Choreographers Guild

What Choreographers Guild does

Choreographers Guild is a California nonprofit mutual benefit corporation and labor union founded in 2022 to represent professional choreographers and choreography team members (including Assistant Choreographers, Associate Choreographers, Movement Coaches, and Co-Choreographers) working in television, film, commercials, music videos, and new media. It is positioned as the first-ever dedicated guild for this profession, with a mission spanning economic security, credit and recognition, copyright protection, and education. The organization traces its lineage to the 1942 Dance Directors Guild and was reconstituted after a 2016 Choreographers Alliance meeting and 2021 steering committee convened with SDC, SAG-AFTRA, and DGA leadership. The guild is led by a 31-member Executive Board (7 officers plus 24 board members) including Emmy-winning President Kathryn Burns, five Vice Presidents (Brian Friedman, Charm La'Donna, Dana Wilson, Kyle Hanagami, and Luam Keflezgy), and Secretary-Treasurer AJ Harpold, supported by Executive Director Steve Sidawi and Director of Membership & Organizing Linda Dao.

The guild's core offering is union membership, accessed via an online application through the Unionly.io third-party platform. Eligibility requires at least one choreography credit in projects covered by SAG-AFTRA, Actors Equity Association, AGMA, AGVA, or SDC, or submission of professional work for board approval. The membership product is augmented by Handbook resources, Copyright 101 education, Legal Support directories, and SAG-AFTRA Benefits Coordination modules. There is no proprietary technology layer; the organization relies on its website, Unionly.io for membership, and ActionNetwork for email outreach.

Revenue is generated solely through annual membership dues on a three-tier subscription model tied to self-reported choreography income: $200 (under $50,000), $350 ($50,000–$99,999), and $500 ($100,000+), with no initiation fee currently in effect. Donations from supporters provide supplementary funding. Go-to-market is community-led, leveraging the social-media reach of its celebrity leadership (e.g., Kyle Hanagami's 8M+ followers), grassroots organizing, and a regulatory anchoring via the SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical Agreement, effective July 1, 2026, which brings choreographers into the bargaining unit.

Name

Choreographers Guild

Legal name

Choreographers Guild

Website

https://choreographersguild.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Choreographers Guild is a California nonprofit labor union founded in 2022, representing professional choreographers and choreography teams in TV, film, commercials, music videos, and new media through collective bargaining, advocacy, standardized compensation, and member resources.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Entertainment Industry Labor Union

NAICS

Dance Companies (71112), Other Performing Arts Companies (711190)

SIC

Services-Membership Sports & Recreation Clubs (7997)

akta.pro primary industry

Dance Competitions & Showcases (Non-Esports) (MPAGADAH)

Keywords

• Labor union advocacy
• Choreographer collective bargaining
• Entertainment industry union
• Artist rights membership
• Professional choreography guild

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles County

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual dues collected from members based on self-estimated annual income from professional choreography. Three-tier structure: $200 for income $0-$49,999, $350 for $50,000-$99,999, $500 for $100,000+. Currently no initiation fee. Revenue used for essential staff, professional services, and activities benefiting the choreographer community.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Choreographers Guild is a labor union that provides membership representation for professional choreographers and choreography team members — including Assistant, Associate, Movement Coaches, Co-, and Supervising Choreographers — working in TV, film, commercials, music videos, and new media. Members pay tiered annual dues and receive advocacy for economic security, screen credit standards, copyright protection, SAG-AFTRA benefits coordination, an industry handbook, copyright education, and a legal support directory.

Product overview

Choreographers Guild is a labor union offering a unified membership program for professional choreographers and choreography team members. The core offering is union membership providing advocacy for economic security, credit and recognition, copyright protection, and professional education. Supporting modules include a comprehensive handbook for production guidance, copyright education resources, legal support connections, and SAG-AFTRA benefits coordination. The organization was established in 2022 and operates as a California non-profit mutual benefit corporation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Choreographers Guild Membership Labor union membership for professional choreographers and choreography team members (Assistant, Associate, Movement Coaches, Co-, and Supervising Choreographers) working in TV, film, commercials, music videos, and new media, providing advocacy for economic security, credit and recognition, copyright protection, and professional education.
• Handbook Resources Comprehensive handbook for choreographers and producers covering pre-production, production, and post-production workflows, including hiring practices, rehearsal requirements, rates, screen credit standards, and role definitions.
• Copyright 101 Education Educational resource empowering individual choreographers with knowledge about copyright law, registration requirements, infringement remedies (up to $150,000 in statutory damages plus attorneys fees for willful infringement), and best practices for protecting creative work.
• Legal Support Resources Directory of pro bono and reduced-fee legal support resources for choreographers, connecting members with Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts organizations.
• SAG-AFTRA Benefits Coordination Coordination with SAG-AFTRA for pension and health benefits for choreographers and assistant choreographers on union projects, including information on contribution requirements under various contracts.

Quantifiable outcome

• Minimum rates for Choreographers are at least 200% of the minimum dancer or principal performer rates for a given project
• +2 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Unionly.iocoreOthers · 1 January 2022Unionly.io serves as the membership platform for Choreographers Guild, handling membership applications, dues payments, and member management. The guild uses this platform for its online membership process and dues collection.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Dancers Alliance: Founded in 1990, Dancers Alliance advocates for dancer rights in music videos and live performance and was a key predecessor in the movement that led to dancer principal-performer coverage with SAG in 1998. It is thematically adjacent to Choreographers Guild and shares the labor-advocacy mission for entertainment-industry dancers.
• Media Choreographers Council (MCC): The MCC was formed in 1990 in Los Angeles to organize choreographers working in film, television, and music videos. It is a direct predecessor organization in CG's history and remains thematically comparable as an advocacy body for media choreographers.

Broad incumbents

• SAG-AFTRA: SAG-AFTRA is the national labor union that, effective July 1, 2026, extended bargaining-unit coverage to choreographers and assistant choreographers under the TV/Theatrical Agreement. As the parent collective-bargaining partner for CG's members, it is the most strategically adjacent incumbent in entertainment labor.
• American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA): AGMA represents singers, dancers, and choreographers in opera, ballet, and concert/dance productions. It is a labor-union peer operating in an adjacent corner of the performing-arts economy and serves an overlapping pool of choreographer talent.
• American Federation of Musicians (AFM): AFM represents professional musicians in the recording, broadcasting, and live-performance industries. As one of the oldest entertainment labor unions, it offers a comparable craft-based model for negotiated minimums, residuals, and benefits.
• International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE): IATSE represents behind-the-scenes entertainment workers across film, television, and live performance. As a broad entertainment labor union with overlapping covered productions, it offers comparable collective-bargaining structure for entertainment professionals.
• Writers Guild of America (WGA): The WGA is the labor union representing film, television, and new-media writers. Its collective-bargaining model, residuals framework, and creative-rights advocacy serve as a structural analog for how a craft-based guild operates in entertainment media.
• Actors' Equity Association (AEA): AEA is the labor union for live-stage performers and stage managers. It is comparable as an entertainment labor union whose agreements and benefits structure overlap with the same union-project criteria CG uses for choreographer eligibility.
• Directors Guild of America (DGA): The DGA negotiates and administers collective bargaining agreements for film and television directors and related roles. It is a directly analogous labor-union model in entertainment media and a relevant comparison for collective bargaining in motion pictures.

Direct peers

• Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC): SDC has represented choreographers (and directors) in stage, Broadway, and certain live productions since 1959. It is the most direct peer because it serves the same professional group as Choreographers Guild, albeit with a stage/Theatrical focus versus CG's TV/film/new-media orientation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Choreo_Guild
• Instagraminstagram.com/choreographersguild
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/choreographers-guild

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Choreographers Guild