Last Month at the Local

Our new Executive Board was sworn in and had its first meeting on January 3. We welcome new Directors Richard Bravo, Matt Corey, and Bob Folse, as well as the promotion of Director Charles Reskin to President and Director Iris van Eck to VP.

At the beginning of the month, President Reskin and Secretary-Treasurer Apana met with the Broward AFLCIO field representative, and they also both attended the AFLCIO meeting at the end of the month. We hope to build a better relationship with other unions such as IATSE, SAG-AFTRA, the teachers' unions, and others. The more allies we have in the community, the stronger we will be.

Reskin and Apana, along with the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra Committee, met with the PBO management to discuss ways to deal with inclement weather at future outdoor Waterfront concerts. Later in the month, Reskin and Apana also attended the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra Musicians Association meeting, where they discussed the Waterfront Concert cancellation, the importance of AFM membership, and observed nominations for a new orchestra committee. Congratulations to new PBO OC member Andrew Proctor, and thanks to outgoing OC chair Karen Dixon for her many years of service. Luckily Karen is continuing to serve as Director on the Local Executive Board...she has been a great spokesperson for the interests of the musicians she represents.

Last month Reskin and Apana also met with Mark Neuenschwander, the new contractor for the Kravis Broadway Series. Mark has been the contractor for the Kravis Pops series since its inception, and we are happy that he was willing to meet with us. The Kravis Broadway Series will be covered by AFM contracts for the first time thanks to Mark. The Executive Board granted a variance to the scales for this first season, but we are working with Mark to get the scales up to where they need to be, and we thank Mark for his willingness to work with us on this.

We've picked up a lot of momentum at the start of this new term of office, and we hope the Local will continue to be more visible and active in the months to come. If you want to help us keep up the momentum, please consider serving on a committee. We are always looking for more people to help champion the interests of working musicians in our community.