which includes: Scenic, Costume, Lighting, Sound, and Projection Designers; Scenic Artists; Computer Artists; Art and Costume Department Coordinators; and Scenic Shop workers.
Edward Pierce, President of Local USA 829 recently spoke with PLSN about the union receiving this Honor.
What does it mean for Local USA 829 to be recognized with this Honor?
The Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre recognizes the contributions of those who collaborate behind-the-scenes. The Honors very being is to recognize those individuals or organizations who are so much about the fabric of backstage performance, specifically on Broadway, but would never get recognized through the traditional awards system, so it means a lot to be recognized this way. People sometimes don’t realize that one-third of the Tony Awards are for designers. I’m really excited to have seen the opportunities that have presented themselves this past season for our members and I’m so proud of everybody whose work has been recognized. I feel that this Honor recognizes an organization that has been there for designers, and supporting designers, for over 100 years. It’s a great opportunity to shine a light deeper backstage on the things that support all the backstage workers. That’s what makes it really special.
The Theatre Wing described Local USA 829 as “the creative backbone of the entertainment industry.” Talk about the scope of roles covered in your union.
First of all, we’re a national local, which is unique to IATSE. There’re only a few locals who have jurisdiction over certain crafts or categories of work over the course of the whole nation, not so geographically jurisdictional. That’s primarily because of our work in live performance; that’s what makes us special, but we also cover film and television, and commercial work. That reach allows us to have collaborative relationships with so many different elements in the entertainment industry.
We are known as “United Scenic Artists” because the local was for scenic artists initially but now there are set designers, costume designers, and lighting designers. We also have computer graphic artists working in film and television, who provide the imagery for all the screens that you see. We have quite a reach and it makes for a really vibrant community of artists in our local as we come together to try to work in solidarity to make sure that everybody is doing well in the industry.
Talk a little bit about how USA 829 has been helping diversify the design disciplines.
That’s happening in a lot of different avenues, which I think is really exciting. First and foremost, our local has taken an opportunity to pause just like many other important organizations in our industry and take a deep look inward. To make sure that the structures needed are in place for how we interact as members. Looking at how we bring in new members in our admissions process, how we represent our members every day in the workplace, and how we interact with each other in our meetings; it is all under inspection and in development and improvement. We have invested not only financially, but emotionally in a true anti-racist ethos that includes professional, facilitated discussion that we offer our members. We encourage our members to participate. We have asynchronous training modules that allow our members, in their own space and in their own time, to learn more about how to be better human beings and how to treat each other better. How to recognize our bias that we have unconsciously. That’s our inward look.
Our more outward look and work has been centered around encouraging a number of organizations, ad hoc as well, that have come together to help form mentorship programs, to help create affinity spaces for members who identify in many different ways. To create space and opportunity for sharing education about our union and how our union can help our existing members and non-members. Those who are new to the career and are in the early part of their career, as well as members who are well-established. We’re really trying to create an environment where established members in their career—and new members in their career path—can come together and learn from each other. And by creating those spaces for them to come together, we’re also growing as an organization as well. We’re also partnering up with the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society in a joint task force that is folding together directors and choreographers and designers across the live performance spectrum to come together and figure out how we can work together to create a better, more collaborative, and more inclusive creative process. To try to start to demystify where the power exists and some of those relationships between designers, choreographers, and directors and producers. Try to really work on figuring out a better way of communicating with each other so that we can all do better work together. Local USA 829 is always working to unite our colleagues across the nation to lead the entertainment industry to value inclusion, diversity and belonging for all artists and workers.
Any final thoughts about the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League recognizing a labor union with this Honor?
I think it’s really meaningful. Labor unions represent workers, and often as artists, we don’t want to think of ourselves necessarily as workers because many of us just love what we do so much that we are simply honored when people ask us to do it—and pay us to do that work. But we often forget that there is an employer/employee relationship there, and because we love what we do, as workers we sometimes let rules slip, or we do more than perhaps we are being rightfully compensated to do. We work in environments that may not be the healthiest places at times. I think that the Tony Awards being a unique blend of leadership between the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, one being more charitable and one more commercial, and the fact that they come together around the Tony Awards, and now with this Tony Award Honor we add that other element, which is the worker. I would like to say, ‘on behalf of the members of our union, thank you to the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing for this Honor’.
This interview was conducted by Michael S. Eddy, co-editor of PLSN magazine.