The Story: Interview - Arden Ryshpan, Canadian Actors' Equity Association Executive Director

(photo credit: Michael Cooper)

A Woman of Some Importance
We have to educate our friends, families and neighbours to see arts and culture as a part of the fabric of our society that is as integral as universal health care.

Arden Ryshpan has been an arts activist almost since birth. She is the daughter of actor, Howard, and her mother, Virginia, was an essential part of the ACTRA machine (as was Arden who served on its board). Now, as Executive Director of the stage-performers' association, she and her board are facing difficult times. But art thrives in Toronto (where the majority of Equity members live) even when the process of governing takes time.

CHARPO: What are the special issues CAEA faces in Toronto?
RYSHPAN: The issues really aren't that different from city to city, province to province. Of course, there are nuances and different concerns rise to the top of the list depending on where you live but for the most part, the struggles facing people trying to create theatre are the same everywhere. It just comes in a slightly different political package. The majority of Equity members live in Toronto. What is an issue for 30 people somewhere else is an issue for 300 here in Toronto so the sheer numbers tend to tip the balance. The issues aren't new - not enough work, not enough affordable rehearsal space for people trying to create their own work, our own policies that contain conditions that aren't that helpful to smaller companies, how to use media cleverly in order for the public to hear about your show and choose it over the huge number of other options they have here in Toronto - these issues are shared ,in some part, with every region in the country.  One thing that is a bit different here is that we don't have the same kind of support for the arts from the Mayor that other cities do.
Creating that survey, getting it out, analysing the data and writing policy for me to follow took longer than they (or anyone) expected.

CHARPO: You've been quite publicly criticized for the organization's stance on indie shows. How goes that relationship now?
RYSHPAN: Well, I inherited the Indie and Co-Op policies. I believe that they were created with the terms and conditions that seemed appropriate at the time. But the times have changed and theatre is made differently now, and people also want to make a different kind of theatre. It became increasingly clear (to all of us) that those policies, as well as the Festival Waiver, weren't working. But I was still working through my first complete negotiation cycle (note: most of the agreements are on a 3 year cycle so every year we are negotiating several agreements and so it takes a full 3 years to renegotiate all our agreements) and didn't have a complete picture of what the landscape was. Council took up the issue and commissioned a significant survey of the membership. Creating that survey, getting it out, analysing the data and writing policy for me to follow took longer than they (or anyone) expected. I think the delay between the time the survey went out and the time that Council wrote new policy caused the people who work under these agreements to get pretty angry. I've said it before and I'll say it again - although that process took longer than anyone had hoped, Council and the Independent Theatre Review Committee weren't wasting time or putting it on the back burner or ignoring the issue. The elected officials are all volunteers and are out there working in theatre themselves and people's schedules just made it very hard for them to do the work any faster. In the midst of that, we did roll out a new Festival Waiver which has been very successful. Work weeks under the new Festival Waiver more than tripled from the year before.

Unfortunately, because the work was behind schedule, when Council did complete its work and handed it off to me, it ran right into Canadian Theatre Agreement negotiations. I have had to squeeze this in during a very busy period. The two new policies are pretty well done and now we're starting to actually prepare the documents themselves, including the contract forms. I am pretty sure that no matter what we deliver, we won't satisfy everyone - that's just how life is. But the survey results were very clear on some issues and the ones the survey wasn't clear on, I took around the country to talk to people about and the policies will reflect the member's responses. They will be infinitely more flexible, less burdensome administratively and easier to use. Will they do everything every individual thinks it should? Truthfully, I'll be happy if they meet most people's needs most of the time.

I think that Equity has very good labour relations (for want of a better way to express it) with all of our bargaining partners.

CHARPO: Is there a situation, in Toronto or elsewhere in the country, that could cause out and out labour strife?
RYSHPAN: At the moment, no, I can't think of anything. We've just finished a new agreement with Professional Association of Canadian Theatres that I think is a really progressive approach to creating theatre in this country. We've got negotiations coming up in the next two years with all of our opera and ballet companies and they each have unique issues we'll have to deal with but I don't anticipate anything horrible like significant rollbacks in fees. It takes a proposal which would effectively gut key principles or fees in an agreement to create real labour strife. While negotiation is, by its very nature,  confrontational, I think that Equity has very good labour relations (for want of a better way to express it) with all of our bargaining partners. You have to - you can't be in a negative relationship with the engagers all the time or life will be miserable for everybody. You always hope to build up a reservoir of good will between the parties that you can draw on for those inevitable times when you don't agree. That good will helps you find a solution in a way that doesn't damage the relationship.

CHARPO: How do you, personally, see the climate for culture in this country?
RYSHPAN: Ugh. That's another story. I wish I had more time to spend in Ottawa and in the provincial capitals. The fact that we are a part of the only sector of the economy that is growing steadily, is something that just doesn't seem to be registering with many politicians. I think it may be because it is inconsistent with what we have been told about ourselves as a country - that we are a resource based economy - that what we have is forestry, fisheries and mining. Well, we've cut down too many of the trees, there aren't any fish left in the sea and we no longer use all the stuff we used to dig out of the ground. But our federal government continues to look at massive support mechanisms for industries that seem to be in decline and neglects to support arts and culture which is part of the new economy. 

We have to educate our friends, families and neighbours to see arts and culture as a part of the fabric of our society that is as integral as universal health care. Once the citizens of this country believe in the value of the arts and are prepared to express that, it will be much harder for politicians to neglect or reduce their support. 

The idea that poverty builds character isn't true.

CHARPO:  ...in Toronto?

RYSHPAN: Well, the arts and culture community has an interesting relationship with the Mayor. His initial attempts to radically slash and burn many city programs was soundly rejected by other City Councillors. However, the City owns several key theatrical spaces in town and the City  is looking to divest themselves of the responsibility for the properties. While two of them are currently "commercial" spaces, the third is home to a long list of not-for-profit theatre companies that could well be left homeless if new owners chose not to continue the current arrangements.
All that said, we are not in a good time economically and no one is seeing a significant improvement on the horizon. I suspect most of us in this business are going to spend the next few years just trying to hang on to what we have now and hope that inflation doesn't erode too much of it away before the economy truly recovers. The idea that poverty builds character isn't true. And in our business, poverty just means that more and more people have to leave the business in order to keep a roof over their heads. And there's nothing about that scenario that creates great art.