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United Scenic Artists

The Representative Voice
of Designers and Scenic Artists

Local USA 829 has embarked on a collaborative process—bringing together leadership, rank-and-file members, and staff—to transform and strengthen our union with a strategic plan. This plan brings together all of us, who are working toward identifying and fulfilling the collective vision we all hold for our union and the community we continue to build. That means that it is your needs and—most importantly—your voice and participation within our community that will strategically guide this union as we move forward together. 

Shepherded by our Strategic Planning Taskforce, the plan will outline a multi-year strategic direction for our Local that will significantly impact all we do and accomplish as a union—for the better, of course! This page will serve as a place of engagement, information, updates, and transparency as we do this ongoing work together.  
 

The Strategic Plan has been approved by the Local Union Executive Board in December 2023! You can read the final, approved plan here. More information will be coming to the membership in the new year on ways to engage, get involved, and help us implement our Strategic Plan! 

 

June 1, 2023: Strategic Planning Framework: Tell Us What You Think
As we continue to adapt and advance our draft Strategic Planning Framework, we need to hear from you. Over the past two weeks, members of our Strategic Planning Task Force have spent time talking through our drafted framework with some of you, garnering meaningful insight about how we can continue to evolve our ideas so that the final, actionable plan is all at once inclusive, representative, and of course, led by all of us.

We know that many of you could not attend an informational session; however, we want to make sure that you can still engage with the presentation and participate in this process by providing us with your valuable feedback. You can watch a very brief recording (less than 12 minutes) of the presentation, which explains the Strategic Planning process, how we got here, and most importantly, an overview of the proposed framework, which details the mission, vision, and values as well as our priorities going into the next phase of our planning process.

Once finished, let us hear your thoughts. In addition to the brief video, we have a brief survey to accompany the recording. This seven-question survey seeks to understand what resonates with you, what needs clarity, what’s missing, and any opportunities you see to engage and empower our Local.

We hope you spend some time with the framework and let us know what works and how it can be improved to best advance and strengthen our Local.

You will find links to the presentation and the survey above.
May 11, 2023: Strategic Planning Info Sessions + Framework
Dear Local USA 829 Members:

We need your input! The members of the Strategic Planning Task Force would like to present our draft Strategic Planning Framework. Please join us for a brief informational session on either Sunday, May 21 at 1 PM ET; 12 PM CT; 10 AM PT or on Tuesday, May 30 at 7 PM ET; 6 PM CT; 4 PM PT. You can RSVP for the May 21 session above, and you can RSVP for the May 30 session above.

During this half-hour session, members of the Task Force will present the draft Strategic Planning Framework (access and read below), which has been collaboratively developed based on our membership’s collective responses to the Strategic planning survey from earlier this year. The framework—which details a mission, vision, and values as well as our priorities—serves as a crucial guiding document that will set up the next phase of our planning process: creating pathways to enact and achieve the goals that all of us envision for our union and community.

Following the presentation, there will be a few ways for you to share your feedback. Immediately following the May 21 session, we’ll have breakout discussion groups in which you can answer questions and share feedback. If you prefer to share feedback in writing, there will be an opportunity to fill out a survey. We will be scheduling additional opportunities for you to engage with and access the framework as well as provide feedback.

As a Task Force, we are proud to present this work to you and hope that you can attend one of these sessions to discuss, ask, and get excited along with us!

In Unity,

The Strategic Planning Task Force
March 23, 2023: Results of Our Strategic Planning Survey + Next Steps
Dear Union Family,

We are excited to finally share with you a summary of the Strategic Planning Survey data as a representation of your collective voice! First: Thank you again to all who took the time to complete the strategic planning survey, taking part in the work to identify priorities, confront collective challenges, and shape the future of our union.

The results, presented here, are tabulated from the approximately 30% of our membership who completed the entire survey. Here you’ll see the top five ranked answers that address our organizational performance and related priorities, strengths, areas of improvement, opportunities, threats, values, equitable practices, and both long- and short-term priorities for our Local as according to you. Also included are demographic and union category details on the members who completed the survey.

As you’ll see in the sample data below, our shared insights depict the union as a holistic and action-driven collective that can invest in building meaningful ways in which we can engage with each other and with our industry.

The Strategic Planning Task Force is now analyzing this data to identify our Union's priorities and build out a draft strategic plan. Your answers have provided significant insight, and there will be more opportunities for your involvement. Your input is important to us. Please stay up to date with our efforts on our Strategic Planning webpage, located in the Member Portal.

Remember: This is your union! Thank you for believing in this work and believing in our union. We are excited for the work to come and to strengthen Local USA 829 together.

In Unity,

The Strategic Planning Task Force
January 24, 2023: Strategic Planning Update: Thank You for Using Your Voice
Dear Union Family -

A sincere thank you to all who took the time to complete the strategic planning survey, making sure that your voice is a part of how we collectively shape the future of our union over the coming years. We are also grateful to the many members who reached out to their Local USA 829 kin and encouraged them to use their voice to let us know what they envision for our union and community.

Now that the survey is closed, we will launch phase two of our strategic planning. During this exciting phase, the Task Force will analyze the data to identify our Union's priorities and build out a draft plan. Your answers provide broad insight that will help us form a solid foundation for what comes next!

As we move forward on this journey, there will be more opportunities for your involvement. Your input is important to us. Please stay up to date with our efforts on our Strategic Planning webpage, located in the Member Portal.

Remember: This is your union! Thank you for believing in this work and believing in our union. We are excited for the work to come and to strengthen Local USA 829 together.

In Unity,

The Strategic Planning Task Force
January 9, 2023: Your Union, Your Voice: Complete our Strategic Planning Survey and Shape Local USA 829’s Future
Dear Union Family -

The Local Union Executive Board and the Strategic Planning Task Force are proud to present to you and your Local USA 829 kin our Strategic Planning Survey. A true labor of love, collaboration, and excitement, this survey will help shape the future of our union over the coming years. That means that it is your needs and—most importantly—your voice and participation within our community that will strategically guide this union as we move forward. Please make sure to complete this survey, which should take you no more than 15 minutes, no later than January 20 at 11:59 PM PT.

Upon closing this survey and synthesizing data, we will begin phase two of our strategic planning which is to identify our priorities and build out the plan. As we move forward, there will be further opportunities for your input and participation.

You can keep up to date with our efforts on our Local USA 829 Strategic Planning webpage, located in the Member Portal. We will send out more information once the survey is closed, the data is collected, and we’re ready to share the results and next steps.

This is your union, and it needs your voice to build our collective community. Thank you for believing in this work and standing with your fellow members as we all work to strengthen Local USA 829.
What is a strategic plan and planning?
Strategic planning is a vision-driven process that sets the direction of an organization over a span of time. A strategic plan is created through that collaborative process that is designed to reflect the priorities, ideas, opinions, and needs of multiple organizational stakeholders. This type of planning asks two key questions: Where do we want to go and how are we going to get there? It engages all of us to develop consensus around a mission, vision, values, and priorities that will ultimately create an implementable plan for the future.
Why is Local USA 829 embarking on a strategic plan?
Local USA 829 began this journey about a year ago after leadership listened to members who rightfully asked about the future of our Local and what we—as leaders and rank-and-file members alike—envision for our union and the community we continue to build and serve. Now, and together, we begin and continue this journey of discovering what we all hope to create, sustain, and evoke as a labor union.
What is the Strategic Planning Task Force?
Local USA 829’s Strategic Planning Task Force is made up of Local USA 829 leaders, rank-and-file members, and staff. These stakeholders will provide leadership for the strategic planning process and ensure input from our membership. Note that, as a Task Force (and unlike a standing committee), there is a start and end date to the work. That’s to say that the strategic plan, while ongoing, is actionable and planned to be implemented and sustained by broader efforts beyond the Task Force.
How were the members of the Strategic Planning Task Force selected?
In the beginning of September 2022, the Local emailed all members gauging interest and encouraging participation on our Task Force. The members currently involved—who span all categories and regions—are the ones who volunteered to be part of this process. The members of the Task Force are listed above.
What does the Strategic Planning Task Force do?
With support from our Strategic Planning consultant, Bryony Romer, and our Equity & Inclusion consultant, Luis Castro, the Task Force is undertaking the following work:

- Oversee and approve the development of the membership survey (sent out on 1/9/23), which will inform the strategic plan.
- Develop a draft strategic planning framework (that’s the mission, vision, values, context, and priorities) as synthesized from the survey.
- Lead the planning process and ensure member engagement and feedback on the proposed framework.
- Guide strategic plan development and prepare for review and approval.
How will Local USA 829’s commitment to Equity be central to planning?
The planning process reflects the Local Union Executive Board’s commitment to equity and inclusion as a core value to our union and community. Additionally, we are working to make sure that the Task Force is representative of our entire membership, both in terms of sector/discipline/region and regarding demographic background and expression.
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