The scenario of a committee carefully considering musicians could be mistaken for an audition, but it was just part of the process for the Blue Canvas Orchestra’s successful attempt to form a union.
The BCO is the house band for the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua in Bayfield, Wisconsin, which draws hundreds of people for each performance throughout the season, and its members also play different gigs throughout the year. They’re now organized under the American Federation of Musicians.
“We’re still in the negotiations stage,” said Vincent Osborn, a member of the orchestra and president of AFM Local 18. He said the international has helped out a lot by sending negotiations experts to take the lead.
It’s a big deal, Osborn said, because this is the first Chautauqua tent in the nation to organize.
It’s a good fit — the Chautauqua movement was a grassroots effort that arose in the mid-1800s to provide social, educational and cultural performances to rural areas across the country. There are currently a couple dozen or so Chautauquas around the country, including the one in Bayfield.
“I remember doing a show a few years ago that was very heavy on unionization and it’s interesting that it’s taken this long for musicians to be concerned about improving their working situation and increasing their pay,” Osborn said.
Big Top Chautauqua and the Mt. Ashwabay Ski and Rec area merged in 2022, and Osborn said that was when musicians started to think about organizing. There were meetings with an organizer from New York City, Gabe Kristal, and talks with AFM attorney Rochelle Skolnick. The group asked for voluntary recognition after a card check, but was denied, which led to the necessity of identifying eligible members for a vote.
The committee that carefully considered members for eligibility was not hearing auditions but instead seeing who qualified under the Juilliard Rule, a special NLRB rule designed for entertainment employees, whose irregular hours and employment status make them otherwise ineligible for regular NLRB elections.
Under the Juilliard Rule, voting eligibility “to all employees who have been employed by the Employer during two productions for a total of 5 working days over a 1-year period, or who have been employed by the Employer for at least 15 days over a 2-year period.” The group identified 17 people who fit the rule, Osborn said, but management objected to two of them because they were music directors, so the bargaining group was cut to 15.
“The vote was 14-1,” Osborn said. “There are people who play who aren’t part of that 15 — it’s a large group of musicians — but what’s being considered is that core of 15,” which includes Osborn.
And now the hard part: Negotiating a contract.
Osborn said that while there are still a couple of weeks in the Chautauqua season, the contract will cover all the operations of the musicians. For example, a band is hired to play Applefest in Bayfield for three days, an open mic at the Big Top office every Wednesday, and traveling shows. In addition, the Big Top also has a radio show on Wisconsin Public Radio and a YouTube channel, so residual payments are also expected to be part of the conversation.
Similar to nurses and teachers, it’s not uncommon for the general public to assume that the joy of performing and creating is its own reward. Osborn, who plays the string bass in the Blue Canvas Orchestra, begs to differ.
 “I was suffering [during a recent show] from trigger finger for half the show, and it’s extremely painful, but you can’t stop playing,” he said. “A three-hour gig takes quite a bit out of you. We have people who are a little bit older as well and this is all they do; they live off Social Security or whatever and this is all they get, and we have younger people who are playing and have to leave their kids with a babysitter, or their spouse stays home and can’t see the gig — it all has an impact on people’s lives.”