Call for ASSITEJ General Assembly

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Special Meeting of the General Assembly of ASSITEJ

Dear Members,

The Executive Committee of ASSITEJ International is proposing changes to the constitution. Therefore we call for a Special Meeting of the General Assembly.

Some of the changes are significant and relate to our membership categories and the way the members approve the annual statements. So your participation and voting are important!

In this email, you will find information on the following items:

Dates
Rationale & Background
Detailed presentation of the proposed constitutional amendments
Participation & voting rights
Voting Commission

The Executive Committee of ASSITEJ

Save the date!

GENERAL ASSEMBLY & HEARINGS

Online

10/12 & 23/24 January 2023

Online Hearings

The first step in the process of changing the constitution is online hearings where members can make questions, give feedback and discuss the proposed constitutional changes with the Executive Committee.

Session 1 (Oceania & the Americas): 9/10 January 2023, 09.00-11.30 AEDT. The time in your time zone.
Session 2 (Asia, Africa & Europe): 12 January 2023, 19.00-21.30 AEDT. The time in your time zone.

If a member is unable to attend the online hearings written feedback can be sent by email to the president no later than 15 January 2023. E-mail: president@assitej-international.org

General Assembly Online

To make participation possible in the different time zones of the membership the General Assembly will consist of two sessions.

Session 1 (Oceania & the Americas): 23/24 January 09.00-11.30 AEDT The time in your time zone.
Session 2 (Asia, Africa & Europe) on 24 January at 19.00-21.30 AEDT The time in your time zone.

Each member is only expected to attend one hearing and one session of the General Assembly.

Number of participants

National Centres and ASSITEJ Networks can participate with a delegation of up to three voting persons.

Corresponding members can attend with one voting person. Individual Members members of ASSITEJ International can attend with one person without voting rights.

Translation

Spanish simultaneous translation will be available for session 1 of the Online Hearing and session 1 of the General Assembly.

French simultaneous translation will be available for session 2 of the Online Hearing and session 2 of the General Assembly.

Rationale & Background

Article 9.3.3 in the ASSITEJ International Constitution states:

"A Special Meeting of the General Assembly may be called by the Secretary General three weeks in advance on the written and justified request of two-thirds of the members or at the discretion of the Executive Committee, in the case of an emergency or extraordinary circumstance."

We are currently experiencing extraordinary circumstances.

As you know ASSITEJ is in the position of receiving significant funding for the first time. We have two major grants that are positively affecting our work now and for the future.
These funds have been granted by the European Union. The projects are

The EU Network grant: Theatre & Performing Arts for Young Audiences: Building Collective Resilience. Granted under Creative Europe, Networks of Cultural & Creative Organisations.
The EU Cooperation grant: BABEL or The Art of Listening in Theatre for Young Audiences. Granted under European Cooperation Projects.

The information about these two projects grants can be found at the links below:

These grants have enabled a huge increase in our work and reach, not just in Europe but across our entire membership.

The EC is aiming to continue to apply for and receive grants. Being successful in receiving funds means that we have far greater influence and a stronger voice, greater representation in the international community and more opportunities to make our work visible and far reaching.

ASSITEJ’s financial seat has been in Italy since 2014 and thus we abide by the legislation of that country. In order to increase our ability to apply for grants into the future, and to operate in a manner that fits our aims and values as an international advocacy association, we need to become a not-for-profit organisation, or Third Sector Entity (ETS: Ente Terzo Settore) as the Italian Law defines it. To do this we must make some particular changes to our constitution.

We would like to stress here that to make these particular changes to the constitution is a mandatory step in Italian law, in order to achieve not for profit or Third Sector status. To emphasise, if we wish to continue to grow and develop, making the most of our resources and increasing our action and influence across the world, these changes will be necessary for the Association.

Constitutional Changes

Some of the proposed changes to the Constitution are minor, and some are significant.

An example of a minor change might be that some wording needs to shift to the legal Italian financial wording. For instance, our official title on documents must include the acronym ETS at the end for legal recognition.

An example of a significant change is that there are suggested changes to membership construction. In Italian law all members must have equal rights, ie: our Individual Members cannot legally be called members as they don’t have full voting rights.

We are sharing a document with you for your close consideration. This document has 4 columns:

Column 1: The current Constitution as moved by the General Assembly in 2021
Column 2: Suggested amendments. This contains all the proposed amendments and the articles they sit within.
Column 3: The Amendments as they sit within the whole Constitution. This shows the amendments and which articles they affect across the whole constitution. You will find quite a few articles changed: the reason for that is that sometimes the same provision is linked to several articles.
Column 4: the reasons for the changes

Download Ammendments & Rationale

Voting

All National Centres and ASSITEJ Networks will receive an email from ASSITEJ International. This email will contain an online voting ballot with instructions on how to cast the vote.

The mail will have the subject “Vote: Special Meeting of the General Assembly” sent by the service electionrunner.com

The ballots will be sent on 26 January 2023. The voting will close on 31 January 2023 at 23.00 AEDT.

The vote is secret. The voting commission can see who has voted but not what each member votes.

Voting Rights

National Centres and ASSITEJ Networks with full membership have the right to vote with three votes.

National Centres and ASSITEJ Networks with corresponding membership have the right to vote with one vote.

Individual members have the right to attend and give proposals at the General Assembly but do not have the right to vote.

Proxies

Voting by proxy is permitted but please note that the voting will take place by e-mail which will make the use of proxies unnecessary in most cases.

A centre or network wishing to transfer its proxy must do so in writing.
A delegation from a national centre or a network can hold proxy for only one other member (whether national centre or network).
A full member (whether national centre or network) can hold proxy for any full or corresponding member (whether national centre or network).
A corresponding member (whether national centre or network) can hold proxy only for another corresponding member (whether national centre or network)

Membership fees

Only members that have paid their fees in 2022 and are in good standing have the right to vote. If a member for justified reason is unable to pay arrangements according to our procedures have to be made to mainting the voting right.

Voting Commission

The Executive Committee has approached three members outside the EC that have experience with online voting and who are placed in different time zones. Birute Baneviciute (Lithuania), Niclas Malcrona (Sweden) & Cleiton Echeveste (Brazil) have accepted the invitation and form the Commission.

Questions?

Feel free to contact us if you have questions.

Sue Giles, President: president@assitej-international.org

Louis Valente, Secretary General: sg@assitej-international.org

We are looking forward to seeing our members in great numbers!

- The Executive Committee of ASSITEJ

ASSITEJ International

Nørregade 26, Copenhagen
Denmark

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