CCA Annual General Meeting Ushers in New Board Members and Bylaw Changes

CCA Bul­letin 19/08

June 18 , 2008

 

 

Just the Facts

The Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts held its annual gen­eral meet­ing at the Ontario Col­lege of Art and Design on June 12, 2008.

The Pres­i­dent of the CCA, Robert Spick­ler and the National Direc­tor, Alain Pineau also gave their reports on the state of the CCA. Mem­bers greeted the news that through strict man­age­ment of resources, the CCA had man­age to expunge its accu­mu­lated deficit and had recorded a mod­est sur­plus for the 2007-08 finan­cial year.

The improved finan­cial pic­ture was accom­pa­nied by an active pro­gram of CCA activ­i­ties for the last finan­cial year. The high­lights were;

• The Chalmers inter­na­tional Sym­po­sium on the Role of the Arts and Cul­ture in Pub­lic Diplo­macy held in Mon­treal, Novem­ber 22, 2007.

• A pub­lic lec­ture at the Uni­ver­sity of Ottawa by John Holden of the Demos Group on chang­ing the dia­logue between the arts and government,

• The launch of the Cul­tural Pol­icy: Next Gen­er­a­tion pro­gram with Cana­dian and for­eign uni­ver­si­ties result­ing in the pro­duc­tion of research papers on the his­tory of pub­lic diplo­macy and the cre­ative econ­omy.

• The pre­sen­ta­tion of the Diplôme d’honneur  to Joe Fafard  for his life­time con­tri­bu­tion to Cana­dian art, and the Keith Kelly Award to Garry Neil and Robert Pilon for their work on the pro­mo­tion the UNESCO agree­ment on cul­tural diversity.

• The suc­cess­ful nego­ti­a­tion of a two-year fund­ing agree­ment with the Depart­ment of Cana­dian Her­itage – a first for the CCA,

• Tele­phone con­fer­ences with mem­bers on issues of impor­tance such as the 2008-09 fed­eral bud­get, the Blue Rib­bon Panel on Grants and Con­tri­bu­tions and the Com­pe­ti­tion Pol­icy Review Panel charged with revis­it­ing for­eign own­er­ship regulations.

 

One of the high­lights of the meet­ing was the intro­duc­tion of new mem­bers of the Board of Gov­er­nors who were elected and appointed as a result of the mem­ber­ship vote ear­lier this year. Offi­cers and Com­mit­tee Chairs were appointed at the first meet­ing of the new Board on June 13. The Gov­er­nors of the CCA for the 2008-2011period are:

 

 

Finally, the Board of Gov­er­nors sub­mit­ted new By-Law 12 for rat­i­fi­ca­tion by the mem­bers. The new By-Law was approved by a major­ity of the mem­bers present at the Annual Gen­eral Meeting.

 

Tell Me More

In the fall of 2006, the CCA Board of Gov­er­nors charged an ad hoc gov­er­nance com­mit­tee with the task of eval­u­at­ing the changes brought to the gov­er­nance model in 2001, as per a res­o­lu­tion adopted at the time, such a review not hav­ing been real­ized yet for a vari­ety of reasons.

Fur­ther to sev­eral meet­ings of the com­mit­tee and dis­cus­sions at Board meet­ings, the Board adopted By-Law 12, sub­ject to rat­i­fi­ca­tion at the Annual Gen­eral Meet­ing of mem­bers. The main changes are as follows:

 

• The new By-Law defines more clearly the author­ity and role of the Board con­cern­ing CCA’s activ­i­ties and sets it up as com­mit­tee of the whole with regards to the pol­icy set­ting respon­si­bil­i­ties pre­vi­ously del­e­gated to the stand­ing Pol­icy and Advo­cacy Com­mit­tee. This change is accom­pa­nied by the estab­lish­ment, through the Sec­re­tariat, of steer­ing com­mit­tees of CCA mem­bers, stake­hold­ers and experts on var­i­ous pol­icy files. At least one Board mem­ber will sit on each com­mit­tee and report to the full Board on its pri­or­i­ties, activ­i­ties and recommendations.

 

• The new By-Law ensures greater con­ti­nu­ity within the Board by giv­ing two-year terms to appointed Board mem­bers, with a max­i­mum of three con­sec­u­tive man­date. The term of elected Board mem­bers remains three years, with a max­i­mum of two con­sec­u­tive mandates.

 

• The Past Pres­i­dent will be a vot­ing mem­ber of the Board and will pre­side over the Nom­i­nat­ing Com­mit­tee, whose role is fur­ther strength­ened. The changes state that at least two mem­bers come from vot­ing Gov­er­nors, with one com­ing from the Gov­er­nance Com­mit­tee. For con­ti­nu­ity pur­poses, Nom­i­nat­ing Com­mit­tee mem­bers will be appointed for stag­gered terms of three years.

 

• Fur­ther changes give the Finance Com­mit­tee audit respon­si­bil­i­ties and makes the Gov­er­nance Com­mit­tee a stand­ing com­mit­tee of the Board.