Adaptability: As an actor. As a union.

By Ferne Downey

My brother Kevin is a very gifted architect. Recently I was suffering through a home renovation inconveniently timed to coincide with a heat wave, and he was a steady source of inspiration. To my despair the eccentricities of my 105-year-old house began to defeat elements of our carefully planned modifications. But as problems arose new solutions came to mind. Kevin was quick to observe that, “adaptability is a great strength in design.” That phrase resonated with me – adaptability in life overall is a great strength. Those who thrive under duress are those people who are able to adapt to the changes around them.

And then Stephen Waddell wrote his story in the new issue of InterACTRA about adaptability, and the chord was struck again. That’s it. Adapt intelligently to the curveballs the world throws and never stop adapting. The alternative is to become rigid and unyielding, to get out of step, fall behind and fall by the wayside. As an actor and union leader, I certainly don’t want that for myself or ACTRA.

Drake and Ferne Downey

One of our members, Drake, is for me the embodiment of the great potential of our changing times. He went from being one of the young stars of DeGrassi: The Next Generation to being international hip hop royalty in large part because of his adaptability. He took his passion for music, posted mixtapes on his Myspace page, and created such a buzz that by the time he released his third mixtape it was downloaded more than 2,000 times in two hours. The Grammy-nominated, Juno-winning artist also created his own sold out music festival in Toronto this summer with a who’s who of hip hop royalty showing up to support him. And he’s still acting – most recently voicing the video game Gears of War 3.

Why am I going on about this most fortunate of men? Drake is versatile and his talent for re-invention is strong. He’s in the driver’s seat, creating new opportunities for himself and he’s using digital media to his advantage. These are all things that we will need to keep doing in this digital revolution, as performers and as a union. And we are doing it. In this issue we read first-hand how every facet of our work is changing and how we are adapting with aplomb. TV actors are becoming videogame heroes by donning performance capture suits and performers are taking the initiative to create their own web-based series.

Our union is also adapting with us. We are shaping all our collective agreements from the IPA to the NCA to the Audio Code to meet the new realities of our work and make certain the new opportunities technology offers are well covered in our jurisdiction. We are also fighting tooth and nail to make sure that our copyrights as performers are recognized and protected. The IWORKACTRA organizing campaign is in full flight and we are strengthening and broadening our jurisdiction.

ACTRA’s National Council met in late May and discussed our membership rules in light of contemporary research and analysis. And it’s time for a change there too – we need to be more welcoming to young members; we need to be more welcoming to diverse members; we need to embrace those graduating from accredited universities or colleges with a performance degree. It is crystal clear that our current membership rules no longer fulfill their purpose. Going forward our union ’s membership rules need to be fair for all – and with your support they will be.

If you’re adaptable you stay one step ahead of the game. Happily that’s where ACTRA and our members have been for most of our 67-year history. That’s exactly where we are now. Let’s keep that stride together and flourish.

In solidarity,
Ferne Downey
ACTRA National President