Executive Committee Meeting - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - March 1-7, 2002

Present Harold Oaks USA President Wolfgang Schneider Germany Vice President Kim Woo-ok Korea Vice President Vicky Ireland Great Britain Treasurer Niclas Malmcrona Sweden Secretary General Helge Andersson Norway Remi Boucher Canada (present on item # 17-22) Tisa Chifunyise Zimbabwe Yoshishige Kagawa Japan Luiza Monteiro Brazil Jackson Ndawula Uganda Peter Rinderknecht Switzerland Ivica Simic Croatia Jan Skotnicki Poland Galya Kolosova Russia Counsellor Peter Manscher Denmark Counsellor Eckhard Mittelstädt Germany Counsellor Martha Cañete Argentina Observer Sergio Rio Hennings Bolivia Observer Rebecca Brinch Sweden Executive Assistant 1. Opening of the meeting Harold Oaks opened the meeting extending the EC´s gratitude to ASSITEJ Brazil for hosting the meeting Niclas Malmcrona welcomed Martha Cañete (ASSITEJ Argentina) and Sergio Rio Hennings (ASSITEJ Bolivia) to the meeting of the EC. 2. Apologies Lou Westbury (Australia) and Kim van der Boon (Netherlands) sent their apologies. Hagit Rehavi Nikolayevsky (Israel) has not been in contact with the General Secretariat. 3. Bureau Meeting Members of the Bureau reported that there were no major changes or additions to be made to the agenda. 4. Rewiew of the agenda Wolfgang Schneider asked if the three minutes could be added to the agenda. Item # 13, Three minutes, was added to the agenda. The agenda was adopted. 5. Adoption of the minutes from Harare The minutes were unanimously adopted. 6. Business arising from the minutes No business arising. 7. President`s Report See enclosed Harold Oaks handed out the report of the president to the members of the EC, and commented on it briefly. Harold Oaks expressed his gratitude to ASSITEJ Brazil for hosting the meeting, and to the Nordic countries for their continued support of the General Secretariat. Harold Oaks also thanked Niclas Malmcrona for the excellent work he is doing as Secretary General. 8. From the General Secretariat a) Secretary General´s Report See enclosed Niclas Malmcrona went over the General Secretariats preliminary report for 1999-2002. The report from the General Secretariat was handed out to all present. The final report from the General Secretariat will be presented during the General Assembly in Seoul, Korea. Niclas Malmcrona reported that he travelled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in September 2001 where he went through the organisation for the coming EC meeting. Niclas Malmcrona noted that he was impressed by the good organisation done by ASSITEJ Brazil. Niclas Malmcrona reported that he travelled to Cameroon in November 2001 where he attended a national festival. He noted that he was impressed by the work being done there, and by the theatre and the organisation. Niclas Malmcrona also reported that the General Secretariat and ASSITEJ Sweden have received funding from SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency) for ”Strengthening children´s and young people´s theatre in Southern and Eastern Africa” during 2002. The total sum is approximately 100 000 USD. He reported he participated in a preparatory meeting in Durban in February 2002 with representatives from 12 African countries where plans for travels during 2002 were made and also preparations for a regional workshop started. The workshop will take place in Kampala, Uganda, in October or November this year with 25 - 30 participants from the region. The meeting in Durban also spent a day discussing ASSITEJ with representatives from all provinces in South Africa and the importance and benefits of establishing an ASSITEJ centre in South Africa. He commented the meeting as fruitful and interesting, and hopes that South Africa soon will be able to establish an ASSITEJ centre. He also reported that he ”on his way” to Durban vistited Mbabane in Swaziland, and met with the National Arts Council, with several NGOs, as well as theatre artists and representatives of ASSITEJ Swaziland/SWATCYP. Niclas Malmcrona also added that since the meeting in Tokyo, Japan, the website has been changed in co-operation with Peter Manscher and web-master Stig Hansen. The website is updated and needs to be used more by the ASSITEJ centres. Vicky Ireland and several other members of the EC expressed their gratitude for Niclas Malmcrona´s excellent work. Tisa Chifunyise expressed her gratitude to Niclas Malmcrona for all his hard work, on behalf of all the African countries. b) Membership Applications - Bangladesh - Nepal - Swaziland Bangladesh has submitted an application for membership. Since not enough information was given to satisfy either full or corresponding membership requirements it was decided that Niclas Malmcrona will contact Bangladesh for further information. The Bangladeshi membership application was deferred until the next meeting. Nepal has submitted an application for corresponding membership. Niclas Malmcrona suggested accepting Nepal as a corresponding member. Nepal was accepted as a cooresponding member of ASSITEJ. Based on the written information from Swaziland and on what Niclas Malmcrona reported from his visit in Swaziland, it was recommended that Swaziland should be accepted as a full member of ASSITEJ. Swaziland was accepted as a full member of ASSITEJ. c) Others Niclas Malmcrona reported that he has sent out the letter from Peter Brook and a small package concerning the Theatre for Children and Young People World Day to all ASSITEJ centres. Niclas commented that the day is becoming more and more recognized. Niclas Malmcrona handed out the new ASSITEJ brochure to all members of the EC. Each centre will receive 100 copies. More copies can be ordered from the General Secretariat. Niclas Malmcrona handed out the ASSITEJ Festival Guide 2002 to all present. The guide has been sent to all ASSITEJ centres, and is available on the website where it also can be copied from. The Festival Guide will be updated on the web during the year. Niclas Malmcrona handed out the papers from the ASSITEJ Japan seminars in July 2001, Theatre for young audiences around the world. The paper has been distributed to all the centres. It can also be found on the web. 9. Financial Report Vicky Ireland presented the preliminary financial report and went through news concerning the membership fees. The final financial report will be given in Seoul. Vicky Ireland asked all the members of the EC in touch with collegues from centres wich have not yet submitted their payment to please pass on information about this matter to her. Vicky Ireland also gave a brief summary of the different costs ASSITEJ International has distributed with during the last year, and commented on money well used. Wolfgang Schneider thanked Vicky Ireland on behalf of all the members of the EC for her report. He also asked how she communicates with the different centres since communication with some centres is a reocurring problem. Wolfgang Schneider also raised the question about why some wealthy countries only pay a small membership fee, while other wealthy countries pay a higher rate. Niclas Malmcrona added that he has the same picture as Vicky Ireland and Wolfgang Schneider on which centres that pay, and which that don´t pay. 10. Report from the Conference How to study children´s and young people´s theatre Wolfgang Schneider reported that the Conference was a success, and that 120 people from different countries around the world attended the Conference in Zürich, Switzerland. A variety of possibilites and different perspectives on how to study children´s and young people´s theatre was presented during the Conference, and some interesting answers were found. A discussion about how to establish quality in this field was raised. Wolfgang Schneider added that reports on this event can be found in Newsletter no. 13 from the General Secretariat. The Conference will be discussed further during the General Assembly in Seoul, Korea. Wolfgang Schneider expressed his gratitude to all the people that participated in the Conference, and to Switzerland for their good organisation. Harold Oaks commented that people from USA attending the Conference found it fruitful and interesting. Jan Skotnicki added that Conferences lika this should be integrated to ASSITEJ in a more reocurring way. Several more members of the EC expressed their gratitude to Wolfgang Schneider for taking the initiative for the conference, and commented on it as an important event. Niclas Malmcrona thanked Switzerland for their generosity in hosting this event. 11. Other reports from EC-members Sergio Rio Hennings from ASSITEJ Bolivia handed out a paper concerning the Bolivian ASSITEJ centre and their work and gave a brief presentation on this. Sergio expressed his gratitude for the opportunity of being at this meeting. Martha Cañete from ASSITEJ Argentina also expressed her gratitude for being able to attend the EC-meeting. Martha gave a brief presentation of Argentinas children and young people´s theatre and commented on the context this exists in, and in which way this has affected the theatre. Martha also reminded that one Argentinan theatre group is visiting Seoul, Korea, to perform during the Congress & Performing Arts Festival. Niclas Malmcrona thanked Sergio Rio Henneings and Martha Cañete for their reports and for their participation in the EC-meeting. 12. Concerns of the French centre Harold Oaks and Niclas Malmcrona presented a draft for an answer to the french letter for consideration by the EC. Regarding the discussion in the french letter concerning theatre for, or by, children and young people, Niclas Malmcrona added that the Constitution regarding this matter is clear. Luiza Monteiro made some comments about the way the draft was written. Eckhardt Mittelstädt proposed that some results from last years conferences could be added to the final letter. Peter Rinderknecht asked if it is possible to invite Maurice Yendt to an EC-meeting, and thereby have an opportunity to discuss the topics addressed in the french letter. Jan Skotnicki raised the question about professionality and what distinguished professional companies. A discussion about theatre for and by young people started, where the need for professionality and responsibility when working with young people was mentioned. Wolfgang Schneider commented that the variety of work being done by the different ASSITEJ centres is a fact, and that a more concrete discussion on this topic needs to be developed. Wolfgang added that one way to do this is having different conferences where the variety of perspectives can be discussed. There where some more proposals on how to rework the draft. Harold Oaks proposed that he and Niclas Malmcrona will rework the draft, considering the different comments made by the members of the EC. The proposal was endorsed by the EC. The reworked draft will be sent to the Bureau for further comments, and if needed discussed at the next EC-meeting. 13. ”Three minutes” The members of the EC gave brief reports on their own professional activities and projects. 14. Report from the General Assembly preparation a) Practical matters Niclas Malmcrona reported that the General Assembly will take place in the Sungkyun University from July 23th to July 26th. The sessions of the General Assembly will take place during July 23th, 25th and 26th. On July 24th there will be a forum organised by the Artisitic Commission. Niclas Malmcrona also reminded the members of the EC that there will be an additional EC-meeting taking place before the General Assembly. Time and place for this meeting will be announced later. There will also be an extra meeting for the members of the new EC Committee after the General Assembly. Further information about this matter will be sent to all the members of the EC. Niclas Malmcrona commented that after the deadline of April 20th the General Secretariat will distribute the final information regarding the Congress (the agenda, the forum, the General Assembly etc) to all centres. Niclas Malmcrona also recommended all the centres to take a look at ASSITEJ Internationals website: www.assitej.org which will be continually updated with information concerning the Congress and the General Assembly. c) Review of the membership fee Niclas Malmcrona recommended that the current system is kept until the General Assembly. The new Treasurer will be asked to work out a proposal for a new system for the membership fee to be put forth at the Conference 2005. The proposition was endorsed by the EC. (See also item # 19 c) d) Working program 2002-2005 It was decided that Niclas Malmcrona together with the bureau will work out a draft for a working program 2002-2005. The draft will be presented for consideration by the EC and then presented at the General Assembly in Seoul, Korea. e) The General Secretariat 2002-2005, candidates So far no applications for the General Secretariat has been recieved. Niclas Malmcrona declared that he will stand for a new period if the Nordic countries can continue their support of the Secretariat. f) Treasurer 2002-2005, candidates Peter Manscher declared that Klas Eggert from ASSITEJ Denmark will stand for Treasurer. g) President 2002-2005, candidates Harold Oaks declared that he is standing back. Jackson Ndawula commented that he would like some new names to be proposed. Peter Rinderknecht and several other members of the EC suggested Wolfgang Schneider. Wolfgang Schneider declared that he will be standing for President. h) Candidates for the EC 2002-2005 Many of the members of the out-going Executive Committee declared that they will leave the committee after the General Assembly in Seoul, Korea. Niclas Malmcrona reported that so far the General Secretariat has recieved applications for candidates to the EC from Zambia, Finland, Great Britain, Latvia, Zimbabwe and Poland. i) Future Congresses, candidates Remi Boucher announced that Montreal, Canada, will apply for hosting the Congress 2005. Niclas Malmcrona reported that Aberystwyth, Great Britain, will probably apply for hosting the Congress 2005. 15. Reports from the Congress and Festival preparation Kim Woo-ok read through the current plans for the Congress in Seoul, Korea, 2002. Kim Woo-ok distributed the new brochure for the Congress and Performing Arts Festival to all present members of the EC. Each centre will be sent 10 copies of the brochure. More copies of the brochure can be distributed from Kim Woo-ok. A new and final program will be distributed at the General Assembly in Seoul. Harold Oaks expressed his gratitude to Kim Woo-ok for his excellent work. a) Practical matters Kim Woo-ok asked all the members of the EC to please register which performances they would like to attend during the Congress, and then turn in the registration form. Each member´s program is individual, and both performances and workshops have to be registred in advance. Participating companies are also asked to please register which performances they wish to attened. The registration form and more information can be found in the back of the brochure. The registration form can also be viewed and downloaded on the Web: www.assitejkorea.org Kim Woo-ok also reminded the members of the EC that if they like to stay at the same hotel as other participants from their homecountry, this should be noted in the registration form. Luiza Monteiro asked if centres with financial problems can be excused from the registration fee (100 USD). Niclas Malmcrona explained that they can, but they have to write to the General Secretariat and ask for exemption. Niclas Malmcrona and Kim Woo-ok asked all the members of the EC to please don´t hesitate to contact them if they have any questions concerning the Congress and the General Assembly. b) Day by day programme Kim Woo-ok presented the schedule for the Congress, and briefly went over it. The schedule was distributed to all the members of the EC. c) Performances Kim Woo-ok handed out a schedule over the performaces to all the members of the EC. All performances will be played during two days. Kim Woo-ok commented that due to only taking a small audience, the Swedish performance and the German performance will be played three days. The four performances from Seoul marked p30 to p33 in the schedule will be choosen and announced at the end of may. d) Workshops No changes in the programme, but more workshops are likely to be added up intil the congress. e) Invitations of international guests The President and the Secretary General of ITI has been invited to the General Assembly. Wolfgang Schneider brought information about IBBY (International Board on Books for Young people). It was decided that Niclas Malmcrona will write and invite the President and the Secretary General of IBBY to the General assembly. (See also item # 19 d.) f) Special events, opening and closening ceremonies, tourist offers, nightclubs etcetera. Remi Boucher asked if it was possible to add a Canadian party on July 24th. This was happily done. 16. Honorary President and Honorary Membership a) Michael FitzGerald Michael FitzGerald, Australia, was nominated for Honorary President. The application for Honorary President was approved and will be put forth at the General Assembly. Yoshishige Kagawa directed the EC to the enclosed letter. Kazuto Kurhara, Japan, was nominated for Honorary Membership. The application was approved and will be put forth at the General Assembly. Niclas Malmcrona proposed that the Executive Committee recommend Rose Marie Moudoues from France for Honorary Membership to the General Assembly, and the suggestion was endorsed. Niclas Malmcrona will write to ASSITEJ France addressing this matter. 17. Discussions a) Fees and festivals Deferred to the next meeting. b) Future Congresses Niclas Malmcrona presented a survey over the General Assembly site selection. Only 15 centres has answered, with the outcome that 12 centres like to select the next congress cite at each General Assembly. The EC decided that every General Assembly selects the next site for the Congress. c) An ASSITEJ catalogue of scripts in English, report from Vicky Ireland. Vicky Ireland presented a paper on the circulations of the script. The paper was handed out to all the members of the EC. Harold Oaks commented that the idea of circulations on the script could be a step towards an International Bibliography that could be coordinated and made available on the website. Wolfgang Schneider commented that an information system for plays for children and young people could be published on ASSITEJ´s website. Vicky Ireland commented that she does not feel that whole texts should be published on the Net as copyrights of scripts would pose problems. A discussion about the problems with selecting different plays arised, and members of the EC pointed out that their might be problems for the centres in selecting which plays to send in. The need of some procedures/guidelines for the selection procedure was addressed by Niclas Malmcrona and Galya Kolosova among others. Niclas Malmcrona proposed that the Artistitic Commission could work out some guidelines for the centres. Vicky Ireland responsed that she thought it should be left to each centre to decide which plays to send in. Wolfgang Schneider recommended the members of the EC to endorse Vicky Ireland´s proposal on circulation of scripts. He expressed his gratitude to ASSITEJ Great Britain for their efforts on this matter. Niclas Malmcrona closed the discussion by confirming that the EC will approve Vicky Ireland´s proposal on the terms that ASSITEJ Great Britain rework some of the practical details. The worked out proposal will be put forth to the EC and will be written into the next working program. d) Jan´s letter Wolfgang Schneider presented and gave a brief summary of a paper with some proposals discussed in the Artisitic Commission based on Jan Skotnicki´s letter. Jan Skotnicki agreed with the brief summary. Jackson Ndawula drew attention to the section in the paper where future partners to ASSITEJ is mentioned, with the question about what happend to the cooperation with UNESCO discussed at earlier EC meetings. Niclas Malmcrona answered that he has written to UNESCO several times without any replies. It was decided that Niclas will look in to this and try to contact them again. Vicky Ireland commented on the last topic discussed in the paper, where the need for a treauserer as a fundraiser is mentioned. A discussion concerning fundraising arised, where it became clear that fundraising already is being done through some national centres. Harold Oaks commented that it is important to remember that fundraising also can implicate commercial promotion. The question is if ASSITEJ can accept this as an non-profit-making association. Harold Oaks added that as a start the new Treasurer could address the problems with the membership fees. Wolfgang Schneider commented that a change of ASSITEJ´s financial structure not only has to do with the Treasurer. He presented the EC meeting in Rio de Janeiro as an example of a way of changing the financial structure. In Rio de Janeiro the seminars were organised in cooperation with the hotel that the meeting was held at (SESC Copacabana), which meant that SESC contributed with the main costs of the meeting. Peter Manscher reminded that the Treasurer is not a fundraiser, and suggested that fundraising rather would be the work for a subcommission. Niclas Malmcrona closed the discussion with saying that the question raised about ASSITEJ´s future financial situation will have to be discussed on further occasions by the EC Committe. Wolfgang Schneider proposed putting the topics discussed in the paper in the working program for the next EC-meeting, and the Artisitic Commission asked the members of the EC to endorse this. It was decided that Niclas Malmcrona will take this into the draft for the future Working Program. 18. Commission meetings 19. Commission reports a) Congress commissions Reported under item # 15 b) Communiction and Publication commission Niclas Malmcrona commented on the work being done on the website and with the newsletters. Eckhardt Mittelstädt summarized the work being done with the Annual Yearbook of theatre for children and young people, and presented the budget to the members of the EC (costs and income of the annual). Every centre has recieved two copies of the Annual. Additional copies may be ordered by following a link on the website, or by submitting an order form (sent out to all the centres from the General Secretariat). Wolfgang Schneider distributed brochures to all the members of the EC. The brochure advertise all three issues of the annuals and contains an order form. More brochures can be distributed from ASSITEJ Germany or the General Secreteriat. Since only a small amount of the Annual has been sold, Eckkhardt Mittelstädt asked for contributions on how to distribute more. Niclas Malmcrona presented a survey sent to all the centres considering the Annual with questions on sales, what the centre done with the copy they bought and if there where problems with the language. The result of the survey shows that the language issue is the main concern for the centres. Since the costs for translation would be enormous there is no real solution to this problem. Niclas Malmcrona added the importance of promoting the Annual, and asked all the members of the EC and the centres to do what they can on this matter. It was decided that the future situation concerning the Annual and its costs will be adressed at the General Assembly in Seoul. The final decision about the future of the Annual will be discussed by the next EC- committe. Peter Manscher reported that the website has been changed a bit in accordance with the guidelines that it should be a network with the latest news from ASSITEJ where it is easy to navigate, and where people can get in contact with each other. The work being done on the website includes making links directly from the memberlists to theatres (a more direct way of contacting theatres etc). On the website you can search centres, view and download seminarpapers and the Festival Guide among many other things. The numbers of centres that has a website and e-mail is increasing. Any comments or ideas concerning the Website can be sent to Peter Manscher or to Niclas Malmcrona. Niclas Malmcrona added that the website needs to be used more by the centres since the numbers of centres communicating through the General Secretariat is still a matter of concern to the General Secretariat. c) Finance and statue commission Harold Oaks and Niclas Malmcrona gave a brief summary of the subscription system and the membership fees. Niclas Malmcrona presented some figures that showed that the average membershipfee for 1999 was 215 USD, while the average for 2001 was 232 USD. A discussion about why some wealthy countries pay a higher membership fee while other wealthy countries pay less arised. It was decided that this has to be looked in to in the future. Harold Oaks and Niclas Malmcrona recommended the EC to keep the current system for the membershipfees for the next three years, and the proposal was endorsed. It was also decided that the new Treasurer will be asked to work out a draft for a new system to be put forth at the Congress in 2005. d) Artisitic Commission Wolfgang Schneider gave a brief summarize of the meeting held by the Artisitic Commission. Several issues was discussed, among those Jan´s letter and Vicky´s paper on the circulations of the scripts. The minutes from the Artisitic Commissions meeting will be sent to the members of the artisitic commission for comments and then to the General Secretariat. The final report will be given at the General Assembly in Seoul, Korea. The need for more discussions concerning the performances that the members of the EC attends during the EC-meetings was noted. A wish for more exchanges, less program and more communication (seminars) was adressed. Wolfgang Schneider commented on ASSITEJ´s need for future partners (adressed in the paper on Jans letter) and handed out a broshure from IBBY (International board on books for young people). IBBY is a non-profit organization which represents an international network of people from all over the world who are committed to bringing books and children together. Wolfgang reported on a meeting with this organisation in Bratislava in September and added that there is a close relationship between ASSITEJ and IBBY (playwrights/critics). (See also item # 15 e). Wolfgang Schneider presented the final program for the forum organized by the Artisitic Commission that will take place on July 24th during the Congress in Seoul, Korea. The forum about "Artisitic Development of Theater for Children and Young People in the World" includes four subjects: 1) What is the impact of Modern Dance on the Artistic Development of Theater for Children and Young People ? Introducers will be Kim van der Boon and Remi Boucher 2) What is the Impact of Theater with Puppets and Objects on the Artistic Development of Theater for Children and Young People ? Introducers will be Ivica Simic and Peter Rinderknecht 3) How to Study Theater for Children and Young People ? Introducers will be Wolfgang Schneider and Jeremy Turner 4) Theater Arts and the Educational System: In Harmony or Conflict ? Introducers will be Vicky Ireland and Hagit Rehavi Nikolayevsky Wolfgang expressed the need for 4 members from the EC to play the minutemakers (moderators) during the forum. It was decided that Jan Skotnicki will be the minutemaker for subject no. 3. Who the rest minutemakers will be is to be discussed further. 20. Dates and places of the next EC- meetings. The next EC-meeting is proposed by Ivica Simic, ASSITEJ Croatia, for the end of October in Zagreb, Croatia. The meeting was proposed to take place during the Milk Tooth Festival (October 22-27). The EC endorsed the proposal from ASSITEJ Croatia. Their is also a proposal from Brazil for hosting an EC-meeting in Blumenau in the end of August 2003. Denmark proposed hosting a Congress in Helsingør in connection with their festival. 21. Any other buisness Luiza Monteiro commented that she would like to arrange for a letter concerning the current situation for children nowadays. The purpose of this letter is to have a paper in the name of ASSITEJ wich asserts the right of all children to live without poverty, war and labour. She would like to write the letter in cooperation with other centres, and present it during the General Assembly. Niclas Malmcrona suggested that ASSITEJ Brazil makes a draft for the letter and presents this to the members of the EC for consideration (this could be done by e-mail). The EC endorsed the proposal. Niclas Malmcrona also reminded Luiza Monteiro that the final letter must be sent to the General Secretariat at latest April 20th in order to be a part of the agenda for the General Assembly. Ivica Simic reported that he had attended the World Interplay Meeting in Townsville, Australia. Ivica Simic remarked that similar work as described in Vicky Ireland´s paper on a circulation of the scripts is being done by ITI, and suggested that ASSITEJ and ITI should combine their efforts. 22. Closing of the meeting Harold Oaks thanked ASSITEJ Brazil for hosting the EC meetings and for their kindness and generosity during our time in Rio de Janeiro, and officially closed the meeting.