Latest / Kvetch & Release / Essex Mayor responds to performers anger at request for unpaid performance

Transcript

Essex Mayor responds to performers anger at request for unpaid performance · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Well, let me tell you some musicians throughout Windsor and Essex are upset.
• 0:05
  They're protesting, and the reason being is that the annual Tune Up the Parks
• 0:10
  event in Essex, which does feature local musicians performing in green spaces during the
• 0:15
  summer months, find out that performers have been volunteering they're not getting paid.
• 0:20
  There was a post that went up about this year's this season's events and it
• 0:24
  made very clear that fact. But you know, people are upset and we're
• 0:27
  seeing this throughout local media right now. It's all over social media. Former
• 0:31
  mayoral candidate Chris Holt weighed in on it as well, with umbradge you could
• 0:36
  say, joining me right now to discuss is the Mayor of Essex, Sherry
• 0:41
  BONDI Hey, Sherry, how you doing? I'm well? How are you?
• 0:44
  I'm doing well? Thank you? Did I spin this in a wrong
• 0:48
  way? Whatsoever? I want to make sure that you know we're starting off
• 0:51
  on the right place here. No. I think it's your message is correct
• 0:55
  and this is the situation we're faced with. This isn't this isn't a new
• 0:58
  issue. This is something that we've been doing for many years, even before
• 1:03
  COVID during COVID we moved to doing it virtually, and I actually was a
• 1:07
  delegate at the time to the committee, the Arts Culture Tourism Committee, to
• 1:11
  say, how can we help musicians virtually because there was nowhere past the hat.
• 1:15
  But I understand where musicians are coming from. You know, nobody likes
• 1:19
  to work for free. But on the other side, I also understand where
• 1:23
  we're coming from as well. You know, we put a call for musicians,
• 1:26
  we usually you know, don't have an issue, and we do encourage
• 1:30
  passing the hat. So we're also stuck between a rock and a hard place.
• 1:34
  Yeah, you know, like I was in a band for about ten
• 1:38
  years longer or so, so the issue of getting paid as a ban and
• 1:40
  there were six of us, so you know, the bill was more than
• 1:42
  traditional three pieces. It's tough. I understand though that you know, at
• 1:48
  the outset, you're very clear about this. It's not like it's a bait
• 1:52
  and switch. It's not like people performed and they didn't get compensated. Are
• 1:56
  you surprised at all by the response? Well, it's you know, we've
• 2:00
  been doing it this way for a long time. It's well received by the
• 2:02
  community. I've talked to musicians that have gone and they said they've done quite
• 2:07
  well through the past the HAT. So it's a volunteer committee, you know
• 2:12
  when you think about it. Okay, So the volunteers that go set up
• 2:15
  and go introduce sacs and you know, meet every month all year to talk
• 2:19
  about setting this up. They don't get paid either, so you know,
• 2:22
  where do you draw the line? And you know, as a municipality for
• 2:25
  twenty twenty four, we didn't budget for this. So now we're like,
• 2:29
  okay, is this you know, I don't want to say it's going to
• 2:31
  be canceled, but we'd like to continue with this. It's all based on
• 2:35
  if musicians sign up to do it, then we go ahead, and they
• 2:38
  do do quite well with past the HAT. I do understand though, you
• 2:42
  know, I worked in the service industry. You know I wouldn't go to
• 2:45
  work for free, so I understand that. But it is voluntary, well,
• 2:50
  and that you know that does make sense. It is it's voluntary.
• 2:53
  As you said, the unions are getting involved in this, which is a
• 2:55
  statement that I didn't really think that would come up about this type of conversation,
• 3:00
  but it is the Musicians Union and they've engaged in conversations with the town.
• 3:02
  Do you have any update about that or know what they're suggesting. Well,
• 3:07
  I think there are a few folks that have reached out to our Arts
• 3:10
  Culture Tourism Committee and they've they've spoke to them, So that is one avenue.
• 3:15
  You know, people can delegate to the Art Culture Tourism Committee. I
• 3:19
  did share the delegation to council, but I think really it's it's at the
• 3:23
  committee level right now. So you know, why is it more of a
• 3:27
  deal this year than others. I think it's just how it got brought up
• 3:30
  on social media. So and we are a small municipality as well, like
• 3:36
  you know, don't We don't have big budgets. You know, we try
• 3:38
  to run as lean as we can. We try to keep costs down for
• 3:43
  taxpayers. The acts are not they're not long. It's you're not doing a
• 3:46
  whole night set. I know you have to bring your equipment, but this
• 3:50
  opens a whole big discussion. You know, how how much do we pay
• 3:53
  one person? How much do we pay you know, a five person gig?
• 3:57
  And you know some of these some of these there featured like an open
• 4:01
  mic night, you know, come on out and sing to the crowd,
• 4:04
  and a lot of times we get beginner musicians just trying out and practicing in
• 4:10
  front of a Crowd's that's the beauty of it, right as everybody comes out
• 4:14
  and they can take part in it. And again you're not holding a gun
• 4:15
  to anyone's head saying you've got to do this. You know, social media,
• 4:19
  it's just the thing is a sesspool. Sometimes it's interesting how this has,
• 4:25
  you know, brought itself up again, brought itself up in this way.
• 4:28
  But it's been happening this way for such a long time as you've been
• 4:31
  referring to, you know, just question out of a left field here,
• 4:36
  what about corporate sponsorship? Is that a conversation that you know, counsel might
• 4:40
  have so on my website in twenty twenty one when I approached the Acts Committee,
• 4:45
  that was one of the things I asked, said, you know,
• 4:46
  can we get ABC Construction to sponsor this gig tonight? And there really wasn't
• 4:51
  an appetite for it at the time. Maybe that could be revisited this time.
• 4:56
  I do know that we have one staff member who is second Cherry for
• 5:00
  that committee away, so's she's not in her office this week. So we
• 5:04
  can't we can't, you know, I can't answer that question yet because this
• 5:09
  all is kind of unfolded in the last you know, twenty four to forty
• 5:12
  eight hours. So we'll see what the committee. We'll see what the committee
• 5:15
  wants to do, in what direction they want to do. But we also
• 5:17
  have to remember that our committee members are all volunteers too. You know,
• 5:20
  sometimes people volunteer, and there's nothing wrong with volunteering as well. And if
• 5:26
  you can't afford to go out and play for just tips, then this probably
• 5:30
  isn't the gig for you either. Well, I think that this is probably
• 5:34
  a perfect place for us to end this conversation. Then I really appreciate you
• 5:39
  speaking to me on this matter. As you said, you know, the
• 5:42
  ball is still in the air right now on this one, with it having
• 5:45
  occurred the online discourse so recently. So I really appreciate your time speaking with
• 5:47
  me and given the audience a chance to hear the situation. Thank you,
• 5:51
  have a good evening. Thank you so much, mary Y Bye, Mayor
• 5:55
  of Essex. Sherry Bondy there, what do you think about this? You
• 5:58
  can text into ten to eight hundred. You can call five one nine seven
• 6:00
  nine two CKLW. What do you think when it comes to musicians getting paid
• 6:06
  for these type of events? Should the town provide a budget for it?
• 6:11
  Or is it you know, it's a volunteer thing that everyone knew at the
• 6:14
  outset. There was no bait and switch