The Future of our Association - a Proposal

A hybrid committee meeting
in between lockdowns

At the 2020 AGM of our association, Gillian, our long time president did not renominate for the role of president. We were lucky enough that John and John did renominate for treasurer and secretary which we are all very grateful for. But, since Yvonne also decided not to renominate for vice presidency, our association was left without official leadership.

In the absence of presidents Gillian and Yvonne have kept working in their now non-roles to keep the association afloat.  We are now almost a year further, and despite the association still running- This poses a problem.

Legally we are bound to have a few roles officially nominated. If we don’t do this yearly, we are not abiding by the government's minimum requirements for maintaining to be an official association. It is also stated in our constitution that the presidential term is 4 years. 

Essentially this means that if we don’t have a new president at the new AGM, the Association of Sculptors of Victoria will have to be disbanded. 

Personally I think this would be a shame, as even though I am a fairly new member- Our association, first formed in the 30’s, offers many benefits to its members, in the form of support, advice, and offering a platform to show our work and promote ourselves. 

Gillian has offered to support anyone who would take on the role of president or vice president. She will play an active role and help in jobs that fall under this role, and continue to do the many jobs she did as a president that are not officially part of this role eg helping with exhibitions and activities. We all realise she has left shoes that are very hard to fill - her contacts and proactive approach will be hard to match. But - with her help, a new president should not be afraid to start the role, as everyone will fill in presidency in their own way, and will always have the support of experienced people in the association. Gillian had no experience on committees when she first took on presidency but has learnt a great deal and enjoyed the experience. The new (vice-) president will have plenty of time to learn and opportunities to grow in their role, and start filling it in in their own way.  It can be great and interesting experience! 

One solution Gillian and Michael (who has been president for years as well!) and others  have come up with is to create a ‘presidency team’. This would mean a group of people who would jointly take on the role of president and vice president, and share the tasks that are part of those roles.  Speeches, organising, contacting people, etc could all be shared- and only a few members would be officially nominated so the association has met its official minimum standards.  The advantage of this is of course that the role won’t grow out of proportion time wise, and there will be a group of people supporting each other.  People sharing in the president team can do what suits them best -  and if ever an emergency arises - there would be a team of people to deal with it, keeping these things low stress. The second advantage is that people can be eased into the roles, and it won’t be overwhelming to anyone, and jobs can rotate, so everyone can slide into tasks that fits them best. 

Gillian is happy to be part of this team for the first year(s?).  With the role description that is formulated over the years and her support- being a member of the president team should be mainly fun and interesting, and not too taxing. 

We have discussed the presidency role in the committee meeting many times. Our problem is that everyone attending the meetings already plays a role in the association’s activities - and therefore is hard pressed to take on the extra role of presidency. This is why we really hope that more members attend the meetings and will jump in some organisational roles to ensure the association can live on past our next AGM.  As we have to stress- If we don’t abide by the legal requirements, that would mean the end of the association. And that would be terrible. 

Gillian is happy to answer any questions regarding the presidency team, or the role of president. 

Aukje van Vark