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NEW YORK, May 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ The MPTF has announced plans to significantly increase the annual distribution of grants now $2.2 million to communities in the U.S. and Canada to fund admission-free, live musical performances beginning May 1, 2021. Plans signal an expectation for the return of in-person events as the COVID-19 pandemic begins to subside. To help ensure live music s safe return, the MPTF is encouraging local union representatives of the American Federation of Musicians to work with state and local health officials to implement event safety guidance from the Centers for Disease Control of the United States and the Public Health Agency of Canada, adjusting to meet the unique needs and circumstances of the local community.
6:03 Before the coronavirus pandemic shut down Broadway, Bill Whitaker drove every week from his home in Connecticut to New York City, where he performed in “Phantom of the Opera” as a bass trombonist. This was Whitaker’s main gig for 19 years, but he had many others.
Throughout those years, he was a union member, and while he never expected a lavish retirement, he figured he would get something from his musicians pension. But when the pandemic hit and the music stopped, so did pension contributions from his multiple employers. He worried about an uncertain future.
“Obviously, you work for a very long time and you’d like to be thinking that when you put money away, when you do retire, that you’ve worked long and hard and that you have money that you can retire on,” Whitaker said. “There have been contributions made on my behalf in the pension fund since 1987.”
The Philharmonic and American Federation of Musicians Local 58 began contract negotiations about two years ago to replace the agreement that expired i .
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Presented by MusicFIRST Coalition, which represents the American Federation of Musicians, the
Recording
The Recording Academy and other music groups, accused the
National Association of Broadcasters today of perpetrating a “misinformation campaign” by encouraging lawmakers to support a congressional resolution opposing artists earning royalties or other compensation when their music is played on broadcast radio.