The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is a Canadian labour union representing performers in English-language media. It has 21,000 members working in film, television, radio, and all other recorded media.

The organization negotiates, safeguards, and promotes the professional rights of its members. It also works to increase work opportunities for its members and lobbies for policy changes at the municipal, provincial and federal levels.

ACTRA presents the ACTRA Awards to honour the best in Canadian radio and television performances.

Affiliations

ACTRA is affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress and the International Federation of Actors.

In July, 2005, ACTRA and the United Steelworkers announced that the two unions have entered into a strategic alliance to take on the globalization of the culture industry and to address a range of common issues.

What the acronym means

The earliest form of the organization represented radio performers in Toronto in the 1940s. This organization was called RATS: the Radio Artists of Toronto Society. In 1943, with wider involvement of groups from other Canadian cities, the Association of Canadian Radio Artists (ACRA) was formed.

ACRA over time evolved into the Association of Canadian Radio and Television Artists, the Canadian Council of Authors and Artists, the Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists and, in 1984, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists.

Regional issues led to the creation of the Union of British Columbia Performers, a separate subunit of ACTRA for British Columbia only.

See also

• Screen Actors Guild (SAG) - similar U.S. organization for motion picture actors
• American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) - similar U.S. organization for television and radio actors

External links

• ACTRA National
• Steelworkers, ACTRA Join Forces in Strategic Alliance, Service Agreement (April, 2005)

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