Equiflash Archive

Equity's National and Western Offices will be closed from Thursday, December 17, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. local time (Toronto and Vancouver), re-opening Monday January 11, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. local time.

In the New Year, Equity's offices will resume 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (remote) business hours, Monday to Thursday. The offices will remain closed each Friday.

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As most members know, Equity is usually half-staffed during the holiday period in order to have support available when numerous holiday shows across all genres are in full swing. This year, however, as there is little to no production planned, we have decided that both offices will be closed for an extended period from December 18 2020 to January 11, 2021.

Many of our staff have been working long hours since the pandemic hit, due to rapidly and ever-changing external circumstances all while working to collect members' cancellation payments and delivering timely information to the membership. As work demands will decrease over the holiday period, this break will allow us all to return in the New Year, refreshed and ready to take on whatever (seemingly endless) issues that this pandemic will throw at Equity next year.

On behalf of Equity staff, we sincerely wish all members a safe and happy holiday season, and we look forward to better times in 2021.

- Arden R. Ryshpan
Executive Director

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Productions and Contracts
Engagers are strongly encouraged to send notification regarding production(s) scheduled to commence between now and January 18, 2021 to the applicable Business Representative as soon as possible, no later than December 16, 2020.

Website Maintenance and Planned Outages
Over the holidays, Equity's website will undergo server and security updates. This will involve planned intermittent website outages between December 18 and 21. There may be additional periodic outages in the holiday closure period as well.

Emergency Contact and Support
Emergency support will remain available over the holidays. After-hours emergencies, defined as a health and safety situation in the workplace or non-payment of contractual fees, may be reported by calling the National Office at 1-800-387-1856 (416-867-9165 in Toronto) and following the 'in case of an emergency' prompts. Your call will be responded to as soon as possible.

#EquityStrong