ARTA’s History and Foundation

Who we are, what we are, and why we are.

ARTA’s Mission

ARTA (Association of Regional Theatre Artists)’s mission is to provide its members with community, advocacy, education and opportunity, enhancing the richness of the live theatre produced in the WNY region. ARTA is committed to identifying and eliminating unfair and unsafe practices in our industry. We foster equity, camaraderie, and community among our members in order to enrich, inspire, and empower them to advocate for themselves, their work, and each other.

Because the art you create matters.

In May of 2019, eleven professional theater artists met at the Crane Branch Library in the historic Elmwood Village in Buffalo, NY to discuss ways in which theater practitioners in Western New York could come together to create a collective voice that would positively impact both working theater artists and the theaters that employ them.

With no union theaters and almost no opportunity to join a union, the vast majority of theater professionals in our region had little to no recourse when it came to wanting to raise standards of policies regarding important topics, including:

Shakespeare in Delaware Park

Shakespeare in Delaware Park

By August of the same year, 11 had organically grown to 54 (our founding members). We created an official Facebook group and, after a successful membership drive in September 2019, ARTA grew to over 200 members. As of January 2021, ARTA has over 390 members - a nearly 100% increase in one year’s time.

As the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, ARTA established itself as an agile trade association. During the pandemic we created our digital village of theater practitioners, eager not just for work, but eager to make changes in our industry and community that positively impact our artists, our theaters, the richness of the works we all produce together and the lives of our audiences.

After a full year we recently made great changes in leadership and now have a team poised to pivot on a dime as the needs and dynamics of our theaters and artists remain up in the air and subject to drastic changes at a moments notice.

As this very short and very new history is being written about at present, we aren’t yet at the post-pandemic phase, but we are looking forward to sharing future successes as they become a part of our history during and following this unprecedented time.

  • equity, diversity & inclusion for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC)

  • auditions

  • physical safety

  • emotional safety in a vulnerable creative environment

  • sexual harassment

  • practitioner education

  • leadership equity

  • casting

  • employment and works produced

These theater practitioners, who are all part of the same geographic labor force and consistently work for multiple theatrical employers in the Western New York area, recognized a need to establish a consistent community of theater practitioners with shared goals and passions that could help support and teach each other as they navigate the exciting but often inconsistent and confusing path of a life in the theater.

ARTA’s foundational pillars

 

COMMUNITY

ARTA strives to strengthen relationships amongst all players within the Western New York theater industry through networking, showcasing, and other opportunities. We provide advice and guidance to members on preferred industry standards while adhering to the guiding idea of camaraderie, consistency, and care.

 

EDUCATION

ARTA is creating programs, implementing workshops and forums, and providing educational opportunities to its member base. This work is intended to help members develop their craft, enhance their understanding of the theater business, and expand professional opportunity with the Western New York theatre community.

ADVOCACY

ARTA promotes and protects the interests of theater practitioners, including their rights to proper working conditions, physical and emotional safety, and artistic integrity. It is our intent to work with theatrical employers and ARTA members on best practices to educate and advocate for the common good of both parties.

 

OPPORTUNITY

ARTA is providing networking opportunities, promoting theatrical work of, and developing performance showcase opportunities for ARTA members. ARTA is also providing an opportunity for every theater practitioner - from professional to community, educational to corporate - to have a voice within the Western New York theatre community.