Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies

Executive meeting

Thursday 5th July 2007

A Chinese restaurant in South Melbourne

The meeting opened at 7.35pm with Jonathan Bollen in the Chair

1. Attendance and Apologies

Those present: Jonathan Bollen (President), Peter Eckersall (Current Conference Convenor), Adrian Kiernander (Executive Member responsible for Linkages), Ian Maxwell (Secretary), Glen McGillivray (Executive Member at Large), Geoffrey Milne (Representative for Australasian Drama Studies), Gaye Poole (Vice-President), Alison Richards (Executive Member at Large) and Meredith Rogers (Treasurer and Current Conference Convenor).

In attendance: Hilary Halba and Suzanne Little

Apologies: Rand Hazou (Postgraduate Representative), Jerry Jaffe (Next Conference Convenor), Paul Makeham (Immediate Past President) and Maggi Phillips (Executive Member with responsibility for Regional Matters)

The meeting departed from the agenda to hear from the representatives of Otago University, regarding the next conference.

9.3 Conference

Hilary Halba and Suzanne Little reported on progress organising the 2009 conference, on behalf of Jerry Jaffe.

The theme is 'A Sense of Place', and Phillip Auslander has been confirmed as a keynote speaker. Catering is booked, and the conference will commence on June 30th, with a traditional welcome. Other keynotes include Miranda Harcourt, Ian Gaskill and Murray Edmond.

Following the report, Hilary and Suzanne excused themselves, and the meeting reverted to the agenda.

2. Minutes of Previous Executive Meeting

Accepted (moved Meredith Rogers, seconded Geoffrey Milne).

3. Business arising

There was no business arising.

4. President's Report

Jonathan Bollen adumbrated his report for the Annual General Meeting (held July 6th), and sought details of members' achievements to be noted at the AGM.

Among his work over the past year, Jonathan noted the development, implementation and maintenance of the ADSA website and the ADSA members and friends' list, and his activity associated with recent industrial issues at a number of campuses, and through the Council for Humanities and Social Sciences.

He also made a point of expressing his great gratitude to the assistance of Paul Makeham, the immediate past president, in supporting his transition into the office of President.

By acclamation, the Executive congratulated Jonathan on his inaugural year as President, noting particularly his energy and commitment, his website skills, his strong leadership, follow-through and attention to detail.

5. Treasurer's Report

The Treasurer craved the Executive's indulgence in offering an interim report, pending finalisation of financial statements.

She noted a handful of difficulties associated with reconciling calendar and financial-year accounting models and with Australian Tax Office issues, these latter concerned with on-line self-assessment of endorsement status.

The signed-off audited accounts will be circulated to the Executive for approval as soon as possible.

In general, however, the Treasurer reported good news:

ADSA holds $15,000 in a term deposit, which yielded some $700 in interest, which more than covered the (approximately) $400 annual bank fees paid last year (a significant proportion of which is accrued through maintaining a credit-processing facility for memberships, sales and so on.

The University of Sydney was able to return the $3,000 2006 Conference subvention in full, and the current conference convenors anticipate a similar result this year.

Finally, the Treasurer recommended an addition to the Conference Guidelines, to the effect that non-member registration at conferences should be MORE THAN the members' registration rate PLUS full membership fees.

6. Elections for Executive

The President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, both Members at Large, and the Member responsible for Linkages all indicated their willingness to renominate for their positions.

It was also noted that Janice Hayes had indicated her interest in nominating for an Executive position, and that the postgraduate caucus had, earlier today, elected Joanna Winchester as in-coming Postgraduate Representative to the Executive.

7. Membership

The Treasurer reported the following membership figures:

                        Prior to conference                               After conference

2006                            102                                                      120

2007                            102                                                      123

8. Prizes and Rotation of Judges

For 2008:

? Marlis Thiersch Prize for a Scholarly Article by a Member

Peter Eckersall (convenor), Laura Ginters and David O'Donnell

? Philip Parsons Prize for Performance as Research

Ian Maxwell (convenor) and David Fenton

? Rob Jordan Prize for a Book by a Member

Adrian Kiernander (convenor), Maryrose Casey and Tom Burvill

? The Veronica Kelly Prize for best paper by a Postgraduate at the Annual Conference will again be convened by Geoffrey Milne, drawing upon colleagues at the next conference.

9. Conferences

2006: The publication of refereed papers from the University of Sydney conference is in hand, to be finalised by the end of the year.

2007: The Executive unanimously commended the co-convenors of the current conference, Meredith Rogers and Peter Eckersall, for an excellently conceived, managed and realised conference

2008: see above

2009 and beyond: There have been some preliminary expressions of interest from a joint conference convened by Western Australian universities in 2009; from the University of Auckland for 2010; and possibly the University of Wollongong thereafter.

10. Postgraduate Report

The Postgraduate Representative was not present, but Geoffrey Milne was able to report that the postgraduate caucus had been well-attended, had elected a new representative, and would be presenting a report at the Annual General Meeting.

11. Publications

Adrian Kiernander reported on the progress of a translation publication under the ADSA imprimatur. These led to some inconclusive discussion about the fate of the ADSA imprint.

Australasian Drama Studiesis healthy, reported Geoffrey Milne. He is loving being the editor, and has the assistance of an excellent copy-editor. He also commended the work of Amanda Clayton in maintaining the ADSA membership data-base, which is making distribution of the journal easier.

12. Research Report

12.1 AusStage

Jonathan Bollen reported that phase three of the AusStage project had built upon the LERN (Live Event Research Network) project, and received the support of 18 institutions, Jacqui Lo, three industry partners (the Australia Council, Museums Australia and Windmill Performing Arts) and the Australian Research Council through the Linkage Infrastructure and Equipment Fund (LIEF). The ARC contributed $300,000 in addition to the $338,000 raised by contributing institutions. Phase three of the project is focussed on enhancing use of the on-line resource.

12.2 Research Quality Framework (RQF)

Jonathan Bollen reported that the RQF is still in development, and that the form it will take depends upon the outcome of the forthcoming federal election.

The Drama Centre at Flinders University has taken the lead in drafting a submissions specification document for performance-based outcomes, and ADSA has been involved in two Council of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS) workshops attended by researchers in the broader creative arts.

There is still much to be done in terms of refining requirements for evidence portfolios for the RQF.

12.3 Performance as Research

Alison Richards reported that a considerable momentum had been given to the Performance as Research model through the panels convened at the 2006 conference in Sydney. Alison adumbrated a research project seeking funding for developing the Performance Research paradigm nationally.

12.4 Research Register

Will continue to ?sit happily? with Geoffrey Milne. Currently, the register sits as an Excel spreadsheet on the ADSA website. An alternative platform is to be investigated.

12.5 The ADSA History Project

Gaye Poole reported that she had received some funding from the University of Waikato that enabled her to work with Jonathan at Flinders for a period. As a result, details of approximately half of past ADSA conferences have added to the ADSA website.

13. Advocacy

In light of the notification by managements of the closure of ?theatre plus? departments at the University of Western Sydney and Griffith University, Alison Richards and Ian Maxwell offered to draft a motion for the AGM seeking the endorsement of a national campaign in support of the discipline.

In discussion, Adrian Kiernander recommended that ADSA take up the role of CHAUTSI (Council of Heads of Australasian University Theatre Studies Institutions) as an advocacy body. This is particularly important given the scarcity of Heads of Drama/Theatre/Performance Departments, which have, across the board, been restructured into larger Schools and Departments. This has led to a diminishing political clout for our disciplines, as there are fewer professors, and as senior colleagues are not being replaced upon their retirement.

He recommended that any funds left in CHAUTSI should be transferred to ADSA for use for advocacy purposes. Accepted by the Executive.

Adrian also undertook to write to existing professors in the discipline areas seeking their activism in any campaigns to be mounted by ADSA.

There was some inconclusive discussion about the possibility of using some resources to employ a 'spin doctor' to present the 'theatre plus' case in the most favourable light at a range of forums.

The first step will be the endorsement of a sustained advocacy campaign by the AGM.

14. Liaison with other organisations

It was noted that ADSA is maintaining close links with Drama Australia through Sandra Gattenhof.

Recent elections for the Board of Performance Studies international (PSi) have seen a number of ADSA members elected, including Ed Scheer as President, and Ian Maxwell as Vice-President.

15. Any Other Business

There was no Other Business.

The meeting was closed at 9.45pm.