I’ve been on committees for my union in the past, but this time I am on more committees than I ever have been. It’s not a ton, especially compared to how many others might have, but it’s still more than just being on one. I’m always grateful to be selected for committees because there are only so many people who can be on them. And while I didn’t get on all the committees I wanted to be on, I was selected for a couple that I think I can really make an impact in and I’m excited about that.
For national committees, they usually have people who can meet in person and then have a virtual component so people at other locals can join in. And for some local committees I’ve been on before, they had a way to call in to listen to the meetings but it always felt a bit disconnected. I’ve never been able to attend a committee meeting in person before because they are always hours that I’m working. But I have called in to listen and I tried to follow along. But sometimes something is being shown on a screen or passed out during a meeting, and listening in means I miss out on that part of it (although we usually are emailed anything that is passed out after the meeting is done).
But since March of 2020, no meetings have been done in person. Everything is done virtually and they are doing them differently than how they were virtual before. Now, just like so many of us have experienced, these meetings are on Zoom. So it’s more involved than a phone call and the meetings have to share things ahead of time or in the Zoom meeting if there is a handout or something else we should see. And if there is a presentation during the meeting, they are done as a shared screen within Zoom.
I’m actually really grateful for this change and I hope they continue to do things this way even when the meetings are in person again. I know I will likely not be able to attend in person due to work, and I like being able to feel like I’m participating more than just listening on the phone. I can’t be on camera for these meetings due to rules with some day jobs, but that seems to be ok with everyone. I’m not the only one working during these, so at least it seems to be a common limitation that people have.
I haven’t had a meeting yet for the committee that I’m co-chair of yet, but I think that will be coming in January. But this week I had the meeting for the one local committee I’m a member of and the one national committee I’m an alternate of (for that committee, alternates attend all the meetings if they can). It did make this week a bit busy and crazy, but I am grateful to have these meetings to make me feel connected to my acting career more.
There were a lot of things I wanted to accomplish this year with my acting career, and honestly that was almost all put on the back burner for other reasons. I hate that I feel like I took several steps backward, and I can’t blame it all on the pandemic. There are things I wanted to do that didn’t rely on others or how open or closed things were. But this year ended up being focused more on a lot of other things, so I’ve been very disconnected from feeling like an actor. And while I would prefer to have more things in my life directly connected to my acting career such as auditions, I’m glad I have things like these committee meetings that remind me about the amazing acting community I’m a part of and motivate me to get back on track again.
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