Driving for Dollars

I am one of the musicians featured in the the film Freeway Philharmonic created by Tal Skloot [one of our panelists] and Steven Baigel. Six of the musicians featured in the film went to a public showing at a small movie theater in El Cerrito, California last Tuesday. It was the first time I had seen this version of the film and it was a blast to watch. After the film the musicians and the film makers took part in a Q&A session with the sold out audience. It was very inspiring to see how the audience was moved by the film. It made me appreciate what we do more than I ever did, kind of like looking at myself from a distance.

What really hit home for me though was how freelance musicians, film makers, etc. need a support system. Those of us that do this for a living and have health insurance pay for it ourselves, unless we are married to someone that has an employer that provides it. There is no paid maternity leave at all and no paid sick days in many of the orchestras we play in. Kale Cumings [another panelist], one of the other musicians in the film and a good friend of mine, was telling me about the health care set up in Los Angeles, which sounds viable, but would require those of us that already have health care provided to give up a raise or some other benefit in order to provide for those of us in need of health benefits. It would also require a minimum of work in the orchestras that agreed to contribute.

I was recently involved in contract negotiations with one of the orchestras I am a member of and it was like pulling teeth to get one paid sick day per year. I’m hoping that we can come up with a working solution to this problem, and I’d love to hear ideas.