SUPPORTING NZ’S YOUNG AT ARTS
Equity New Zealand’s Youth Committee is an exciting initiative aimed at assisting creatives aged 18 to 35 to have fulfilling careers. Founding member Muna Arbon shares her experience of the committee’s first major event, a weekend-long festival of information and ideas.
When I saw the call-out for young creatives to join the Equity Youth Committee, I felt it would be a positive experience, so I put up my hand. A year later, I’m glad I did, as I have learnt so much and met a great bunch of people. Being part of a like-minded group who are willing to share ideas, personal experiences, industry knowledge, union backing and the joy of creativity has been fabulous. We have already achieved so much and are excited to continue working for our youth members.
A lot of credit is due to our wonderful committee leader, Marianne Infante, because this whole thing grew out of an exciting idea she had after attending the International Federation of Actors executive conference in London in October 2022. When she returned to New Zealand, she decided to see if local Equity could pull together its own youth committee, aimed at members aged 18 to 35, saying, “Knowing how energised and hungry we NZ actors are for better opportunities and working conditions… formalising this level of union support locally to secure, educate and engage with the future leaders of this industry… our NZ actors will continue to thrive, locally and internationally, and therefore our industry will blossom and grow, too.”
During my first session with the committee, we discussed our vision and potential mission statement. This involved articulating not only what being part of the committee meant for us personally but also what we wanted to achieve for the youth of Aotearoa. It was a gorgeous evening that resulted in a few happy tears from members who were feeling so hopeful for the future and what we were striving to do.
The Equity Youth Committee’s vision is: “An Aotearoa which supports young performing artists to have a sustainable and healthy career.” Our mission, that we are working hard towards, is: “The Equity Youth Committee builds and represents a community of youth artists that feel empowered within the wider performing arts industry. We provide support, opportunities and resources that allow young artists to build sustainable careers, such as workshops, ongoing training and mentorships. We empower youth to have a voice and be heard within our industry, and advocate for their safety and rights to be respected and upheld.” And boy, what an epic start we have made towards achieving those goals!
Our first event was formulated from committee members’ ‘dream lists’. Essentially, if we could have anything we wanted for ourselves and our youth members, what would it be? We asked ourselves what our youth needed and how we could help all levels of experience in that 18 to 35 age range, from the beginning stages of a life in the arts to an established career that just needs a little guidance. From those questions and dream lists, The Equity Youth Festival was born − a weekend dedicated to empowering youth by supporting them to have sustainable and healthy careers in the arts. We felt the best way to do this was to pull in the big dogs, the ones who are out there doing it, so we started the search for panellists to talk to our youth members and answer their burning questions.
We kicked off the weekend with a Making/Slashing panel with amazing creators Rutene Spooner, Nathan Joe and Victoria Boult. Committee member and host, Megan Goldsman, asked all the right questions to get the best info from our panellists about producing, writing and creating original work.
Next up, we had the Actor and Agent Relationship panel, hosted by Marianne Infante, that included agents Ascia Maybury from Kathryn Rawlings Actors and Eve Carvell from Gail Cowan Management, and actor Anna-Maree Thomas. This kōrero was all about building a flourishing professional relationship with your agent and debunking actor/agent myths.
The room was fizzing for our Young Working Actors panel, hosted by Zoe Crane, as everyone could relate to our awesome panellists, Arlo Green, Tatum Warren-Ngata and Te Ao o Hinepehinga. This was a chance for our youth to hear the experiences of young creatives, with some good belly laughs along the way.
A panel everyone was waiting for was the Casting Directors in Kōrero, hosted by Hannah Doogan. People were excited to gain insight into what happens in the casting room from Eryn Wilson and Tim Carlsen, who sit on both sides of that room as actors and CDs. The super-informative talk helped with those nerves we all have about auditioning and it turns out casting directors want you to do the best performance possible… who knew!
We were lucky enough to get David Van Horn in to teach The Art of Self-Taping. Committee members Erin O’Flaherty and Lucas Haugh volunteered their acting skills to help show us how it’s done. This workshop was a great reminder that the future of auditioning is the self-tape, so every actor needs to know the basics.
Our last panel for day one was Sustaining a Career, with New Zealand acting royalty Sara Wiseman, Nicola Kāwana, Hannah Marshall and Joel Tobeck. I was lucky enough to host this group of legends and ask questions about how to be in it for the long haul. The conversation was informative and honest, enabling the youth participants to envision themselves having a long career in the arts. What more could we have asked for?
Day two started with a big group hui. We talked about the union and the youth committee, and discussed general queries from the group as a whole with committee members Dryw McArthur, Dea Doglione and Marianne Infante. This was a great way to encourage youth members to speak up and voice their thoughts about unionism. Then people from the Young Workers Resource Centre joined us to chat about rights and members responded with loads of questions regarding the various jobs they have outside of acting.
Equity president Jennifer Ward-Lealand then ran a Union Leadership Kōrero and it was so special to have our leaders passing on their knowledge.
Next up was a workshop by Estelle Chout on Finances as a Self-employed Artist. The fact that everyone was so engaged with this mahi and curious about furthering themselves in this space led to the idea of having another workshop solely dedicated to finances. The committee heard you and is onto it!
When the weekend wrapped up, every attendee left with something to think about, whether it was insight from a panellist, a new connection made, clearer understanding of GST, a new fave snack (we were catered) or, like myself, a warm fuzzy feeling about unionism and how epic the people in our industry are.
It was an honour to be part of this groundbreaking weekend, the first put on by youth for youth. I believe we are well on track to achieving our mission and I can’t wait to see what else we can put together for the young artists of Aotearoa. We’ve only just begun.
Muna Arbon graduated with a Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts in 2017. She has had a varied career, on stage and screen, and also as an art director behind the scenes. In recent years, she started a production company with her best friends called Magnetic Boots Productions. She is a committed member of the Equity Youth Committee.
