The LACE Survey
Millions of Americans are employed in the fields of live events, but their work is often hidden. Hoping to address that hidden labor by learning more about workers in the live events industry based on self-reported data from individual participants, The Ohio State University has launched the Live Arts, Culture, and Entertainment (LACE) Survey. Funded by USITT and The Ohio State University, the survey is being administered by SMU DataArts, the National Center for Arts Research at Southern Methodist University.
The 2022 LACE Survey serves as a companion to the 2021 USITT Entertainment Design & Technology Workforce Demographics Study (WDS). The WDS was the first study of its kind to explore the demographics of who is working in the design and technology industry. You can explore the various aspects and study results of the 2021 WDS on USITT’s in-depth study portal (www.usitt.org/wds).
The LACE survey should be taken by anyone who works in concert touring, theater and the performing arts, themed entertainment, museums, exhibitions, parade floats, haunted attractions, live music concerts, Houses of Worship, retail experiences, immersive environments, living history sites, or other live events in the arts, culture, or entertainment. Basically, if you are reading this in PLSN magazine, it is highly probable that you should take the LACE survey. The survey only takes five minutes to ensure your voice is counted in our industry. The processes used by SMU DataArts for collection, storage, and analysis of data ensure the anonymity of all respondents.
This national demographics survey will help better understand the broad range of workers and work done across the entertainment industry, establishing a baseline from which can be measured progress and growth. Helping create a more equitable, diverse, inclusive, and accessible industry is the goal of many organizations, but they can’t measure progress without knowing where everyone is right now.
Arts, culture, and creativity are major contributors to improving quality of life within communities, and the arts and culture sector is an important component of many local economies. Information gleaned can help communities and organizations better understand the demographics of their current workforces and those of the communities in which they operate. To remain relevant to, and representative of, our changing society, studies like the LACE survey provide key information that can inform decisions that ensure all community members have access to opportunities available within the arts and culture sector.
The survey, which opened on Sept. 12, 2022, will close on Nov. 4, 2022. Help make your work visible to our industry and beyond by taking the survey today. And be sure to tell your colleagues and co-workers, industry family and friends, to take the LACE survey as well.
You can take the LACE survey and learn more at https://culturaldata.org/pages/2022-lace-survey-of-workforce-demographics
Local USA 829 Demographics
United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, IATSE (www.usa829.org) has released its membership-wide demographic data to highlight an important internal issue and advocate for meaningful opportunities for underrepresented and often marginalized artists, designers, and professionals within the Local and across the entertainment industry.
Local USA 829 is the national labor union and creative community of artists, designers, and professionals working across the entertainment industry. For over 125 years, the Local has proudly represented and advocated for its members—which includes Scenic, Costume, Lighting, Sound, and Projection Designers; Scenic Artists; Computer Artists; Art and Costume Department Coordinators; and Scenic Shop workers—working in live performance, film, television, and commercials through collective bargaining, action, and solidarity.
“Our Local initiated our first ever demographic census to not only help the union better understand the landscape of our membership,” said National Business Agent Carl Mulert, “but having a complete picture of our union helps us advocate for every member at the bargaining table, in our conversations, and beyond our workplaces. Knowing the work, we have ahead of us to invite and include all means that we have a chance to strategically collaborate with our partners to foster an entertainment industry that is equitable and considerate of all working in the industry.”
With approximately 44.7% of the membership reporting, data from the Local USA 829 demographic census aligns with similar reports from other entertainment industry partners. The census revealed that a small majority of represented members identify as female (at 21.2%), a larger majority of our members (34.2%) identified as part of the white community, with strikingly smaller inclusion of members who identify as part of the Black Community (1.9%), Asian Community (2.7%), Latin/X Community (3.6%), Indigenous Community (0.4%), and the Middle Eastern/North African Community (0.6%).
“It is the start of a new entertainment season, and attention is being drawn not only to what stories are being told, but who is telling those stories,” said Local member and USA 829 Eastern Region Trustee Sherrice Mojgani, who co-led and facilitated the union’s census efforts. “At Local USA 829, we are storytellers, but this census data shows that our demographics do not reflect the makeup of the United States and our communities—the very source of our stories. We must work together, including employers, to build an industry that can fully support BIPOC workers, resulting in more diverse teams of storytellers and more dynamic stories. That works starts here in our union.”
Local USA 829 is dedicated to bolstering an inclusive, anti-racist entertainment industry, one in which provides sustained and significant opportunities for underrepresented artists and workers in our agreements and more broadly. The Local recently negotiated its Majors Agreement in which a historically exploited role often held by women and BIPOC workers, Costume Department Coordinators, was brought under contract representation across all television and film production in New York City. Additionally, through its Off-Broadway Agreement, the union established a Membership Candidate Program, a pathway for early career designers to gain work experience, network with peers, join the union, and enter the industry.
The data also highlights opportunities to further advocate for often unconsidered communities that face discrimination and bias on the job. For instance, the Local USA 829 census showed that 9.9% of its members are primary caregivers and 12.4% of participating members noted that they have dependents for whom they are responsible.
“After surveying who designs in LORT theaters by pronoun for several years, the release of the union’s demographic survey data gives new opportunities for research and action steps,” said Porsche McGovern, Local member and USA 829 Eastern Region Trustee. “Looking at this data with an intersectional lens will allow the union to address the impacts of oppression with an awareness of the complexity and nuance necessary for lasting change. For example, as caregiving disproportionately affects women, does that manifest as fewer contracts or less well-paid contracts or both or something completely different? How can the entertainment industry and society overcome the biases around care work?”
The union is committed to fostering an entertainment industry that embeds equity as a core tenet. Through union committees, negotiations, and education efforts, Local USA 829 is advancing this agenda, building mentorship and collaborative opportunities intended to shape and guide the communities that impact their colleagues and kin in entertainment.
“Our Union is committed to building a collaborative community that welcomes all,” said Local USA 829 President Edward Pierce. “That work starts here at home through education, engagement, listening, and, of course, collective action. All of us in the entertainment industry should heed the call to do better for our artists, for our audiences, and on behalf of our colleagues and kin.”
You can see the United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, IATSE, membership-wide demographic data at https://plsn.com/site/wp-content/uploads/Local-USA-829-Census-Data.pdf
