Whitney Richards reads to primary school children as part of the Storyville program

Storyville is the Equity Foundation’s new literacy initiative, which harnesses the talent of performers to encourage children to read. Storyville targets schools with socio-economic disadvantage or where for a majority of students, English is a second language. Storyville is modelled on the hugely successful SAG-AFTRA Foundation BookPALS program in the U.S, where volunteer actors read to over 100, 000 children in schools, hospitals, libraries and social service agencies each month.

Three Australian television casts have been selected from an impressive group of nominees to win the 6th Annual Equity Ensemble Awards.

It was the performances in the second series of ABC comedy Utopia, SBS drama The Principal and Seven miniseries Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door that most impressed Australian actors.

The Equity Foundation is thrilled to announce that New Zealand performer Bree Peters has been awarded a scholarship to study at the prestigious Atlantic Acting School in New York City.

Direct from Los Angeles, the Equity Foundation and the SAG AFTRA Foundation will present a panel discussion featuring leading actors and US casting executives. During this lively discussion we will hear about how – and why – some of the US’s largest commercial networks are attempting to foster casting diversity.  Are we keeping up in Australia and New Zealand? What practices can we borrow and adapt to ensure our huge pool of talent is being represented in a way that benefits actors, audiences and the industry?

Missed the livestream? you can watch it online here.

For LA-based, Australian and NZ actors who want to attend the event at 7pm LA time Tuesday April 12, go to the link and click RSVP https://members.sagfoundation.org/events/6412  

There will be a box that says event open to non-members.  Enter the code “equity” and click continue. After that, they simply fill out the information, select  guest (if they are bringing any), agree to the rules and click RSVP.

Live stream the event using this link http://sagaftra.foundation/livestream/

Noon Sydney Wednesday April 13
2pm NZ Wednesday April 13

There are instructions for tweeting, on the livestream page but NZ and AUS members should put AUS or NZ within their tweet it will identify them so SAG can pull them out for question time.

All Equity members are invited to vote for their favourite Australian television ensembles in the categories of drama, miniseries and comedy.

The Equity Ensemble Awards were introduced in 2011 to honour excellent performances by Australian television ensembles. They are the only performer-voted awards in Australia.

Please note: Voting is now closed. Winners will be announced Thursday May 5, 2016.

•The 2016 Equity Award for an Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in Comedy Series

•The 2016 Equity Award for an Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
 
•The 2016 Equity Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Mini-Series or Telemovie

Voting closes Saturday April 30, 2016. Winners will be announced on Thursday May 5, 2016, and honoured at an Awards Ceremony in June.

Read the rules of the Equity Awards here.

For a preview of each production and full cast list please see below. To watch the previews before voting please click on the title of the production.

The Equity Foundation is pleased to announce that Australian performer Maryann Wright has been awarded a scholarship at the prestigious Atlantic Acting School in New York City.