Minutes of the Australasian Drama Studies Association

Annual General Meeting

Australian Catholic University, 4 July 2003

Present:  Jonathan Bollen, Jaclyn Booton, Tom Burvill, Rebecca Caines, Maryrose Casey, Glenn D?Cruz, Jim Davis, Bill Dunstone, John Downie, Kim Durban, Peter Eckersall, Mike Foster, Jeremy Gadd, Helen Gilbert, Jane Goodall, Sharon Goodall, Ray Goodlass, Maryann Hunter, Gillian Kehoul, Veronica Kelly, Adrian Kiernander, Jenny Leong, Jacqueline Lo, John McCallum, Glen McGillivray, Ailsa McPherson, Paul Makeham, Marc Maufort, Ian Maxwell, Geoffrey Milne, Brßgida Miranda, Derek Nicholson, David O'Donnell, Bruce Parr, Ben Payne, Alison Richards, Kate Rossmanith, Delyse Ryan, Edward Scheer, Mark Seton, Maria Shevtsova, E.M. Walsh, David Williams.

Apologies:  Helena Grehan, Julie Holledge, Joanne Tompkins.
 

Minutes of the previous AGM (UTAS, Saturday 6 July 2002) (included in conference packs)
Maryrose Casey moved that the minutes of the previous AGM be accepted.  Seconded by Rebecca Caines.

Business arising
Dealt with in separate items below.

ACU Conference
Geoffrey Milne thanked the Conference organisers (Delyse and Simon Ryan) for a successful conference.

Delyse Ryan thanked:

·      ACU for its support of the combined ADSA/ASAL conference.

·      The Guest Speakers

·      Helen Gilbert

·      Veronica Kelly

·      Anna Telford

·      Australian Drama Studies Centre at UQ

President's Report
The situation of the association as recorded in the president's position paper that was tabled last year has turned out to be not as dire as originally thought. There is still a need to be vigilant and keep up the profile of ADSA. We urgently need to do something about membership. To this end, ADSA has employed Ailsa McPherson to get in tough with past members and to encourage them to rejoin.

 It was discussed at last year's AGM that the Association's title no longer reflected the diversity of work being undertaken by its members. As a consequence a proposal has been made to change the association's name while maintaining the acronym 'ADSA'. The president proposed the following motion in regards to the Association's name:

'That the organisation change its name to the Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies'

Moved by Ray Goodlass

Seconded by Ian Maxwell

Carried

 New posters, pamphlets, and brochures created by Ailsa McPherson were circulated at the AGM. The new name change will appear on the final versions. Ailsa will be asked to continue her work for ADSA.

 A new initiative for this year came from Paul Makeham who created an ADSA e-bulletin to help keep the membership up-to-date with the activities of the Association. It was emphasised that for this to be effective we need to maintain an accurate list of e-mail addresses.

 There have been a few problems with accessing the ADSA website. The main problem is that it cannot be found by Google or Yahoo search engines. Delyse Ryan reported that the site will soon need to move to a different ACU server and this problem may then be rectified. She will circulate the new URL when it becomes available (this also needs to go on the new pamphlets). Delyse was thanked for her continued Web maintenance.

 Paul Makeham moved that the President's report be accepted; seconded by Helen Gilbert.

Carried

Assistant Treasurer's Report

The Assistant Treasurer prepared the report in Joanne Tompkin's absence. It was suggested that a good way to spend some money is to employ someone to maintain the membership base. Finding a suitable cash management account is one of the priorities for the Treasurer.

 Adrian Kiernander moved that the report be accepted; seconded Peter Eckersall.

Carried

 The following motion regarding membership fees for retired members was presented:

'That retired members be offered the same discounted membership rate as student members'

Moved by Veronica Kelly

Seconded by Alison Richards

Carried

Election of Office-Bearers for 2003/4
President:      Paul Makeham

Vice-President:      Geoffrey Milne

Secretary:      Delyse Ryan

Treasurer:      Joanne Tompkins

Executive:      Jenny Leong

               Adrian Kiernander

               Maryrose Casey

               Helena Grehan

Postgraduate Rep:   Ben Payne

AusStage Report
The web address is:    www.ausstage.edu.au

Information is constantly being entered into the database. As new productions occur around the county, they are entered into the system a couple of months later. Blocks of data about past productions are also being entered. They received a second round of funding (c$500,000).

 ARC Research Networks
Interested groups can apply for 'network' funding. So far the ideas have been to look at the 'industry' and 'actor training'. The network needs to put in an application for seed funding. Thirty groups will apply for $500,000 for five years, and there will be a 50% cull rate. The network itself will be responsible for the funding. The details of the proposals are all up in the air. The government has not yet issued the forms and guidelines. If anyone wants to be involved they should contact Adrian Kiernander. The network will have to involved all of us as well as lots of other industry bodies.

Conferences:
10.1:  2004              Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (Winter)

John Downie reported that the Festival of New Zealand Theatre will run concurrently with the conference. This will feature a large program of new work. The Theme will be ?Sensory Aspects of Performance?.

10.2:  2005              Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga (Winter)

10.3:  2006              University of Sydney (?)

Prizes
11.1:  Philip Parson's Prize for Performance as Research     

Helena Grehan flexes off. Mary Ann Hunter joins Jonathan Bollen.

11.2:  Marlis Thiersch Prize for a Scholarly Article by a Member        

Joanne Tompkins flexes off. Glenn d'Cruz joins Maryrose Casey and Peter Eckersall.

11.3:  Rob Jordan Prize for a Book by a Member 

Bill Dunstone and Gay McAuley are joined by Helen Gilbert.

CHAUTSI Report
Nothing to report.

ATHE Report
We have had a 'sneak preview' of the Australian content at this conference. The topic of the session will be 'Gender and Emotions' and it will feature Peta Tait, Jonathan Bollen, and Julie Holledge.  2005 will be the next opportunity for an ATHE Conference. Anyone interested should contact Peta Tait.

Publications Report
Veronica Kelly explained that the only publications had been the journal, ADS.  There will be 2 more forthcoming issues this year: 'Theatre in Ireland' and 'Dance and Physical Theatre'. Members have been publishing prolifically this year and they are to be congratulated. Veronica noted that there are extremely rich publication records of ADSA members.

Postgraduate Report
The postgraduates have set up an electronic mailing list/discussion group to keep in contact with each other. They plan to put together a Research Register.

Women's Caucus
A yahoo discussion group is still going. Ailsa McPherson is keeping it alive by provoking discussion. They Physical Theatre and Gender Panel session organised by Helen Gilbert for this conference sprang from a discussion at last year's Women's Caucus.

GLQ Caucus
The meeting is this afternoon. The aim is to set up an ongoing discussion group.

Any Other Business
A note for future Conference Organisers: minimise parallel sessions.