Executive Committee Meeting - Dallas, USA - February 11 - 13, 2000

Present: Harold Oaks USA President Wolfgang Schneider Germany Vice-president Kim Woo Ok Korea Vice-president (not present on the 13th) Kim van der Boon Netherlands Vice-president Vicky Ireland Great Britain Treasurer Niclas Malmcrona Sweden Secretary General Helge Andersen Norway Remi Boucher Canada (not present on the 13th) Elizabeth Kabasa Zimbabwe Yoshishige Kagawa Japan Luiza Monteiro Brazil Peter Rinderknecht Switzerland Ivica Simic Croatia Jan Skotnicki Poland Lou Westbury Australia Galya Kolosova Russia Counsellor Eckhard Mittelstädt Germany Counsellor Anastasia Kozak Canada Executive Assistant 1. Opening of the meeting Harold Oaks welcomed the Executive Committee to Dallas and expressed his thanks to the Dallas Children’s Theatre for hosting the EC meeting. 2. Apologies Tisa Chifunyise (Zimbabwe), Marjorie MacLean (Canada), Jackson Ndawula (Uganda), Bjarne Thanning (Denmark) and Hagit Rehavi Nikolayevsky (Israel) have sent their apologies. 3. Bureau Meeting Harold Oaks reported on a bureau meeting in the evening of the 10th. The following items were discussed: -Budget 1999-2002 -Attendance of the meetings -Agenda and adjustments 4. Review of the agenda The agenda was approved. 5. Adoption of the minutes of the EC meeting in Tromsø on June 16, 1999 The minutes were unanimously adopted. 6. Business arising from the minutes Niclas Malmcrona pointed out that the enclosure to the Tromsø minutes, discussing the ideas for preparing any future ASSITEJ World Congress, should be a good reference for the organizers of Korean Congress. 7. President’s report Harold Oaks read out the President’s report and distributed a letter from Hagit Rehavi Nikolayevsky with a report from ASSITEJ Israel. 8. From the General Secretariat a) Report Niclas Malmcrona went over the General Secretariat’s report. b) Contact with centres The list of centres in contact and those who have contributed to the newsletters since June 1999 was presented (see enclosure). Niclas Malmcrona commented that communication with centres is a little frustrating and that it should be discussed further. c) Contact with non-members countries Secretary General came into contact with Zambia through ASSITEJ Zimbabwe, who is very interested in ASSITEJ. Harold Oaks thanked ASSITEJ Zimbabwe for their hard work in Africa and announced that he will travel there in July with Secretary General and hopefully meet with people in Zambia. Elizabeth Kabasa presented a report on the situation in Africa. Malawi, Lesotho, South Africa and Zambia are all in a process of forming national centres, and Mauritius was succesful in forming a national centre. d) Newsletter, Festival Guide, Web-site Lou Westbury said that a different theme for each newsletter could be helpful. Helge Andersen suggested that each centre appoint a contact person with newsletter responsibilities. Wolfgang Schneider proposed that Communications and Publication Commission think of a solution. The ASSITEJ International Festival Guide 2000 was distributed to the EC. Wolfgang Schneider thanked the General Secretary for good work and suggested that 10-12 festivals can be represented in the next annual with details, reports and remarks. Harold Oaks reminded the EC that the Festival Guide can be updated on the internet. Ivica Simic suggested that a forum of different topics be established on the ASSITEJ website and in order to have an active website it needs to be a real time communication. e) Membership applications Malaysia’s application was presented and discussed. Since not enough information was available to satisfy full membership requirements, Harold Oaks suggested accepting Malaysia as a corresponding member. Malaysia was accepted as a corresponding member of ASSITEJ. Niclas Malmcrona reported that he travelled to Latvia in January to inform about ASSITEJ International and to help establish a national centre. Latvia meets the requirements for full membership. Latvia was accepted as a full member of ASSITEJ. f) A o b Wolfgang Schneider spoke on behalf of everyone at Ray Nusselein’s funeral in Copenhagen and suggested that we comment on it in the next annual. 9. Financial Report Vicky Ireland presented the financial report from June 1999 until present . First notice for membership dues has been sent and the second will follow up. EC members reported whether they have been in contanct with any expelled or near current centres. Contact has been made with Congo, Mexico, Bulgaria and China. Harold Oaks commented that at least the centres should write and explain about their situation. He sent out four notices talking about the necessity of paying subscription. 10. Discussion of partnership system decided in Tromsø Harold Oaks invited everyone to give reports, focusing on their partner countries. Himself, he tried to improve contact with Venezuela but was not very succesfull. Kim Woo Ok talked about the Asian Symposium in Okinawa, where Japan and Korea told non-members about ASSITEJ and urged them to seek membership in the organization. There was an instant interest and he will visit the countries and watch theatre productions in the future in order to establish personal contact. Helge Andersen talked about a project with Arun Agnihotri, ASSITEJ India, and the Nordic ASSITEJ centres (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) led by ASSITEJ Denamark. The aim of the project is to buy and run a theatre house in the city of Gujarat on behalf of the Playhouse. Vicky Ireland has met two French practitioners, Francois Gerard (ONDA) and Carol de Montrichard, a consultant for the performing arts, who presented her with a book listing all theatres for children and young people in France. She has also enquired whether Mission 2000 will have anything for children, and wrote to Maurice Yendt explaining the need to collaborate - no replies were received. Vicky Ireland will travel to Madrid to have a meeting with ASSITEJ Spain. Luiza Monteiro has tried to contact other Latin American countries as Peru, Venezuela and Uruguay but with little success. The contacts with Bolivia has on the other hand been many. Ivica Simic explained the political changes in Croatia and how it made his work easier. Slovenia has a joint production in Ljubljana. Monte Negro and Serbia are going to build up Yugoslavian Festival for Youth this year, which hopefully will help establish ASSITEJ. There was no contact with Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Remi Boucher suggested that since ASSITEJ France is not responding, information about ASSITEJ could be distributed at large to all theatre companies in France. The Secretary General pointed out that any company can be on an ASSITEJ mailing list, but the offical contact must go through the national centre. Kim van der Boon informed the EC that a Dutch dancer went to Brazil and everything went fine. ASSITEJ Netherlands has changed, it has received funding and is now trying to be more international. There are also a lof of Dutch co-productions. Elizabeth Kabasa urged everyone to have a close look at her report. She has been trying to get in touch with Kenya and Angola, but it was not fruitful. Niclas Malmcrona mentioned that Jackson Ndawula travelled to Rwanda and Kenya, where he had meetings. He also refered to the meeting he had with ASSITEJ Latvia in Riga. Jan Skotnicki said that in Lithuania the greater part of plays is in Russian, and a smaller one in Lithuanian. Lithuanian theatre is developing magnificently, yet requires some time. Perhaps they could use the help of Latvian centre. Lou Westbury attended the 1999 Singapore International Arts Festival, where one week of the one month long festival included a ”Kid´s Fest” of children´s performances. Lou told the organisers about ASITEJ. There is now going to be a Children´s Festival in it´s own right which Lou will also be attending in March 2000. Lou will then follow up with the contacts she has made. Stronger contacts are being developed between Perth and Singapore as many artists are going to Singapore and vice versa. Yoshishige Kagawa reported on a big success of the Asian Symposium last July, where twelve Asian countries met. Philippines, Singapore, China and Korea agreed to do performances in Tokyo. As the year 2000 progresses, Japan and Korea would like to help China out with financial difficulties. Kim Woo Ok commented that the theme in this third Asian meeting was ”New Identity of Children’s Asian Theatre in 21st Century”, and a ”Curtains Up” publication was produced, which is a very good source of information on the situation of Asian Children’s theatre. There was interest among the EC to put the publication on the website. Wolfgang Schneider informed the EC about Swiss, Austrian and German ASSITEJ meeting last October in Vienna, in conjunction with a festival, symposium and performances. There is a big exchange with ASSITEJ Russia, who invited German performances and workshops to Ekaterinburg, a total of 80 theatre companies were represented. Tomorrow the Rainbow Festival starts, and the Germans are going to Moscow in April and to Samara Festival in September. Niclas Malmcrona reported that the Nordic ASSITEJ centres are planning a Nordic-Latvian Theatre Festival next year, with one performance from each Nordic country and Latvian performances. He also asked Jan Skotnicki to provide addresses in Lithuania. Harold Oaks said he was pleased with the contacts and partnerships being made and commanded the EC on a job well done. 11. UNESCO membership Niclas Malmcrona reported that in its letter, UNESCO was pleased to learn that ASSITEJ wants to enter into a formal relationship with them; however, there was no news from UNESCO since then. The issue will be more developed at the next meeting and further attempts to contact them will be made. 12. ASSITEJ World Day Niclas Malmcrona informed the EC that November 20 was UNICEF’s Day of Convention of Children’s Rights, and that World Children’s Day dates differ around the world. Jan Skotnicki mentioned that March 27 was International Theatre Day. Harold Oaks recommended that the issue be sent to the Publications and Communication Commission. 13. ”Three Minutes” The EC gave brief reports on their own professional activities and projects. 14. The Commissions a) Restructure of Commissions Niclas Malmcrona presented the restructured commissions (see enclosure) and new commissions were accepted by the EC. b) Congress Commission Kim Woo Ok distributed and went over a plan for the ASSITEJ Congress and Festival 2002 in Seoul. He asked Harold Oaks and Niclas Malmcrona to write letters to the Korean government to help secure their place for the Congress. Remi Boucher offered Kim Woo Ok his complete collaboration and reminded the EC that ASSITEJ Canada is still interested in hosting 2005 Congress in Montreal. The EC unanimously acknowledged that the 2002 Congress will be held in Seoul. After their meeting, Congress Commission tentatively agreed to: i) Consider changing the ”new” to ”experimental” in festival theme. ii) Since the Congress is held in Asia, it should be different from other congresses (ex. each day could represent a different Asian country). iii) The two symposium topics, ”Tradition, its Use and Abuse” and ”New Theatre for Children and Youth”, united into one. iv) Discuss further how to screen performances. Printing schedule: May 2001 First Congress brochure, general info, initial hotel arrangements November 2001 Second Congress brochure, specific info and hotel accomodations January 2002 Small booklet with complete program of performances distributed March 2002 Deadline for the final festival program c) Communication and Publication Commission Niclas Malmcrona reported on the Commission’s meeting. i) Website -how to make it easier to navigate (change lay-out, name, graphics?) -include information about Korea Congress -notification system of new activities going on -update subscription to the search engines Chat Room: -real time communication -particular topics discussed EC page: -photos of everyone should be put up, with a short resume -members only area -access to information via clicking on the map of the world which would then take you to a listing of members in that area. ii) Newsletter -make it more informal, interesting -create a bulletin board for individual members -possibility of individual members sending info directly to the Secretary General -”Out and About” section of who is travelling where -”Bricks and Roses” section, the good and the bad that is happening in ASSITEJ iii) ASSITEJ Brochure -Portugese text will be added -Lou Westbury will design a new layout -Harold Oaks and Lou Westbury will review the English text -ready for distribution by the middle of 2000 iv) ASSITEJ World Day Lou Westbury introduced the idea of distributing a World Day Pack to include the following: -name of the day -an example letter requesting that the government make a statement of support in each member country -symbol of the day (ex. a blue baloon, also a theme for peace) -centres would list events going on in their countries during that day -calendar of events for the year -media release -letter from the President The Commission proposed the date for the ASSITEJ World Day to be March 20, and the name ”Theatre for Children and Young People World Day”. Planning will be done for 2001 due to short notice. Votes were taken on name and date, and were unanimously approved by the EC. v) E-mail List An e-mail list of all individuals and companies in each ASSITEJ centre was suggested, and Niclas Malmcrona will ask for e-mail addresses from the centres. Also a question of whether or not to send information to the companies and individuals not affiliated with the centre came up. vi) Archives -installation on the web, link with ASSITEJ page -useful for volunteers, public -place in the annual? -use of copyright, disclaimer, release on television Eckhard Mittelstädt put forth a motion for approval of $500 for archive installation on the web. The motion was unanimously approved. vii) Annual Eckhard Mittelstädt presented the budget for 1996/97 and 1998/99 annuals. He then introduced to the EC ideas for the next year’s annual: -report from 10 festivals all around the world -ASSITEJ Archives -portraits, pictures -documentation of Tromsø World Congress -bibliography -internet vs. hard copy The EC discussed the question of whether or not to print the annual or put it on the internet. Wolfgang Schneider put forward a motion that 2000/2001 annual has the same format as the previous. In the meantime the Publication and Communication Commission will research advantages and disadvantages of having the annual on the internet or in hard copy. The result of the vote: In favour 10 Against 3 Obstained 0 Motion to keep the 2000/2001 annual in the same format was passed. d) Finance and Statues Commission A new commission was formed and will meet during the next EC meeting. The members are Harold Oaks (chair), Vicky Ireland, Niclas Malmcrona, Helge Andersen and Marjorie MacLean (counsellor). e) Artistic Commission Wolfgang Schneider informed the EC about Commission’s last meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland and presented the Artistic Commission’s working plan. The Commission planned to discuss the first question in Dallas: What is the impact of modern dance on the theatrical language of theatre for children and young people? The preparation for discussion was done by Kim van der Boon. The members came to conclusion that we have to promote and describe this special theme in our work. Dance theatre should be developed and it is an important specialty in theatre for children. The next meeting is in September in Warsaw, Poland, and the Commission will discuss questions 2 and 3. Perhaps after its three year term the Artistic Commission could have a document covering the topics discussed. f) Discussion and adoption of a working plan for the EC The Chairs of the Commissions was asked to send a written report to the Secretary General and he will write a working plan from the reports and present it to the Executive Committee. 15. Budget Harold Oaks presented the budget for 1999-2002 (see enclosure) and asked the EC to vote on approving the budget. The budget was unanimously adopted. 16. ASSITEJ USA - report The EC watched the slide show covering the ASSITEJ USA activities. 17. Dates and places of the next meeting The next EC meeting will take place in Rio, Brazil, from December 8 - 10, 2000. Since both Japan and Zimbabwe were interested in hosting a meeting during the same time, the meetings will take place in July 2001 and July 2002, respectively. Ivica Simic announced that Croatia would be happy to host the EC meetings in July or October any following years during Milk Tooth Festival and Sibenik Children’s Festival. 18. Any other business Kim van der Boon suggested that perhaps a separate informal meeting can be organized for the ”Three Minutes”, since it takes up so much time on the agenda. Harold Oaks reminded everyone that should focus on executive’s own work. Niclas Malmcrona acknowledged that Swedish Institute covered Galya Kolosova’s fare to Dallas from Moscow. Wolfgang Schneider asked the EC to propose to the next General Assembly that Orna Porat be nominated for Honorary Membership. The decision will be postponed until the next meeting and Hagit Rehavi Nikolayevsky will be asked to bring a formal application. 19. Closing the meeting On closing the meeting Harold Oaks distributed the City of Dallas Proclamation and thanked the Dallas Children’s Theatre for their good work in organizing the EC meeting. A special thanks was addressed to Robyn Flatt, Executive Director of Dallas Children’s Theatre and she was presented with a gift by Niclas Malmcrona on behalf of ASSITEJ International.