SIGN THE PETITION

"I have been a performer for 17 years. Although my personal margins have increased since the age of 19 when I first entered the professional industry, they have been minimal and in the past 5 years I have seen only a $50 increase in my weekly wage."

"The last few years have been some of the hardest ever for the entertainment industry. A career in the performing arts has never been more unstable or unmanageable. We continue to press on through this because we love what we do so immensely and we love the culture and community of our industry in Australia."

"It is a fallacy that all Companies offer performers the opportunity to negotiate wages above the Award minimum. I have been working professionally as an actor for 35 years. I have just been offered a role for a Theatre Co that does not offer or pay actors above minimum. This is an industry where experience and expertise is often “rewarded” with minimum wages."

"Since working post-pandemic as an ensemble member in 2 major musicals my rate of pay hasn't increased and in one show has decreased since I started working professionally on stage in 2014. This is not the norm in any other industry. With myself and other ensemble members having to work second jobs during the day to make up for inadequate pay and riding cost of living."

"I'm a professional Performer! Meaning: I've poured my life into this profession; I've trained; I've honed; I've refined; I've sacrificed; I've won awards; I've inspired; I've shocked; I've worked my guts out; I've 'rested'; I've succeeded; I've failed; and I've done so for over 30 years. But I've rarely been paid 'adequately'!"

"We understand that it is a very tough time to be a producer. I am a producer too - an independent one - and I have experienced first hand how volatile the market is. It's scary out there. But producing a show cannot come at the cost of actors. So often it is the case, that fees increase for theatre hire, publicity, marketing, cleaning staff - and this is factored in, but then costs are made to the fees to actors."

"Jobbing actors have always known that consistent employment is not possible in the Australian industry and so have to have ‘day jobs’. The equity minimum is now so low that actors have to take a pay cut or somehow squeeze in other work. This is just not sustainable anymore and good actors are forced to turn down work. This will lead to a drop in quality."

"As a disabled actor, I have so many additional expenses and costs, and less opportunities for paid work. It is vital that our pay increases."

"If the wages could balance the rise in cost of living and sustaining a career in the arts (upkeep of skill, products etc), this would provide much more freedom for artists to stay within the industry, as well as make the community more accessible."

"I am 51, I have been performing in theatre since I was 6. I have a public profile. After tax and commission I earn less on the minimum pay rate than someone working at a local supermarket who is in stable, regular employment. I absolutely mean no disrespect to supermarket workers. Theatre is my first love, but it is pretty much now non-viable."

"My wage for a lead role has dropped significantly since 2019. It’s heartbreaking and soul crushing. As a performer of close to 40 years!"

"My salary has barely increased across my career in Australia. In 2018 I worked for $1650 a week, and just months later was offered a long tour by the same producer for the next show, with the offer coming in at $1400. I am turning to working abroad where I am paid accordingly to my experience and skill as a professional ~$2000+ a week."

"In 2023, I will have been a working actor for 40 years, on screen and stage. In screen, my experience and expertise is now acknowledged by a decent personal margin in my fee - not huge, I'm no marquee name, but it's respectful and recognises the value I bring to the project. On stage, I have no such respect from my theatrical employers.”

"As a disabled actor, I have so many additional expenses and costs, and less opportunities for paid work. It is vital that our pay increases."

"The only way I seem to see an increase in pay is by taking on more roles and responsibilities, yet inflation has meant that the cost of living is absurdly higher than our wages. Saving money whilst performing is more difficult than ever."

"Right now the minimum wage on PCA is barely able to cover rent and food, particularly where I live in Sydney. Often getting a performing gig has to be weighed up quite heavily as I'm able to earn more than the minimum LPA on my regular day job. This leads to a culture where performers aren't taking gigs because they simply can’t afford to lose money whilst doing them."

"We are highly skilled professionals who are sought out by producers for our talent and for that not to be reflected in our pay is insulting. The statement that our personal margins are increasing is false as negotiations within as much as $50 above minimum pay puts us at risk of asking for too much and threatened that our roles being offered to the next candidate."

"Most of the time our contracts are not lasting a complete 12 months and with shows being cancelled still our yearly pay is coming out to be less than other industries. I shouldn't be able to make more money a week teaching how to sing, dance and act than actually doing that on stage in front of 1500 paying audience members."

"There is an assumption that actors will always need the work, and that they're used to living off the smell of an oily rag, so they'll deal with the cut in wages. This has to stop. Actors are the lifeblood, and if you keep draining that blood, they get unwell and eventually 'die' - leaving the industry or falling into depression, anxiety, bad mental health and addiction."

"It is imperative that the equity minimum is raised to a liveable amount. Surely producers are aware that actors have to leave other jobs to accept a short term acting job, leaving them unemployed after the acting contract finishes. Lift the Equity minimum to ensure good actors stay in the profession without compromising their health and well-being."

"Wages in the performing arts has been stagnant against inflation and the cost of living has made serious impact on my savings and rent. If we do nothing about performance wages, the arts can no longer facilitate its performers to have a fruitful career, and the seize the existence of the Melbourne arts scene we hold dearly."

"I am 75 years old and still auditioning and performing. Life has got tough - cost of living has increased, mortgage rates continue to rise and the lockdowns and backlash from Covid almost decimated our industry. We lost contracted work opportunities and productions closed across the country. During that time of pause, it was artists who kept community afloat with online creative, innovative input replacing Live Performance. We are a resilient bunch! But we can't keep inventing new ways to create, entertain and inform without solid income."

"Stage work is hard and demanding; physically, emotionally and mentally. It is only appropriate that actors be paid a wage increase that recognizes the rising cost of living and peoples rising expenses attendant to that. Actors, or anyone in paid employment for that matter, should not be expected to do the same job for, in real terms, less money than what they were earning previously."

"A lot of actors and others working in the performing arts, have endured months of unemployment in every state, due to government lockdowns. People have not only seen their jobs disappear, but in many instances, due to a lack of government financial support, been forced to spend their hard-earned savings in order to just survive. Many actors have retrained and left the performing arts industry, never to return again."

“As a theatre job approaches, my expectation is that I will be offered Equity minimum only - the same entry level wage, in real terms, as I was offered 40 years ago. Any offer above that is a rare thing, a complete surprise, and usually only token. It is just not true that performers are enjoying margins that absorb incremental increases. Get real about wages."

"A few months ago I worked on a production that paid me at half the weekly rate I received from the same network 4 years ago. Living costs have increased so significantly in the last few years, at the same time as pay rates have; either stayed the same, or in a lot of cases decreased significantly. Pay needs to increase for this industry to remain in growth. The expectation put on performers to wear the increasing costs of production just isn't fair or right."

"Since working post-pandemic as an ensemble member in 2 major musicals my rate of pay hasn't increased and in one specific show has decreased since I started working professionally on stage in 2014. This is not the norm in any other industry I know of. With myself and other ensemble members having to work second jobs during the day to make up for inadequate pay and riding cost of living. We a highly skilled professionals who are sought out by producers for our talent and for that not to be reflected in our pay is insulting."

"The cost of living for Australians has increased exponentially across the board. The pressure this places on artists - on top of that felt through/ post the pandemic - is greatly effecting our day to day lifestyle and putting an insane amount of stress on our ability to survive. I am fortunate to have had intermittent work these past 2 years, however the time spent working leaves me with nothing to show for it as our wages do not match the cost of any persons basic financial outgoings. It is imperative that artist wages rise to meet this demand. My fear is a community of artists that are stressed, tired, overworked and poor."

"Please increase wages in accordance with inflation increases. Each year becomes more difficult to stay financially afloat or to save money. We are essentially taking a pay cut with wages at a standstill."

"So many trained, experienced, recognisable Australian talent have had to move out of work in the arts as they can't afford to continue to work in the arts. I'm not talking about just 'out of work' actors either. These are actors who were busy working on stage and on commercials but still not earning enough to support their families."

“I’m paying 700 more a month on my mortgage alone. The cost of living has gone through the roof and it’s difficult at times to make ends meet. A pay increase would definitely help with this situation. It’s always a shame that it has to come to this to get any more money for the hard work we all do. Hopefully this will help us.”

“With the rising cost of living, and the uncertainty and often infrequency of their employment, performers deserve a fair and decent pay rise. We not only entertain but often inform, educate, and enlighten people. Performers are just as entitled as anyone else to be paid decent money for what they do. We deserve a fair and appropriate pay increase.”

“The increasing cost of living and the impact of lockdowns continues to affect felt me as a performer. I can’t get enough work to live on.”

“As a casual or self-employed person there is a constant niggle of the future. There is no sick pay or Super. It is an industry that thrives on now. Cost of living seems to on the increase everywhere.”

“I’ve worked in this industry for 35 years. I don’t have another job. And like many actors I’m not working at the moment. I need my wage to keep up with the rise in the cost of living in order to only be moderately worse off. This is a very uncertain profession and we absolutely rely on our salaries rising with inflation.

“The strain of this work is deeply felt after the trauma of covid shutdowns, loss of work, and now especially with the rising cost of living. We have watched other industries receive pay rises to suit inflation, and yet we haven’t received a rise in pay since 2019. I am watching exceptional performers lose faith and change careers at an alarming rate because it is too hard to not be paid adequately for our work.”