Minutes of the Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies Executive Meeting

University of Sydney, Wednesday 5 July 2006, 8.30 pm.

1. Attendance
Jonathan Bollen, Peter Eckersall, Helena Grehan, Adrian Kiernander, Kate Leader, Paul Makeham, Ian Maxwell, Geoffrey Milne, Meredith Rogers, David Williams.

2. Apologies 
Delyse Ryan

3. Minutes
Motion: That the minutes of the 2005 ADSA Executive Meeting be passed (minor amendments made)

Passed by acclamation as true and accurate.

4. Business Arising

* There was discussion of Executive email discussion with the decision that all email correspondence should be sent via the Secretary.
* The subscription for the journal and the membership lists are separated into two discrete databases - one for ADSA and one for journal only.
* Action Points from Wagga (copies distributed at Executive Meeting)
- Arrangement for a PG/RA person to handle membership was done.
- ATHE: There was some discussion of PSI and FIRT as being more relevant organisations however:-
- Where possible ADSA should make its presence known at ATHE.
- Research Register   has not been amended for years;
i) there was discussion of the need for a self-managing database.
ii) The register is currently the secretary's job however there was some discussion about re-allocating this within the Executive.
iii) The register is currently in a state of transition from Delyse Ryan and Geoffrey Milne to the website to eventual self-management.

5. President's Report
* There has been a smooth transition for ADS in the move to Melbourne.
* Paul formally congratulated Geoffrey Milne for a great journal issue
* Paul formally congratulated ADSA 2006 organising committee (special mention to Russell Emerson).
* Paul formally thanked Sydney University for allocating 3 extra Veronica Kelly prizes.
* Membership:
i) There is currently a solid membership and membership renewal process in place.
ii) There has been considerable growth in membership.
iii) Membership is currently regarded as a secretarial responsibility however to maintain capacity membership we retain a paid position.  Membership is now in the hands of the La Trobe Theatre & Drama admin officer and Treasurer Meredith

6. Treasurer's Report

* ADSA is currently financially healthy with a surplus.
* There has been considerable growth in membership with 79 full members, and 23 student members.
* Membership should be sustainable due to database initiative.
* There was considerable discussion of the need to professionalise the organisation by spending some of the surplus.
* But membership is still lower than it should be ? people are still not joining despite attending the conference (though this is only compulsory when giving a paper). This discrepancy is because there is a split process between paying for the conference and paying for membership  - there was some discussion of how to keep communication lines open between the two.
* As membership fees have not been increased for many years a proposal to raise the fees to $90 full and $60 student membership  starting in 2007will be put to  the AGM on Friday.
* A motion raising the prize money from $300 to $400 will be put at the same time.

7. Executive Structure
* There was further discussion of the need for management of research register to be delegated to one of the Executive Members at large.

8. AUSTAGE Report
* Phase 3 of AusStage is building on the work of LERN
* An application for ARC LIEF funding has been submitted for 2007
* The number of universities involved has increased from 8 to 18, drawing on participants in the LERN bid.
* Jonathan Bollen will report to the AGM about the future of the grant.

9. Website

* The new website is up and running however it is a place for development and expansion.
* In future the aim is for the website to become more interactive, involving a self-managing database and an e-journal.

10. Conferences
* USYD 2006: The use of panel/paper mix in the programming is something that can potentially be integrated into future conferences.
* Melbourne 2007:
i) The conference theme will be 'Extreme States; Issues of Scale - Political , Performative, Emotional?.
ii) Delete as unnecessary
* 2008: There has been some interest from Otago University.
* 2009: Flinders University has been suggested as a possibility.

11. Prizes
* a) Philip Parsons:
i) There will be no Philip Parsons prize awarded this year as there was only one submission.
ii) There was considerable discussion of the need to redefine the criteria for the prize and re-assess how it is publicised.
iii) Eligibility for entry should be increased to 2 calendar years prior to the presentation of the award, with the award to still be given out annually.

* b) Marlis Thiersch Award - there was a very strong field this year and a prize will be awarded.
* c) Rob Jordan Award - there was a very strong field and a prize will be awarded.
* d) Veronica Kelly prize - there are 4 prizes to give out this year.
* There was discussion of the need to re-establish the criteria for each prize. Adrian Kiernander will assess the current prizes criteria and make recommendations. He will liaise with Helena Grehan in this.

12. LERN report - nil discussed.
13. CHAUTSI report
* There was discussion whether ideally the function of CHAUTSI could be picked up by CHASS
* CHASS subscription is currently $880 for institutional membership. ADSA can afford to pay the subscription and being a member of CHASS  is potentially of use to the organization.
14. ATHE report - nil discussed.
15. Publications Report
* Because there are currently 3 separate databases and an ADS database some people did not receive a copy of the last journal; this is currently being dealt with.
* April 2007 issue is almost full.
* The next special focus issue will be 'Puppetry and Visual Theatre'.
* In 2008 Meredith Rogers & Liz Schafer will co-edit 'On Lineages, Training, Techniques and Traditions'.
* The October special issue in 2009 will be New Zealand and the Pacific.
* The 2nd issue of Performance Paradigm is online; the next call for papers will be about ethics and performance (Ed: Helena Grehan, Peter Eckersall, Ed Scheer).

16. Postgraduate Report (made by David Williams and Kathryn Leader as no postgrad rep)
* There is again a strong turn out of postgraduate presentations at the conference.
* The involvement of postgraduates in the planning stages of the conference has been very useful.
* Billeting was a successful initiative of this year's conference and is a good idea for next year.

17. Any Other Business
* Joanne Tompkins to be made a life member of ADSA
* There was some discussion of about 'incorporated status' and insurance responsibility- Adrian Kiernander will look into this.
* David Williams will contact Cultural Studies Association of Australia who have incorporated status and follow up on the guidelines.
* Formal thanks to Veronica Kelly who has stepped down from the Executive.

 Executive Meeting closed: 10.45 pm.