Toronto, Ontario.

Thursday, July 19, 2018.

 

In Attendance (in alphabetical order): Eric Armstrong, Christine Berg, John Nelles, David Smukler, Ausar Stewart, Sarah Weatherwax (minute taker and host).

 

Location, Sarah's backyard deck, east end of Toronto 139 Ashdale Ave. 

​

 

Eric: Why have this organization? What is the need? Is this a VASTA off shoot?

 

What is a voice teacher? (Eric calls himself a 'dialect designer' to garner respect for the work on par with designers.)  

 

Eric has offered Zoom webinars to bring us together across the country.

 

John: CAEA contracts for Voice Teachers working under CAEA's jurisdiction?

 

Accidents happen in the space – voice teacher not covered by any insurance.

And no benefits if there is no contract.

 

(reference fight director/choreographer model) 

 

How do Voice Teachers become CAEA members? Or perhaps they simply have a CAEA contract while working on a CAEA job....or we have people becoming CAEA members, who are not actors. 

 

Minimum wages? Production companies need to include us in their budgets, think in advance.

 

Working conditions? 

 

A master list of Voice Teachers: if they are available, hire from that list first (ref DGC model)

 

Grandfather into the association working voice teachers now? Established voice teachers grandfathered in?

 

Christine: This association could mean support for independent voice teachers as business people. 

 

Data as far as what we charge in theatres, with private clients, on set, in corporate environments. We do not want to lower the perceived value of our collective work by under-charging for our services.

Do not want the fees charged by voice teachers to be pre-determined by the association, leaving us with little flexibility. However, being able to refer to fee guidelines would be very helpful. 

 

The assoc. could bring a sense of community to voice teachers across the country, allow us to share information, create professional development opportunities...

 

David: So little time to do the work, less and less time for adequate voice training in academia, fewer people willing to/able to pay for intensives. How do we raise the profile of our work? 

 

How can we share new practices? 

 

Embodied voice or language/dialect work - two different areas of research and practice...

 

Sarah: Outlining credentials/training for joining our voice teacher association, while recognizing that legitimate training is available outside of the MFA academic model. 

 

However, legitimate voice teacher training is a must, not simply experience as a student of voice. (seconded by everyone at the table)

 

(Eric mentioned ref: PAVA model – or NATS, established members need to vouch for new members) Or perhaps a jury of peers assess applications.

 

Perhaps we can influence the academic model to accept 'MFA equivalents' more often for teaching positions, especially given that there are very, very few MFA's in teaching voice available in Canada. If the other well-established paths to teaching voice (extended training with a recognized Master Voice Teacher, for example, with an established set of criterion) are not recognized, then Canadians who want to teach in Canada will have to leave, and get an MFA abroad.   Or universities will have to simply begin hiring voice teachers from abroad, while we have qualified teachers here who are under-employed.

 

Is this for voice teachers only – at least at this point? Do we include speech language therapists? Other voice/speech professionals? Speech pathologists?

(Sarah thinks it needs to be voice teachers only – at least for now. We started the discussion, let's make this organization serve our needs first.)

 

Ausar: Adjunct teaching in academia will create a bleed out of qualified teachers. Non-trained voice teachers can be hired under a vague 'artist contract' to teach a voice class.

 

Common frustrations at the table: People seem unclear about what we do, what we can offer, young actors don't understand what a voice class is – we would like to demystify it. 

 

Do members of our voice association sign something that states we work ethically? Does this organization gives us a 'rubber stamp' as safe, ethical practitioners. Do we have to seek consent to put 'hands on...'

 

Perhaps this association can validate our special skill set, otherwise we will get lumped in with people who 'teach tips and tricks' and do not come from theatre, pedagogical principles.  We need to keep our identity as voice teachers.

 

As we struggle to make money, and become voice teacher/communication skills professionals/ acting teachers, etc. ... to remake ourselves and be financially healthy, and we lose the language of 'Voice Teaching,' and the understanding of what we do gets lost – how do directors/ producers find us, when they know they need something, but don't realize they need us.

 

Prioritize our association's agenda, realizing that running an organization is a lot of volunteer work...

We need to have set terms for people running it, have some turnover, to avoid burn out.

 

Is there a fee to join our organization? 

 

We are not necessarily in competition with VASTA...

 

Skype coaching - assisting each other in developing the new skills needed in our profession.