No…it’s not how to attract the attention of top agents…
Or that short actors are put in platform shoes or on apple boxes to make them look taller…
Nor is it how celebrities can manage to adopt eight children, travel the world, stay in shape, head their own charity, run a multi-million dollar company that sells luxury goods, film multiple projects a year while doing press for all of them…and still manage to look well-rested.
For the past two weeks, I was volunteering for an organization more secretive than the Masons.**
**Okay, I might be exaggerating a little bit there…
An organization that is over 100 years old…
An organization devoted to helping actors and anyone else in the entertainment industry—lawyers, burlesque performers, ushers, photographers, opera singers, costumers, grips, producers, stage managers, circus clowns...
Yes, even you, skeptical clown man!
Everyone that I have told about it has never heard of it, and I only heard about it after becoming active on LinkedIn during the early days of the pandemic.
It’s not a union.
It’s not exclusive.
And it’s not limited to New York or Los Angeles.
Do you know what it is?
Are you stumped yet?
The organization is The Actors Fund.
Originally founded in 1882 in response to the anti-actor sentiment after Lincoln’s assassination, The Actors Fund was created to help actors and other performers, who were often discriminated against, get a proper burial after death.
Since then, The Actors Fund has become a national non-profit organization that offers all kinds of services to anyone in the entertainment industry.
Some of the many initiatives the fund has supported throughout the years have included:
Senior care
Affordable housing
Retirement planning
Access to healthcare
Emergency financial assistance
Education and career counseling
Support for those with HIV/AIDS through Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
And much more…
While some services are still restricted to the cities where the fund has offices (NYC, LA and CHI), the internet has made other services accessible to all.
You, too, can attend a class in New York from your rooftop in Seattle! Or Minneapolis! Or Phoenix! Or…Keokuk, Iowa.
Just some of the interesting workshops coming up on the Career Center’s calendar this month:
Managing Cash Flow
Mindfulness Meditation
Budgeting Nuts & Bolts
Good Grief: Grief Support Group
How to Job Search During a Pandemic
Asian American & Pacific Islander Entertainment Professionals Gathering
Mind, Body, Spirit: A Group for Black Women Working in the Entertainment Industry
Did I mention these services are all FREE?
Your money is no good here!
Back in May, I took the LinkedIn Suite for Entertainment, which is a trio of workshops on how to use LinkedIn effectively, and I participated in the 15-day LinkedIn Challenge that followed.
About a month after the challenge, I learned about LinkedIn’s Social Sales Index, and discovered that I was in the top 1% in my industry and in my network (translation: I’m working LinkedIn’s algorithm better than 99% of people in the industry), and I have The Actors Fund to thank for that!
After the challenge, I have been telling everyone about the fund, and promoting their services to all of my performer friends.
When the September challenge happened, I signed up to volunteer as an ambassador, helping to support others doing the challenge.
If you want to sign up for any of these upcoming workshops through the career center, you must first take the Career Center Orientation, which is offered every Monday except on legal holidays.
The LinkedIn Suite for Entertainment and LinkedIn Challenge will ONLY be offered one more time this year, in November.
Next year, they plan to offer it, but fewer times overall, so if you want to up your LinkedIn game, sign up for November’s workshops!
Click here to sign up for the orientation and see all of the other resources and workshops at The Actors Fund’s website.
And please—don’t keep this a secret!