AGMA is ecstatic to formally introduce to you the newest members of AGMA’s professional staff.
“AGMA has added four business representatives and a visa consultant to its team,” said Leonard Egert, National Executive Director of AGMA. “The business reps will help the Union increase outreach and education as well as provide support to our negotiators across the country. The visa consultant is responsible for reviewing non-immigrant work visa petitions and issuing Advisory Opinion Letters for international artists coming to perform in the United States. Please join me in extending a heartfelt welcome to these new staff members.”
Brieanna Frye (she/her) joins us as one of the New York Business Representatives. She is originally from North Carolina (bred, not born) but has lived in Ohio, DC, and now New York City.
Before joining AGMA, Frye worked as a Paralegal at Mehri & Skalet, PLLC, a civil rights law firm. While there, she primarily worked on cases related to gender, racial, and disability discrimination in the workplace. She gained a plethora of experiences there, from supporting individual severance negotiations and fighting for pregnant workers to assisting in filming an NFL documentary.
She spent nearly five years working in non-profit operations at the National Abortion Federation Hotline. It was there where she discovered her passion for labor unions, having participated in creating and negotiating the organization’s first collective bargaining agreement. She is both pro-choice and pro-collective action.
She graduated with a BA in Economics from Oberlin College & Conservatory, where she gained an appreciation for the arts. After college, she traded in West African drumming for kickboxing and never looked back. Also, after four years of German, she professes to only be at a beginner level. While empathy was a learned trait, her humor is naturally self-deprecating.
Joshua Hong (he/him/his) brings both his experience as an opera singer and many years of demonstrated union leadership to the AGMA staff as Mid-Atlantic Business Representative.
In his 17-year career, he has performed with multiple AGMA signatories such as Opera Pacific, Washington National Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera. As an AGMA delegate, a member in multiple negotiation committees, an elected leader in the Washington-Baltimore Area Committee, and most recently as the Area Chair, he has a history of member engagement and communication and has experience in the negotiation of multiple contracts, side letters, and waivers.
He joins AGMA’s professional staff with a passion and commitment to the work of making meaningful impacts in the lives of artists, and with a collaborative problem-solving mindset to foster more productive and effective relationships with both AGMA members and signatories.
Western Business Representative Kate Maxted (she/her) is originally from Durango, Colorado, and connected with the Arts early on, starting dance classes at age three.
She pursued this passion during her high school years at Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts in Massachusetts and then accepted a trainee position at The Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. She went on to dance with Colorado Ballet, Ballet San Antonio, and Ballet Idaho, culminating in over a decade of professional performance experience. She was promoted to the rank of soloist during her time at both Ballet San Antonio and Ballet Idaho and was lauded for her musicality, precision, and stage presence.
Throughout her career, Maxted danced leading roles in ballets ranging from The Sleeping Beauty to George Balanchine’s Rubies. While dancing professionally, she also earned her BA in Arts Management from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and interned at the San Antonio Symphony and the McNay Art Museum. Maxted retired from performing professionally in 2021.
Maxted has utilized her education and background to advocate for her fellow artists in the workplace, gaining first-hand experience as both a non-union Dancer Representative and a union organizer. Outside of the Arts, she has also worked as a legal assistant, research associate, and project manager, most recently at MAPS PBC, an organization devoted to researching alternative mental health treatments.
She enjoys hiking, playing piano, volunteering, and spending time with her family, partner, and their two dogs.
Regina Vorria (she/her) has worked as a nonprofit performing arts Producer for over 10 years and joins AGMA as the Visa Consultant. She will support performing artists while facilitating international cultural mobility and exchange.
In her previous roles, Vorria has worked at acclaimed university performing arts presenting programs, such as PEAK Performances at Montclair State University, and with internationally renowned artists, including playwright and director Richard Maxwell.
She has produced and toured global productions in North and South America, Europe, and Africa, including venues and festivals such as Festival d’Automne, Festival TransAmériques, Théâtre Garonne, Onassis Cultural Center, The Kitchen, Abrons Arts Center, Walker Art Center, Wexner Center for the Arts, and On the Boards.
She holds an MFA in Theatre Management & Producing from Columbia University.
New York Business Representative Teddy Watler (he/him/his) is originally from Long Beach, California. He first began working with AGMA in 2018 as a Delegate at Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT).
Watler trained at the Long Beach Ballet and attended summer courses on scholarship at the San Francisco Ballet School and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. He joined OBT in 2017 as an Apprentice and was promoted to Company Artist in 2018. His repertory at OBT included the Cavalier in George Balanchine's The Nutcracker, the Jester in Ben Stevenson's Cinderella, and the principal couple in Alvin Ailey's Night Creature.
He rejoined AGMA in March 2021 as an Interim Consultant with AGMA’s Western Signatories before accepting the position of New York Business Representative. He has also worked as an Internal Organizer and Representative at the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) in San Francisco.
Watler holds degrees in Art History and Law, Letters, & Society from the University of Chicago. During his undergraduate studies, he held internships at the Getty Research Institute and the Smart Museum of Art. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and named a Student Marshal of the University of Chicago.