This is a reminder that the Staging Staff Caucus will host an Organizing 101 presentation on Monday, March 21 at 9:00 p.m. ET.
Joining together in union gives artists the power to shape and improve their workplaces and their industries. The presentation will focus on organizing new companies as well as organizing new bargaining units within existing AGMA signatory companies. Joining the Caucus is special guest speaker Griff Braun, AGMA's National Organizing Director.
Braun will present an overview of union organizing and talk about the opportunities and challenges surrounding the organizing of Directors, Choreographers, Stage Managers, Fight Directors, and all their assistants and associates at both opera and dance companies.
All AGMA Staging Staff members in good standing are encouraged to attend. Please register here. If you have already registered, you do not need to do so again! The Zoom details will be sent in the days leading up to the event. We hope you can join us as we discuss how we can support AGMA's unionization efforts across the country.
Griff Braun joined AGMA’s professional staff as a Negotiator in 2014 and was promoted to Director of Organizing and Outreach in 2019. His title changed to National Organizing Director in 2022.
Prior to joining AGMA’s staff, Braun had a successful career as a professional dancer. Throughout Braun’s career as an artist, he was an active AGMA member and leader, serving as a union delegate and participating as both a member and the Chair of several negotiating committees, with both ABT and the Met.
Braun completed a BA in both dance and American History at SUNY Empire State College while still performing. He also received a Graduate Certificate in Labor Relations in 2017 from the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies.
As an AGMA staff member, Braun has served as the lead negotiator in bargaining with numerous signatory companies, has led multiple new organizing campaigns, and expanded AGMA’s capacity for member engagement. He has also served as the AGMA staff liaison to the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO, the Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds (COBUG), Dance Artists National Collective (DANC), and The Actors Fund.