Press Releases Diversity

Actors’ Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, has filed an amicus brief in the Western District of Tennessee opposing the state’s first-in-the-nation law intended to limit drag shows.

President Kate Shindle and Executive Director Al Vincent, Jr. of Actors' Equity Association -- the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre -- have issued the following joint statement regarding Tennessee's new legislation restricting drag performance.

An Atypical Year Sees Some Progress

We are witnessing not just attacks on expression but attacks on existence. The recent rise in legislation limiting gender-affirming health care, as well as the increase in both physical and legal threats to drag performances, must be named for what they are: a coordinated attack that seeks to eradicate transgender people.

This Bill is Crucial to Protecting Workers from Racial Discrimination

Actors’ Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, has released the union’s third diversity and inclusion hiring bias report, tracking the demographics of how its members are hired for acting and stage management work, and how much they were paid in the year 2020.

Actors’ Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, has issued a statement in response to Georgia’s new voting laws, which, among other changes to the election system, drastically reduce the ability to vote by mail-in ballot and reduce measures that can shorten lines at polling places.

Actors' Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, released the following statement after news reports that the attacks against Asian Americans that began to spike during the pandemic persisted over the course of 2020, reaching a 150% increase over the year before.

Equity and Unions Call for Agenda That Includes Chief Diversity Officer at the National Endowment for the Arts

Study finds only “gradual, inconsistent” improvement for members from marginalized groups.