AB5 and the Arts

A law intended to protect gig economy employees, particularly those working for services such as Lyft and Uber, has had the unintended consequence of requiring small performing arts company to treat contractors as employees, greatly increasing the cost of putting on performances.

Joshua Kosman and Carolyn Said covered this in a Chron article published in December. In January, Island City Opera postponed their planned production of a great rarity, Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers.

I have email telling me that San Francisco Renaissance Voices has cancelled their own planned program owing to lack of AB-5-related funding.

You bet that I am worried about the 2020 seasons of many small music, theater, and dance companies that I care about. Consider a letter to your state reps and Governor Newsom about the consequences of AB-5 for the performing arts in California. The law desperately needs to be amended.