Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1260659
Spring 2020 The Costume Designer 11 I'm so happy to see the spring issue of our CDG magazine. The last few weeks have been filled with thoughts of the pandemic, so it's nice to think of something else for a change. We cover our CDG Awards gala, which was a magical evening, where we got to come together and celebrate the art of Costume Design. Little did we know it would be one of the last opportunities we would have to see each other in person for some time. I hope life is back to normal for awards season next year. We lost the illustrious Mary Rose. She was an icon at the CDG. I served on the CDG Executive Board with her for 14 years, and was her vice president in her final term before I became president. I learned so much from her. She gave so much of her time to the CDG. I will miss her tireless energy, her valuable insight, and incredible sense of style. We had planned on holding a memorial service for Mary Rose at the CDG, but we had to cancel it due to the pan- demic. She will be missed. I am so proud of this Executive Board. Most of us have been on the Board for many years. We give so much of our time for the Guild because we take great pride in the work we do, which has become even more important as we continue to work for the members as the industry has shut down due to the pandemic. We meet often on Zoom to get updates on the office and make sure the members have access to all the services available to them in this time of great need. We have reassessed our finances to be able to reduce our dues for two quarters to help our members who are not working. Vice President Cate Adair, Executive Director Rachael Stanley, and I have been representing the CDG on the IA Safety Committee, working on protocols so we can go back to work in a safe and healthy environment. We have spent many hours each week with our colleagues from all locals in the IA and the studio safety officers to write a document for the governors and mayors to give us approval to reopen. I called a CDG Safety Committee to help write a list of our job duties, so we can discuss them with the infectious disease expert the IA has hired to guide us on the proper protocols to perform our job. We want you to know we are making sure you can go back to work with the training and support to work safely. We will be updating the membership with the official information as it becomes available. There is so much inaccurate and false information being spread in the press. We urge you to confirm anything you hear with the office to make sure it is true. We held our first CDG Membership Zoom and over 300 people logged in, this a record turnout for us. We know the members want to be informed, so we will continue to hold Zoom meetings until we can all meet in person again. Please contact the office, a Board member, or me if you have any questions, need advice or just want to chat and catch up. I am so proud of the I.A.T.S.E. Mask Making Initiative. We joined with Locals 705 and 44 to produce over 30,000 masks for hospitals, first responders, and local charities. Our CDG members made a good portion of the masks. I am so proud of all of you and I want to commend Brigitta Romanov and the CDG office staff for organizing this and making sure it ran smoothly. It truly shows what we can do as union members when we come together. I hope you are all staying healthy and active during this time off. Personally, I have tried to catch up on all the things I talk about doing, but never seem to have the time. Besides all the time I spend working with the safety committees and for the CDG, I am enjoying some rare time off with my partner. I'm cooking every day. I am making masks for friends, family, and the community. I'm catching up on all of Netflix! And I'm consider- ing designing a mini-fashion collection. I'm trying to find the positive in this time off and not dwell on the negative. We will be back to work soon enough with a whole new appreciation for it. I hope we can also come out of this with a new appreciation of a work life balance. In solidarity, Salvador Perez sperez@cdgia.com PRESIDENT'S LETTER UNION LABEL