Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance

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**MEAA**

Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
Founded	1992
Members	36,000
Country	Australia
Affiliation	ACTU
Key people	Chris Warren, federal secretary
Office location	Redfern, New South Wales
Website	www.alliance.org.au

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (The Alliance) is the Australian trade union and professional organisation which covers the media, entertainment, sports and arts industries. Its 36,000 members include people working in TV, radio, theatre & film, cinemas, entertainment venues, recreation grounds, journalists, actors, dancers, sportspeople, cartoonists, photographers, orchestral & opera performers as well as people working in public relations, advertising, book publishing & website production; in fact everyone who works in the industries that inform or entertain Australians.

The Alliance was created in 1992 through the merging of the unions covering actors, journalists and entertainment industry employees:

Actors Equity (AE)

The Australian Journalists Association (AJA)

The Australian Theatrical & Amusement Employees Association (ATAEA)

Since amalgamation, the Symphony Orchestra Musicians Association (SOMA) & the NSW Artworkers Union have joined the Alliance, a Professional Sports Branch has been created & the Screen Technicians Association of Australia (STAA) reconstituted itself under the Alliance banner.

The Alliance is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions, ACTU, the International Federation of Actors and the International Federation of Journalists, is a member of the Copyright Council, and is represented on all major training delivery bodies catering for its members. It is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and State Labor Councils on behalf of its actors and other entertainment industry sections (excluding journalists) and in some states some sections are affiliated with the Australian Labor Party.

The Alliance is also a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, a global network of more than 70 non-governmental organisations that monitors press freedom and free expression violations worldwide.

The current national secretary is Chris Warren, who has also been the President of the International Federation of Journalists.

[edit] Awards

The Alliance gives out the Walkley Award for Excellence in Journalism annually divided into individual categories. There are awards for the best entrant in each category, as well as the winner of the "Press photographer of the year", "Journalism Leadership Award" and the "Gold Walkley".

In 2006 the Queensland branch of the Alliance inaugurated an award for outstanding achievement in the field of Acting - called simply the Queensland Actors Equity Awards.