Arts & Entertainment Unions Launch ‘Reimagining Federal Support for the Arts and Public Media’ Policy Agenda – IATSE

The Arts, Entertainment, and Media Industries (AEMI) coalition – twelve national unions within the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE), including IATSE – launched the Reimagining Federal Support for the Arts and Public Media policy agenda, Tuesday.

The policy agenda puts forward a reimagined approach to federal support for the nonprofit arts and public media that will sustain the sector’s success for the long term and ensure arts, entertainment, and media workers can continue to earn a living working in the sector.

As the union behind entertainment, we know that funding for the arts directly impacts job growth and work for IATSE skilled craftspeople. Many IATSE members work on nonprofit productions and programs that receive federal funding. Even more employed now in the commercial sector established their careers through federally supported work in the nonprofit cultural sector.

Federal arts agencies – like the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) – support working families, bolster local economies, and ensure all Americans have access to the arts and entertainment. IATSE has long advocated for increased investment in the federal arts agencies, with a goal of funding the agencies at $1 per capita (~$336 million). The voices of the IATSE membership played a vital role in delivering a record-high funding level of $207 million for the NEA and NEH in 2023.

Informed by the experiences of our members, we believe that reimagining federal support to fuel sustainable careers in the nonprofit arts and public media will not only require increased funding for the NEA, NEH, and CPB, but also strengthening labor protections in federally funded projects, ensuring a greater worker voice in the federal grantmaking process, and modernizing grantmaking guidelines.

Taxpayer money should encourage high-road employment practices that raise industry standards and strengthen local economies. In the arts, entertainment, and media industries, uniform labor protections and workplace safety requirements not only ensure the well-being of employees, but also increase productivity in environments where workers frequently move from job to job and level the playing field for federally funded employers by preventing anti-competitive tactics like lowballing workers, taking shortcuts on safety, and union-busting. Specifically, policymakers must strengthen the NEA/NEH prevailing wage requirements and create, and enforce, civil penalties in cases where employers violate the law.

Union professionals are also integral to the success of nonprofit arts and public media and should have a say in how federal arts funding is allocated. Involvement of union professionals in grantmaking ensures that funds are used effectively and that employment standards are upheld. Prioritizing seats for worker advocates on the National Council on the Arts, the National Council on the Humanities, and the CPB’s Board of Directors will ensure essential worker perspectives are included in decisions to best support programming.

Finally, sustainable careers in the nonprofit arts and public media requires that the employing organizations receive sufficient support to sustain their operations, not just for specific projects. Current smaller-dollar, project-specific grants do not provide the necessary stability for organizations to sustain long-term operations and employment for union workers across seasons. Policymakers must authorize larger-dollar general operating grants through NEA, NEH, and CPB with a focus on employment impact and strong labor protections, ensuring that these institutions continue to be vital economic drivers in their communities.

IATSE is committed to achieving the federal policy goals laid out in this agenda. Reimagining federal support for the arts and public media is crucial for maintaining and enhancing the economic and cultural vitality of these sectors in our country. Strengthened labor protections, greater worker involvement in grantmaking, and modernized grant structures will ensure that nonprofit arts and public media can continue to thrive, bolster the commercial sector, and continue to enrich the lives of all Americans.