The purpose of the DFW Musicians COVID-19 Relief Fund is to provide assistance for freelance members of Local 72-147 who do not have guaranteed income and benefits under collective bargaining agreements, and who are in severe hardship situations due to lost income from cancelled freelance jobs. To donate or apply for financial relief go to www.musiciansdfw.org.
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I wanted to write a quick note about membership dues. Recently the International Executive Board of the AFM released some Emergency Pandemic Policy Recommendations, a few of which your Executive Board adopted on April 9th.
As of that date, we will be waiving all late fees for currently unpaid 2020 dues.
Read moreWith the Passage of the CARES Act on March 27, The Federal Government is subsidizing important unemployment benefits that now cover musicians who have lost work due to the Covid-19 Crisis.
This new legislation gives jobless musicians and other working people larger unemployment benefits over a longer period of time—including those who rely on freelance jobs. For the first time, musicians whose work is covered by 1099s are eligible for benefits – if they are out of work due to the COVID-19 shut down – and they have every right to apply.
As spring 2020 approached, Local 72-147 was preparing for one of the busiest negotiating seasons in many years, with the musicians of the Dallas and Fort Worth Symphonies, the Dallas Opera Orchestra, East Texas Symphony and Dallas Summer Musicals all preparing to negotiate successor agreements with their managements. With the outbreak of COVID-19 creating a shutdown of public gatherings and stay-at-home orders for individuals across DFW, these musicians found themselves with current performance seasons shuttered. Previously unimaginable, force majeure provisions were invoked by some employers, and others through application for SBA PPP loans made available through the CARES Act, passed on March
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