Minutes: General Assembly: Monday, November 24, 2003
Click here to download the minutes as a PDF file.
Present: Giovanni Carmosino (chair), Isabelle Schürch (minutes), Sripriya Sitaraman, Ron Abegglen, Simone Ingold, Simon D. Hicks, Prof. Werner Senn.
Absent: Giuseppina Pagano.
Agenda
- Previous Minutes (November 4, 2003)
- Matt Kimmich's Letter: Discussion
- Vagina Monologues
- Arts Council: Legal Status (Report: Ronny Abegglen)
- AC Party
- AOB
1. Previous Minutes (November 4, 2003)
The last Minutes are approved.
One addition has to be made: 4. A.O.B.
P. Sitaraman:
Franz's request to finance the poetry reading of Roshira Nair was announced beforehand. Franz did advertise his project as far as he could, but it was on very short notice.
2. Matt Kimmich's Letter: Discussion
The AC discusses the letter sent by Matt Kimmich in which he expresses his reservations about the decision made by the AC concerning the Vagina Monologues.
According to his understanding, the decision of the AC to give a loan for Priya's production is not the support the AC should provide and is therefore more of a rejection.
S. Hicks:
He comments on the letter written by Matt and points out that the VM project was not in any way rejected, as Matt's letter seems to imply. He also points out that Matt's comments on what was said at the meeting were taken from the minutes of the last meeting (11. Nov. 03) which do not exactly represent what was actually said or what happened at the meeting. They do not, for instance, record whether a question put by a member was answered to that member's satisfaction, or not. Simon also says that he felt some of his own views expressed at the meeting and criticised in the letter were misconstrued or exaggerated. What Simon is also concerned about is the publicity and the image of the AC within the ED and it is important for Simon that the core of the project consists of people from the ED surrounding. What is left to decide is whether the production should be publicised under the Instinctive Acts logo.
P. Sitaraman:
She takes up the point made by Matt about the decision of the AC being "money-minded". The AC is a supportive institution and it is its general aim to provide creative artistic projects with the necessary financial means, therefore the "money-minded" decision is sound and "okay". She states clearly that Matt's letter was Matt's initiative alone and that she is not asking the Committee to reconsider its decision. Besides she points out that the AC has to be much more public within the ED. And she emphasizes the fact that the IA logo was used when projects consisted of a lot of non-ED people and therefore there are no reasons why she should not use the IA logo and the IA e-mail list as well.
G. Carmosino:
Giovanni takes up the point of discussion whether the VM are of artistic merit. He makes clear that this discussion was not part of the discussion at the last AC meeting of Nov 11, although he says that several people contacted him and expressed their worries about such AC discussions.
W. Senn:
He refers to his e-mail sent before the meeting on Nov 4th. He was not sure about the artistic value of the VM because he did not know the content of the VM. The "artistic merit" was no point of discussion in the AC meeting of Nov 4th.
S. Ingold:
She is concerned about the talking (gossiping) outside the AC.
S. Hicks:
He comes back to the point that the loan for the VM project is the only way of supporting the project within the limits set by the Statutes.
S. Ingold:
She answers the general question whether there has to be a budget proposal in a request or not. The budget proposal is part of the request form.
R. Abegglen:
According to the AC guidelines the basic idea of the AC is financial support and therefore "money-minded".
P. Sitaraman:
The AC decides about financial supports of creative projects and productions and not about their cultural and artistic value.
W. Senn:
The discussion is important because it is the first play supported by the AC which has a political agenda. He refers to Matt's letter and makes clear that there was and is no "restriction of artistic freedom" in the decision made by the AC and that there is no general obligation to support projects and therefore Matt's reproach has no basis as far as the restriction is concerned.
P. Sitaraman:
There has to be a reply to Matt's letter.
S. Hicks:
Isabelle sends a e-mail letter and the minutes as an attachment.
3. Vagina Monologues
P. Sitaraman:
Reports on the production: She is still looking for sponsors. The cast consists of 5 ED members, 5 former ED members and only 1 non ED member. Location: The Frauenhaus decided on the Käfigturmtheater. They will not use the word "English Department", but Priya applies for a voting on the use of the Instinctive Acts logo and the IA mailing list.
Voting: Should the VM production use the IA logo and the IA mailing list?
Decision: accepted by an unanimous decision.
4. Arts Council: Legal Status (Report: Ronny Abegglen)
R. Abegglen:
He checked the legal status with a jurist. The AC is a so-called "Verein" and therefore it is possible to change statutes and articles without the calling of a General Assembly.
P. Sitaraman:
Expresses her doubts.
W. Senn:
The AC was founded in 1998 because there had to be a legal Institution outside the ED to deal with the huge amount of money at disposal for creative projects. But the AC was quickly established and now we have to think about the guidelines and the way of election of the board. There is the possibility to elect via voting paper with names to tick which would be sent to students.
Everybody agrees on this legal and rather practical way of voting the board.
5. AC Party
There is going to be a AC General Assembly (date: probably end of term). General agreement about having an apéro first and a serious discussion and presentation of the AC afterwards.
Apart from that there are several possibilities and suggestion how this party should look like. Possibilities are:
- little lecture (D. Klapproth)
- Artistic and social event (presentations: Creative Writing, Drama Workshop)
- photo exhibition in combination with a little contest
- d) ?.
The actual concept and location are not yet decided.
Date: January 28, 2004, probably 6pm, and def. apéro and GA.
S. Ingold:
To organize artistic and social events on a regular basis would be a great publicity for the AC. She is going to organize the AC party (caretaker, room booking, contact Head of Department,...)
6. AOB
G. Carmosino:
Carmosino announces his retreat, because his will finish his studies and probably go abroad in 2004 =(
P. Sitaraman:
The AC finances: There are about sFr. 28'000 on the AC account. Is there a reasonable and useful possibility to spend a part of it? She proposes a little contribution to the ED homepage.
W. Senn:
The AC finances must be kept apart from the ED.
General agreement that the money should not be used for ED matters. Several other suggestions are made, but the AC will discuss the "how-to-spend-money-on-something-useful-and-reasonable-problem" at the next AC meeting.
S. Ingold:
cellar problem. Nico has not done anything and Toby's list is not really up to date (2001).
Next Meeting: January 2004, date will be fixed via e-m@il
Minutes: by Isabelle Schürch.