Marc Sazer has been elected the new vice president of the American Federation of Musicians Local 47, following the resignation of longtime vice president Rick Baptist.

Sazer, who was nominated alongside Kirstin Fife and Bonnie Janofsky, assumed office immediately upon the special election vote tally and certification by the election board during the union’s membership meeting on Jan. 24, 2022. He now serves as vice president alongside President Stephanie O’Keefe and Secretary/Treasurer Danita Ng-Poss, both of whom were elected at the union’s most recent general election in December 2020.

The vice president’s office at AFM Local 47 is responsible for multiple crucial areas of service to the union’s members and its mission. Sazer is honored to be able to serve the members of AFM Local 47.

“I am both honored and thrilled to be able to serve our diverse and extraordinarily talented community of AFM musicians,” Sazer said. “Our musicians are both the backbone of our Southern California’s cultural equity and an integral part of the economic engine of our region.”

A native Angeleno, Sazer has enjoyed a long career as a violinist both in the recording studios of Hollywood and in Southern California concert halls. He has performed for innumerable film, television, recording and other media projects, from TV shows like “Animaniacs” and “Pinky & the Brain” to the “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Empire,” films from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” to “Star Wars Episode IX,” to sound recordings for Shirley Horn, Frank Sinatra, Randy Newman and more.

Sazer has consistently dedicated himself to volunteering on behalf of his colleagues and future union musicians. He has spoken at and participated in numerous American Federation of Musicians International conventions. He has been an officer of the Recording Musicians Association, and a member of AFM Player Conferences the Theatre Musicians Association and the Regional Orchestra Players Association.

Sazer has participated in multiple contract negotiations, contract campaigns, internal organizing efforts, labor research and legislative campaigns on behalf of musicians. In the context of those efforts, he has participated in AFL-CIO trainings, mentoring offered by research staff at the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), and is a participant in a regular labor training series offered by the AFL-CIO. For many years, as a rank-and-file musician, he has represented Local 47 and the AFM working on issues including California Film/TV tax credits, contract negotiations and campaigns, Hollywood promotional efforts, legislative goals and more with SAG-AFTRA, I.A.T.S.E. and other adjacent unions, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, California Labor Federation and AFL-CIO, and elected officials on the local, state and federal level.

Baptist served as vice president since January 2015, and resigned in November 2021. Janofsky was appointed by the Local 47 executive board to serve as interim vice president until the special election. She continues to serve on the union’s board as a trustee, a position to which she was elected in December 2020.