MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE ASIA PACIFIC BUREAU 2016

National School of Drama

New Delhi

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF ASIA PACIFIC BUREAU MEETING HELD ON

24th OCTOBER 2016 AT 1:00 PM IN ANTARMUKH SABHAGAR or NSD

ASIA PACIFIC BUREAU STRUCTURE

Recommendations from a working group consisting of Gong Baorong, LeQuyDu0ng, Ricardo Abad, Xu Jiali, Aubrey Mellor, with Secretary Layna Ajera.

1.       Asia Pacific Bureau (APB) is a network of related schools of Asia Pacific Bureau, Theatre Schools though; it is no longer a bureau of anything. lt can set up its own structure. We recommend keeping all that is working well, adding in what we used to have, and cutting out what has never been useful. We regret that ITI did not find a special place for APB in its structure. We understand that individual schools can connect with ITI through UNITWIN, but that APB will not be officially connected to either lTl or UNESCO in the foreseeable future. Therefore the structures that echoed ITI are no longer relevant.

       a.    Currently there is a ‘Board’ consisting of the founding members; but it has had no official role and it has never taken any action for the past eight years. We therefore recommend that the structure of the Board be dismantled and power be replaced by the Directors’ Meeting at which all decisions will be made.

                     b.    We also recommend changing the word ‘bureau’ to ‘body’ or any other appropriate term, ideally starting with ‘B’, otherwise a full title change.

It had been unanimously resolved and the new name is Asia Pacific Bond of Theatre Schools.

2. All APB decisions are made through annual Directors’ Meeting in a democratic process of one vote per school.

a. Any person attending the Directors’ Meeting must be the official representative of the school. In the event that the school sent a ‘proxy’, this substitute must be an official representative and be fully briefed about the network prior to the meeting. Unless fully briefed, may not be able to vote. We might need to clarify the proxy and voting mechanisms.

b. We believe that much APB work is informal and between annual meetings, and we encourage greater use of electronic communications.

The above mentioned points had been unanimously resolved.

3.       Information is coordinated through a centralized ‘Secretariat’ school, currently through courtesy of the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA). (We can rename this central organizing mechanism if need be)

a.       The role and responsibilities of the ‘Secretariat’ is to: ensure all records are                    maintained and that communication is up to date; alert members to forth coming events, and to any needed decisions; coordinate any voting needed between meetings; and maintain the website and encourage members’ participation in it.

b.      The ‘Secretariat’ is directed by the nominated STA member (currently Vice President Gong Baorong, supported by key communication staff).

c.        In order to be eligible to be voted in as ‘Secretariat‘, a school needs to be a fully resourced school with necessary available staff.

d.      The Director of the ‘Secretariat‘ School could be called ‘Director of the Secretariat“ or ‘General Secretary’ (though we wish to avoid similar U.N.  titles).

e.      We recommend that this position be voted upon every four years. — with no

             limit to renewals if agreed upon.

It had been resolved as that Mr. Gong Baorong of Shanghai Theatre Academy has been unanimously chosen as Director of Secretariat for next 2 years.

4.       The network is presided over by a leadership figure that encourages and challenges development and quality. This role is called ‘President’ and must collaborate with the ‘Secretariat’ to ensure best leadership. lt is mainly a figurehead role and not a decision-making one (decisions remain with the directors).

a. ln order to be eligible for ‘President’, a nominee must have:

        i.    The institution of the nominee should have been continually involved in

              APB activities for the last four years

        ii.   share the APB mission and vision

                      iii.  good networking capabilities to collaborate with various schools

       iv.   leadership qualities to support and direct the network

        v.   qualities to be the public representative of the network

       vi.   the official endorsement of his/her school

      vii.   ideas and vision for future plans and developments

     viii.   collaborative and consultative qualities.

It had been resolved as that Prof. Waman Kendre of NSD, has unanimously been chosen as President of APB for next 2 years.

5.       The network should also have an elected ‘Vice President’. His/her role is to assist the ‘President’.   In the absence of the ‘President‘, the Vice President shall act in that capacity.     a.   The President and Vice President must be able to officially represent the school, though an elected person is chosen mainly for personal qualities and what they can bring to APB.

b.   ln the event of the elected President or Vice President moving from their school, the position is then suspended and voted upon, again by nomination. The connection between person and school and the APB is sometimes sensitive, so the role is not automatically passed to the new person in that's school.

It had been resolved as that Mr. Ricardo Abad of Ateneo de Manila University has

unanimously been chosen as Vice President of APB for next 2 years.

6.  Election into the presidential roles is made every two years, but staggered so that both   are elected in the same year. By majority decision, a school can hold a position for more terms, though the President’s role is encouraged to be rotated and be shared.

7.  The Directors’ Meetings are chaired by the host school. A host will consult with both      President and Director of the Secretariat.

a. The host school has the right to reshape its festival as suits its interests. needs     and abilities.

b. Creating a festival should be done in communication with the ‘President’ and     the ‘Director of the Secretariat‘.

The above mentioned points had been unanimously resolved.

8. We have not yet discussed legal status in making this a legal entity valid in all member countries; but this could be an advantage if APB were to approach Governments, Corporations or Foundations for endorsement or financial support. We recommend that a working group be appointed to further investigate this and make recommendations for future consideration.

The legal situation may be kept as it is.

After the selection of the office-bearers it has been decided that Mr. Aubrey Mellor ofLasalle College of the Arts, Mr. Hardy Shafii of Universiti Sains Malaysia and Ms.Farindokh Zahedi of University of Tehran may be given the post of advisory for next 2years.

University of Tehran and My Phat National Centre for Professional Training in Performance, HoChi Minh City, Vietnam had shown their interest in organizing 2017 festival but after long deliberation, it had been decided that next APB Meet & Festival may take place at Shanghai Theatre Academy in September, 2017, It may be minuted that Indonesia had shown interest in organizing 2018 Directors Meet and Festival.

The meeting encouraged member schools to participate in LeQuyDuong’s festival in Danang, Vietnam, June 2017

lt was unanimously decided to establish Asia-Pacific Bond of Theatre Schools which will provide a valuable platform to the institutional heads to have interaction and dialogue for meaningful exchanges.

While concluding the meeting Prof. Waman Kendre, Director, National School of Drama expressed sincere thanks and gratitude to all institutional heads for having spared some of their valuable time to deliberate at great length collaboration and cooperation amongst the sister institutions for mutual benefit.

The meeting ended with vote of thanks to the Chair.

List of member’s present in the Directors Meet

1.   Prof. Waman Kendre, NSD, New Delhi, India

2.   Prof. Baorang Gong, STA, Shanghai, China

3.   Ms. Juali Xu, STA, Shanghai, China

4.   Ms. Amanda Morris, Lasalle College, Singapore

5.   Dr. lsrafil Shaheen, Uni of Dhaka, Bangladesh

6.   Mr. Aubrey Mellor, Lasalle College, Singapore

7.   Prof. Dr. Yudiaryani, Seni, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

8.   Associate Prof. Charunee Hongcharu, Chulalongkorn Uni, Thailand

9.   Prof. Masako Miyazaki, Toho Gakuen, Tokyo, Japan

10.   Prof. Farin Zahedi, Uni of Tehran, Iran

11.   Dr. Ricardo Abad, Ateneo de Manila, Philippines

12.   Dr. A.S. Hardy Shafii, Sains Uni, Penang, Malaysia

13.   Prof. Heesun Ko, K-Arts, Sth Korea

I4.    Prof. Sanghul Choj, K-Arts, Sth Korea

15.   Mr. Fu Huabin, NACTA, Beijing, China

l6.    Mr. Li Tong Zhi, NACTA, Beijing, China