The ATAEA represented employees in a diverse range of non-performing occupations in the entertainment industry.
[2] The ATAEA originally only represented stagehands, but over time, and with technological change, it widened its membership base to cover much of the entertainment industry in Australia.
[1] Due to the difficulties of servicing a widely-spread membership, and following ACTU policy of the time, the ATAEA began seeking an amalgamation of unions representing the entertainment and media industry in Australia during the early 1990s.
[1] This decision, however, along with political and generational differences, caused division between the national office of the union and the Queensland branch.
[1] The rest of the union merged with the Australian Journalists' Association and Actors' Equity in 1993 to form the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA).