AGM 2019 Minutes

Posted September 23, 2020

TaPRA AGM 2019 SUMMARY REPORT

Date:	6^th September 2019, 12 noon – 1pm
Location:	Roborough, University of Exeter
Circulation:	All TaPRA Members

TaPRA Executive:

Roberta Mock (RM), Patrick Duggan (PD – notes), Konstantinos Thomaidis (KT), Anna Harpin (AH), Tom Cornford (TC), Claire Hampton (CH), Jo Scott (JS), Cathy Sloan (CS), Hannah Greenstreet (HG), Katie Beswick (KB), Zoe Zontou (ZZ) / Apologies: Jo Robinson (JR), Elena Marchevska (EM)

No.	Item	Time	Lead	Purpose	Enc
1.	TaPRA AGM Minutes 2018	12.00	RM	Decision	A
2018 Minutes were approved
2.	Unstarring of items / Notification of Any Other Business (AOB)	12.02	RM		n/a
Point of information
3.	Chair’s Update	12.05	RM	Information	n/a
RM updated members on the work of the Exec including: · Introducing new Executive Committee team and significant changes · Focus on building transparency, communicating openly and regularly with members, clarifying responsibilities of the Exec team over the last year · Onboarding of administrative support (Sally Smerdon) and the legal & contractual arrangements with University of Plymouth · TaPRA’s increased activity on social media (twitter @TaPRA_) · Rationale and decision making associated with moving the 2019 conference; our thanks to Exeter noted.
4.	Dignity and Respect policy	12.15	RM	Decision	B
· Members voted unanimously to adopt the new policy. · An amendment was suggested include note on dignity and respect at the beginning of the policy. This to be actioned prior to publishing on the website.
5.	TaPRA’s Legal Status	12.20	PD	Decision	C
PD outlined the need to change TaPRA’s legal status to a non-profit company limited by guarantee in order more fully to protect TaPRA’s Executive Officers and Members, to access appropriate banking systems, and enable TaPRA to enter into legally binding contracts with individuals and organisations. Members voted in favour of the change with one abstention.
5.1	Articles of Association (including ‘Advocacy’)			Decision	D
In light of the change in legal status, PD presented amendments to TaPRA’s Constitution, including: · Move to Articles of Incorporation in line with Ltd status · Provision for TaPRA/TaPRA’s Executive to act in the best interests of its members and the wider research community via the inclusion of the following article: 1.1 TaPRA does not express a political affiliation but will, via the Executive Committee, seek to represent and protect the best interests of research and researchers (the membership) with respect to issues that pertain to the profile and policies affecting the theatre and performance research community. · Other minor amendments enabling TaPRA to fulfil its duties under the new Ltd status All amendments unanimously adopted with one abstention.
6.	Accounts/Finances	12.30	PD	Information	E
6.1	Membership fees 2019-20	12.30	PD	Decision	F
· Presented TaPRA’s accounts (£49,868.29 in all accounts at AGM) · Clarified how money is used and why we have reserves · Outlined difficulty with accessing and maintaining business banking as a result of TaPRA’s current constitution. · Agreed that TaPRA would investigate alternate banks. · Rise in fees for 2019 explained; rise in fees for 2020 discussed and adopted.
7.	Executive Committee (roles, elections, incoming and outgoing members)	12.35	PD	Discussion	n/a
· New roles outlined · Changes to Research Officer roles discussed and adopted · Election for Research Officer (Prizes) to be held in the autumn · Konstantinos Thomaidis term comes to an end; he was thanked by the Exec and by WG convenors
8.	WG Coordinators’ Report	12.40	KT/AH/ TC/CH	Information	G
· Report presented and new exec members welcomed
9.	Research Development	12.45	BC	Discussion	n/a
· BC outlined his plans and ideas for his role
10.	Conferences (2019 & 2020)	12.55	JS/ZZ	Information	n/a
· Next conferences announced: Liverpool Hope, 2-4 September 2020; Essex 2021; Leeds 2022 · Survey on and responses from Exeter conference will be forthcoming
11.	Minutes of Executive Committee Meetings 2018-19 *	n/a	RM	Information	H
12.	TaPRA/STR Fellowship Report *	n/a	EM	Information	I
13.	PG Representatives Report *	n/a	CS/HG	Information	J
14.	AOB
· Date of Conference survey · Point of information from Simon Sladen: V&A collections closing from Dec 2020 – Summer 2023 (s.sladen@vam.ac.uk – happy to chat)
Date of Next Meeting The next AGM is scheduled to take place on 4/9/20 at Liverpool Hope University

* starred items were for information only and not discussed at the AGM as no requests to ‘unstar’ were received.

Level 1 TaPRA