AGMA stands in solidarity with the AFM artists of the Atlanta Opera Orchestra as they fight for a fair contract. The Atlanta Opera administration has consistently demonstrated an anti-worker stance, shown through substandard compensation and a refusal to respect their employees' rights. Their track record speaks volumes—from ignoring the hair and makeup workers’ vote to unionize to their current exploitative treatment of the orchestra.
Now, they’ve said the quiet part out loud. Recently published remarks from management openly boast about playing hardball with unions while willfully failing to recognize that, in the performing arts, to be anti-union is to be anti-artist.
The artists and artisans of the Atlanta Opera are the company—without them, there is no show. Despite this, while the company's budget has tripled and its general director receives a salary far in excess of any other opera company its size, the average Atlanta Opera orchestra member is left scraping by on under $10,000 per year. This is not how a tier-one company treats its tier-one talent.
It’s time for the Atlanta Opera management to hear this part loud and clear: No amount of third-party rhetoric can change the reality that the unions are your artists. No matter how much you try to distance yourselves from unionized workers, you can’t separate the artists from the union itself and when you attack or dismiss unions, you are attacking the very people who bring your art to life and keep your business going.
The artists of the orchestra aren’t just numbers on a budget sheet—they are a vital pillar of what makes Atlanta Opera the rising institution it is. It’s time for the Atlanta Opera to step up, pay their artists what they deserve, and end this era of exploitation. All performing arts and entertainment unions should stand with the Atlanta Opera Orchestra in this fight. A fair contract is beyond overdue.
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