IAA / AIAP - STATUTES 2002 , 15th General Assembly

Article I – THE ASSOCIATION

There is hereby constituted a Non-Governmental International Association of Art (hereinafter referred to as “the Association” comprising artists belonging essentially to the fields of painting, sculpture, printmakers and artists practising other forms of creative work in the visual arts. These shall be represented in the Association by National Committees, which shall be democratic and representative of the artists in each country, nation or people.

Article II – AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1. The objectives of the Association shall be: a) to stimulate international cultural co-operation, free from any aesthetic, political or other bias, among the artists of all countries, nations or people; b) to improve the economic and social position of artist at the national and international levels and to defend their material and moral rights.

2. The General Assembly and the Executive Committee shall determine the best means of achieving these objectives. It shall co-operate with UNESCO and shall seek to co-ordinate its activities as far as possible with those of other existing organizations concerned with the arts and culture.

Article III – ORGANIZATION

1. The bodies responsible for furthering the aims and objectives of the Association are:

a) Ôhe General Assembly of the IAA b) The Executive Committee including the Regional Vice-Presidencies c) The National Committees of the IAA.

2. The Association shall be governed by the General Assembly and will be administrated by the President of the Association in Conjunction with the elected officers of the Executive Committee and Secretariat.

Article IV – MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION

1. Membership of the Association shall be open to the National Committees of each country, nation or people.

2. The composition of National Committees may vary according to the circumstances found in each country, nation or people: they may include either artists in their individual capacities, and/or representatives of national artists groups. They should be democratic in their structure and representative of the majority of artists in each country, nation or people. 3. Each National Committee shall be responsible for furthering the aims and objectives of the Association in accordance with the decisions of the General Assembly, the Executive Committee and these Statutes.

4. New members

When a National Committee is set up in a country or among a nation or people not yet represented by the Association, the Executive Committee shall inquire whether or not the National Committee complies with Article IV.2 of these Statutes.

5. An application for membership must be made to the Executive Committee and voted upon. A two-thirds majority is required for a new member to be accepted.

6. Should the Executive Committee find itself unable to reach a decision relating to an application for membership, it may seek the guidance of the General Assembly at its next meeting. The General Assembly shall then vote by secret ballot. A two thirds majority of those present and entitled to vote is required for the admission of a new member.

7. Disputes over membership

Should a dispute arise over the membership of a National Committee, the matter should first be brought to the attention of the Executive Committee. If the Executive Committee can find no solution to the dispute, they may put the mater to the next meeting of the General Assembly.

8. Cessation of membership

A National Committee may withdraw from the Association by giving notice to the Executive Secretary of the Association. Such withdrawals shall take effect when accepted by the Executive Committee.

9. A National Committee shall cease to be a member of the Association if the General Assembly decides by a two thirds majority of those present and entitled to vote, that it cannot be considered representative of the country, nation or people.

10. Delegates to meetings

Each National Committee shall appoint an artist delegate to the General Assembly and regional conference and shall empower them to vote.

11. A National Committee unable to have its own delegates at a General Assembly or regional conference may designate a delegate from another country to vote for it but no delegation may use more than two votes.

Article V – THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1. The General Assembly shall have all the powers necessary for achieving the objectives of the Association.

2. The General Assembly shall consist of the representatives of the National Committees. Each National Committee shall be entitled to one vote.

3. The General Assembly shall meet in ordinary session, if the finances of the Association allow, at least one every three years, upon convocation of the President of the Association.

4. The General Assembly shall meet in extraordinary session at the request of one third of the National Committee or when the quorum of the members of the Executive Committee is reached.

5. Calling a meeting of the General Assembly or an extraordinary session is the duty of the President or the First Vice-President acting in his/her stead.

6. All meetings of the General Assembly shall be governed by the Rules for meetings, which shall be distributed to all National Associations four months before meetings commence.

7. The General Assembly shall:

a) elect members to the Executive Committee in accordance with the Rules for meetings; b) elect the President of the Association from the nominations put forward from the first meeting of the new Executive Committee; c) adopt resolutions and make recommendations; d) adopt reports on the activities of the Association since the last General Assembly from the President, the Treasurer and the Executive Secretary; e) adopt a report on the finances of the Association from the Treasurer; f) elect Honorary Presidents and Honorary Counsellors.

Article VI – THE PRESIDENT, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND BUREAU

The President

1. The President shall be elected by the General Assembly as described in Article V.7 b

2. The President of the Association may not be from the same electoral group as his/her predecessor.

3. The President shall be elected for three years (the period of time between one General Assembly and the next) and may not be re-elected (cf. Annex I, par I.6).

4. The duties of the President include summoning meetings of the Executive Committee and the General Assembly to which he/she is responsible.

5. In the event of the death or resignation of the President, or in his/her absence, the First Vice-President will assume the functions of the President.

6. The Executive Committee

The Executive Commitee shall be elected by the General Assembly in accordance with the Rules for Elections.

7. As soon as possible after its election, the Executive Committee, summoned by the retiring President, shall hold a meeting for the position of President of the Association.

8. The Executive Committee shall consist of the President of the Association and up to eleven members.

9. a) After the election of the President, the Executive Committee shall be reconvened by the new President to elect the officers including the Treasurer for its term of office; b) It shall name as First Vice-President either the runner-up in the presidential election or the candidate with the highest number of votes in the general elections; c) It shall elect Vice-Presidents, ensuring that these nominations are equitably distributed among the electoral groups.

10. The Executive Committee shall supervise the implementation of the decisions of the General Assembly for the achievement of the objectives of the Association.

11. a) The Executive Committee shall meet once a year, if possible, and at least once between two ordinary Assemblies; b) It shall meet in extraordinary session if a quorum of its members so request; c) All meetings of the Executive Committee shall be summoned by the President or the First Vice-President acting in his/her stead.

12.The meetings of the executive Committee shall be governed by the Rules for meetings.

The Bureau

13.The Bureau shall consist of the President of the Association, the First Vice-President as well as the other Vice-Presidents, the Executive Secretary and the Treasurer.

14. When it is financially possible, the Bureau shall meet to deal with the business of the Association in the intervals between Executive Committee meetings. 15. The decisions of the Bureau are binding, pending ratification by the Executive Committee.

Article VII – ADMINISTRATION OF THE ASSOCIATION

1. The Executive Secretary

2. The Executive Secretary shall be responsible to the Executive Committee for the efficient administration of the Association.

3. The Executive Committee alone shall have the power to appoint an Executive Secretary and if necessary to dismiss him/her.

4. The Executive Committee shall define the Duties of the Executive Secretary and the conditions of employment.

5. He/She should be fluent in two working languages of the Association.

6. The Executive Secretary shall be an ex-officio member of the Executive Committee and the Bureau, without the right to vote, and shall be a secretary to both.

7. Finance

The funds of the Association may be derived from subscriptions of members of the Association and from gifts, bequests or subventions from any individual or corporate body, provided that they are not subject to conditions incompatible with the objects of the Association.

8. Every National Committee shall pay an annual subscription of an amount, which shall be determined by the Executive Committee, who will take into account the circumstances of each National Committee.

9. The Executive Committee shall decide the date on which subscriptions shall be due.

10. If, at the end of a two year period, a National Committee has not paid its subscription in full, the Executive Committee may recommend to the General Assembly to deprive that National Committee of the right to vote or withdraw its membership.

11. The Treasurer, shall be responsible for the financial administration of the Association.

12. The Treasurer, together with the Bureau, shall raise funds for the Association in accordance with Article VII.7 above.

13. At its last meeting before the General Assembly, the Treasurer shall present to the Executive Committee a financial report, approved by a chartered accountant, for the expired term also a draft budget for the following year. He/She shall also present these to the General Assembly. The Executive Committee shall appoint a chartered accountant to audit the Association’s accounts.

14. Headquarters of the association

The headquarters of the Association shall be determined by the General Assembly.

15. In an emergency, the headquarters may be changed by a decision of the Bureau, which must submit the reasons to the new meeting of the Executive Committee.

Article VIII – AMENDMENTS TO THE STATUTES

1. The General Assembly alone has the power to amend the Statutes.

2. Proposed amendments to the Statutes, together with the reason(s) for the proposed change(s), must be sent to the Executive Secretary at least eight months before a General Assembly meeting and must be communicated to all members of the Association at least four months before being submitted to the meeting.

3. The may be adopted only by a two-thirds majority of those present and entitled to vote.

Article IX– THE CULTURAL REGIONS

1. The Association recognises five cultural regions: Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, Africa, and the Arab States."

2. Each region shall establish a Regional Committee headed by the Vice-President of the region. The number of members shall be determined by a regional meeting, consisting of the National Committees who are members of the region.

3. Each Regional Committee shall draft statutes appropriate to the region.

4. Each Regional Committee should submit the statutes to a regional meeting for adoption. A two-thirds majority is necessary.

Article X – DISSOLUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION

1. The Association may be dissolved only if a proposal to do so has been expressly included in the agenda six months before the date fixed for the General Assembly. The decision to support the proposal must be supported by a two-thirds majority of those present and entitled to vote.

2. The General Assembly shall lay down the procedure of liquidation and shall take all the decisions concerning the disposal of the assets of the Association.

ANNEX I - RULES FOR ELECTIONS

I. ELECTION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The role and responsibilities of the Executive Committee

The basic role of the executive Committee is to determine the manner in which the programme – the main outlines of which have been established by the General Assembly – may be carried out, and to supervise the execution of the recommendations and resolutions passed by the General Assembly.

The Executive Committee examines financial reports and draft budgets submitted by the Treasurer. It is responsible for employing an Executive Secretary and for overseeing the administration of the Association by the Secretariat.

Vice-Presidents for cultural regions are responsible for encouraging the work of National Committees in their cultural regions and for furthering the objectives of the Association at the regional level. Vice-Presidents may request the assistance of other Executive Committee members from their regions.

To ensure the smooth running of the Association, it is essential that members of the Executive Committee should stay in regular contact with the Secretariat and respond promptly to correspondences from the Executive Secretary and the Bureau.

As the elected body which represents the members of the Association, the Executive Committee should reflect the diversity of the membership. For this reason, rules are laid down for the composition of the Executive Committee. Its aim is to ensure that cultural regions, different age groups and both sexes are represented.

Eligibility

1.The Executive Committee consists of the President of the Association plus eleven members belonging to different countries, nations or people. 1. The members of the Executive Committee are elected by the General Assembly. 2. Candidates for elections must be present at the General Assembly. 3. The term of office for members of the Executive Committee is the period of time between their election and the next ordinary meeting of the General Assembly (usually three years). 4. A member may stand for election for another term at the next General Assembly. 5. If a person has served two terms, there must be a break of at least one term before that person may stand for election again. 6. No country, nation or people may have more than one member on the Executive Committee.

Nominations

1. Nominations for the candidates for the election may be made by National Committees prior to the start of the General Assembly or by heads of delegations at the General Assembly. 2. A full list of the candidates, indicating cultural regions and other relevant information, must be provided for the dead of each delegation before the election.

Tellers

1. Three tellers, from countries not putting forward candidates for the election, should be appointed by the chairperson of the session during which the election takes place. 2. The tellers are responsible for counting the votes and distributing places on the Executive Committee as outlined below. Members of the Secretariat or the host National Committee may assist the tellers if they request help.

Electoral procedures

1. Elections shall be by secret ballot. 2. Ballot papers shall be distributed to the head of each delegation present and entitled to vote. 3. Each delegation shall vote for the eleven candidates of their choice. 4. The tellers will draw up a list in decreasing order of the votes obtained by each candidate. 5. From this list they will extract the candidates with the highest vote from each cultural region (At present the IAA recognizes six cultural regions). 6. If this group of six names does not contain members of both sexes, the tellers will add to it the candidate of the sex not represented with the highest vote. 7. If the new group does not include at least one person under the age of 35, the tellers will add to it the candidate under 35 years who obtained the highest vote. 8. To complete the numbers of the Executive Committee, fixed at eleven the tellers will then fill the remaining places with the candidates who obtained the highest votes, ignoring any consideration of region, age or sex. 9. In the event of the death or of resignation of a member of the Executive Committee during its term of office which leaves a category unrepresented, the candidate with the next highest vote will be co-opted onto the Committee.

II. ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT

The President will be elected in accordance with the Statutes.

ANNEX II RULES FOR MEETINGS

A. General Assembly

At its first session, the General Assembly shall approve the Rules for meetings as the basis upon which the Assembly will proceed.

1. Working languages

a) The working languages of the General Assembly shall be English and French. b) National Committees proposing resolutions must provide copies of the text in one of the languages. Translation into the other language is the responsibility of the Assembly organizers. The host country may wish to provide simultaneous translation into and from its own language.

2. Hospitality

a) An offer of hospitality for a meeting or other event may only be considered by the General Assembly if it has been made in writing, signed by the President and the Treasurer of the National Committee whose country’s hospitality is being offered and has been received by the Executive Secretary three months before the opening of the General Assembly at which it is to be considered. In the case of a country in which the national (State) authorities assume responsibility for such events, the offer must have been counter-signed by a responsible finance official. b) All offers of hospitality are received on the understanding that they are open to all accredited and entitled delegations of the Association in accordance with the rules applicable to International Organizations of the United Nations system or affiliated thereto. c) The written, signed invitation contains the following sentence

“This invitation is addressed to the International Association of Art as a whole and access to our territory for this meeting is guaranteed to all accredited delegations of member countries of IAA and observers entitled by IAA’s regulations to attend.”

N.B. This condition cannot be taken to confer on participants at IAA meetings either diplomatic immunity or exemption from the international rules and agreements governing the granting of visas by one nation to the individual nationals of another nation.

If, during the period between acceptance of a meeting by a vote of the General Assembly and the opening of the meeting itself, the above condition is countermanded by the host country, the Executive Committee is empowered to transfer the meeting to another country where this condition can be fulfilled. In selecting an alternative venue for a meeting, preference will be given to the country or countries which gave balloted the highest number of votes.

Any delegation which, of its own accord or as a result of impediments or refusal by its own country’s authorities, fails to attend any meeting, shall have no claim of any kind against the Association.

3. Entitlement to attend and vote

a) The right to vote is exercised only by National Committees of the Association whose subscriptions to the Association are fully paid up. b) Each Delegation representing a National Committee is entitled to only one vote. c) The title and prerogatives of “delegate” may only be used by a professional artist practicing one of the disciplines listed in Article I of the Statutes. Each speaker, on addressing the meeting, shall briefly state his or her professional background and his or her connection with the National Committee on whose behalf he or she is speaking.

In case where a National Committee is unable to send an artist-delegate to a meeting, that Association may delegate its vote in writing to a member of “another profession”, stating his or her connection with the Association concerned; this delegation-to-vote shall be signed by the President of the National Committee and shall be handed to the Executive Secretary not later than the moment when the participant in question registers for the meeting.

Whenever practical, delegates are asked to be prepared to show up to five slides of their present or most recent work to the meeting.

4. Delegations

The Executive Committee shall determine in advance of the General Assembly and in consultation with the host country how many delegates and observers each National Committee may send. It shall also establish a list of organizations to be invited as observers.

5. Quorum

A quorum for any General Assembly shall consist of no less than one half of the representatives of the member National Committees which are fully paid up in their annual subscriptions and are either present or represented under the terms of Article IV.2 of the Statutes.

6. Chairing sessions

a) The President of the Association shall take the chair until such time as the Assembly has appointed its chairpersons. b) At its first meeting, the Assembly shall approve chairpersons for each session of the meeting from the names submitted by the heads of delegations to the Executive Committee. 7. Agenda

a) The full agenda for the meeting, which will include all items specified in Article V.7 of the Statutes, shall be supplied to all delegates before the meeting begins. b) Items for inclusion on the agenda (resolutions, etc.) should be submitted in writing by National Committees three months before the General Assembly, or by heads of delegations at the General Assembly. c) Alterations to the order of the agenda may be proposed at the firtst session of the General Assembly and must have a majority vote to carry the change. d) New items for the agenda may only be included if a majority so decides.

8. Resolutions

a) The written texts of resolutions which are to be included in the agenda may be sent to the Executive Secretary before the date of the General Assembly or by the heads of delegations at the Assembly. b) Resolutions must be seconded by another National Committee before it can be debated. c) The Chairperson of the session will call speakers to debate the resolution and may enforce a time limit if it is necessary. d) Voting on resolutions, which concern countries or persons, directly or indirectly, shall be by secret ballot. e) A resolution, unless otherwise stated, requires a simple majority to be passed.

9. Record of a meeting (General Assembly)

A record of a meeting giving the texts of reports and resolutions and the results of votes and elections should be made available to all National Committees.

B. Executive Committee

1. The Executive Committee shall meet once a year if possible and at least once between ordinary Assemblies. The quorum required for proceeding with a meeting is half the Executive Committee members. 2. It shall meet in extraordinary session if a quorum of its members so requests. 3. All meetings of the Executive Committees shall be summoned by the President of the Association or the First Vice-President acting in his/her stead. 4. Any member of the Executive Committee unable to attend a meeting may request his/her National Committee to appoint a temporary substitute who will have the same rights as the member he/she replaces. 5. The substitute should, if possible, be from the same national Committee or another National Committee in the same cultural region. 6. No member of the Executive Committee or substitute may have more than one vote. 7. The President shall chair the meetings of the Executive Committee. 8. Decisions of the Executive Committee shall be adopted by simple majority. In the case of a tie the President shall have a casting vote. 9. A written record of the decisions of the Executive Committee meeting will be made and sent to all National Committees. Postal votes

In urgent cases the Bureau (Article VI. 13 of the Statutes) may instigate a postal vote of the Executive Committee members. In this case, correspondence will be sent by registered mail and fifteen days shall be given in which to answer.

Subject to these precautions, a postal vote carries the same weight as a vote taken a meeting, on condition, however, that it is supported by a majority of the Executive Committee’s elected members.

C. The structure of Congresses.

Each Congress of the Association shall be structured in such a way as to be primarily a “Forum of visual information”, and exchanges, in which “the spoken or written word shall be in direct relation to the visual material presented and to problems to which this (visual material) may give rise” (VIIIth Congress, Decision CD.53).

Delegations are requested to prepare their contributions to a Congress with this regulation in mind.

N.B. In case of difficulty to understand the texts of the Statutes and Annexes I and II, one could refer to the documents of the previous General Assemblies of the IAA.

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Amendments to the Statutes during the 14th General Assembly and Congress of IAA in Tlaxcala, Mexico, 9-13 October 1995 Chair: Bernard Hoffert and Grete Marstein

7. AMENDMENTS TO THE STATUTES

Bernard Hoffert introduced the amendments which he had proposed and circulated four months prior to the Assembly. He explained that at the meeting of the Executive Committee it was decided that only those amendments relating to setting up National Committees and to formalising the Regional organization should be presented by the Executive Committee to the General Assembly. It was recommended that the new Executive Committee should examine the other amendments, relating to elections, and propose changes to the XV General Assembly.

Article IV.4 was altered to: “When a National Committee is set up in a country, or among a nation or people not yet represented by the Association, the REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT shall inquire whether or not the National Committee complies with Art.IV.2 of these Statutes.”

Article IV.5 was altered to: “An application for membership must be made to the REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT, WHO IN CONSULTATION WITH THE REGIONAL COMMISSION, WHEN THIS EXISTS, SHALL MAKE THE DECISION ON THE APPLICATION, WHICH MUST BE RATIFIED AT THE NEXT Executive Committee meeting.”

A new clause was added to Article IV.9: “b. A National Committee shall cease to be a member of the Association if: it does not have contact with the Executive Secretary or the Executive Committee for a period of two years.”

A new Article concerning the Cultural Regions was accepted:

Article IX

IX. 1. The Association acknowledges 6 Cultural Regions: Western Europe; Eastern Europe; Latin America and Caribbean; Asia and the Pacific; the Arab States and Africa.

IX. 2. Each Region shall establish a Regional Committee headed by the Vice-President for the Region. The number of members shall be determined by a Regional Meeting, a meeting of all the National Committees who are members of the Region.

IX. 3. Each Regional Committee shall draft Statutes appropriate to the Region.

IX. 4. Each Regional Committee shall submit the Statutes to a Regional Meeting for adoption. A 2/3 majority, of those present, is necessary for their adoption.