Dublin, 6 June 2015: The International Federation of Actors (FIA) and its worldwide membership concluded a three-day international conference on live performance, identifying key global challenges for the sector and union strategies to respond to them.
Hosted by FIA member unions Irish Equity and Equity Northern Ireland, the event gathered some 200 performers, union and industry representatives from around the world to address challenges, trends and best practices in the live performance sector.
Delegates were honoured by the presence of Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, who deeply moved the audience delivering a powerful and vibrant speech in support of the artist in society.
“Artists, like all others in our society – President Higgins said – are entitled to decent conditions of work and to know that their role and their contribution to society is understood and respected […] We must also recognise artists as workers engaged in valuable and productive occupations; workers who have a right to engage in collective bargaining, and who also have a right to […] social protection which is sensitive to, and takes account of, the irregular nature of their work.” He added, “We must be unequivocal in recognising that the cultural space is wider than the economic space created by a traded economy, and […] that at times of economic contraction you need more, not less, provision for public forms of cultural access if one is not to add a cultural deficit in terms of citizenship to the experience of unemployment”.
Conference delegates focused, among other things, on diversity and casting practices, funding developments in the live performance sector, health and safety, international mobility, changing employment patterns and how these are affecting performers’ access to core labour rights, the growing pressure to capture live performances, less traditional forms of artistic production and how unions can promote equitable terms and conditions in the small-scale sector.
FIA President Ferne Downey said:
“Solidarity is what ties us all together in FIA. Live performance has experienced a number of important changes in the last few years that challenge the traditional way in which our members operate. The experiences and best practices shared at the FIA World Live Performance Conference illuminate the resilience of our profession and the continuing relevance of our work in the 21st century. Performing live, acting together. This is the essence of what we are and how we intend to continue to renew and reinvent the live performance sector to the benefit of artists and society at large.”
For more information, visit www.dublinwlpc.com
Pictures of the event are available on the FIA Flickr account
– Full Press release Dublin WLPC Ending
– Speech by President Michael D. Higgins at the FIA World Live Performance Conference – Liberty Hall, Dublin
