West Norfolk Artists Association

The Constitution of the West Norfolk Artists Association

1. Creation and Name

An Association of visual artists in West Norfolk is hereby established. Its name shall be “The West Norfolk Artists Association” (hereinafter “the Association”).

2. Address

The Secretariat of the Association shall be located at 52 Chapel Road, Pott Row, King's Lynn, Norfolk, PE32 1BX which shall serve as the Association’s administrative office. The Management Committee referred to in Article 6 may by simple majority vote decide at any time to transfer the administrative office of the Association to another location.

3. Objects

The objects of the Association shall be:

• to act as a body through which to represent the common interests of artists in West Norfolk;
• to act as a body through which to apply for funding that will benefit artists in West Norfolk;
• to promote the work of artists in West Norfolk;
• to encourage the establishment of alternative venues through which artists can sell their work and become known to the public;
• to promote a forum in which artists can meet to discuss matters of common interest;
• to promote the training of artists in West Norfolk;
• to encourage artists in West Norfolk to participate in such ventures as Norfolk Open Studios and to provide facilities for the regional coordination of such ventures in West Norfolk;
• to cooperate with other Associations in or outside West Norfolk sharing similar objectives in the promotion of work by artists;
• to carry out any other activity of whatever nature that may benefit artists in West Norfolk.

4. Strategy

The Association shall achieve those objects by any means that the members of the Management Committee on their behalf may consider appropriate.

5. Membership

Membership of the Association shall be open to all persons aged 16 and over interested in or carrying out activities in the visual arts and crafts and who approve the objects and strategy of the Association. Such persons shall become members of the Association on the payment of a subscription fee set each year by the Annual General Meeting. Pursuant to the decision taken by the Extraordinary General Meeting on 8th August 2023 the subscription is £30 for individual members and £55 for joint members to take effect from 1st March 2024. Pursuant to the decision taken by the Constituent General Meeting in 2005 the subscription fee for Students to be £10. The membership fee shall include a subscription to the monthly newsletter, which shall serve as the mouthpiece of the Association. Regardless of the month of joining, membership dues will be due for renewal each year during February and are not refundable. Membership will run from 1st March until 28th (29th) February.

6. The General Business of the Association

The affairs of the Association shall be managed by a Management Committee which shall meet as stipulated in Article 7 and not less than four times a year.

7. The Management Committee

The Management Committee shall comprise:
A Chairman, a Treasurer and a Secretary elected each year from, and by, the Members of the Association at their Annual General Meeting on a democratic basis, their terms of office to run from one General Meeting to the next. They may be re-elected with proviso that they may not serve more than five years in any one post. If at the Annual General Meeting any of the roles of Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer are not able to be filled, then for a period of one year the Committee should be allowed in any way they consider appropriate to fill those roles. At the next Annual General Meeting the matter must be reviewed by the Membership.

Any other persons able to render the Association special service or carry out particular tasks. They may be elected in the manner described in the foregoing sub-paragraphs or co-opted by the other members of the Management Committee until the next Annual General Meeting. Each member of the Committee shall have a particular field of responsibility.

Nominations for election to the Committee must be presented at the Annual General Meeting and seconded by another member. Nominees for role of Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer should have been a member of the Association for a period of not less than 2 years.
The Committee shall have the power to invite persons it considers appropriate to become Patrons of the Association.
The Committee shall also have the power to decide at any time to transfer the administrative of the Association to another location.
The Committee shall meet as often as it thinks fit and make such arrangements for the day-to-day business of the Association. Decisions involving substantial expenditure shall require the presence of at least three Committee Members and the Secretary shall keep a Minute of all decisions made in Committee Meetings.
The Committee shall draw up a Programme of Work for the Association for the coming year, which it shall present to the Members at their Annual General Meeting.

The duties of the Committee shall be to:

• Manage the affairs of the Association and implement the Programme of Work as approved by the Members;
• Keep accurate accounts of finances through the Treasurer, available for reasonable inspection by the members and presented for adoption at their Annual General Meeting;
• Maintain a bank account in the name of the Association. The Treasurer, Secretary or Chair have authority to make all payments on behalf of the Association as advised by members of the committee and the Treasurer will continue to give a comprehensive financial report detailing incoming and outgoing payments and current bank balance to the committee at each committee meeting and whenever requested;
• Make decisions on the basis of a simple majority vote. In the event of a tie, the Chairman shall have an additional casting vote.

8. Sub-Committees

If the Management Committee considers it necessary, it may delegate the task of carrying out a particular aspect of the Programme of Work described in Article 7 to sub-committees, which it shall appoint for that purpose. On each sub-committee shall sit at least one member of the Management Committee who shall report back to the Management Committee the work accomplished by it.

9. Accounts

The Management Committee shall cause to be kept proper accounts of all monies belonging to the Association and presented to the Annual General Meeting of the Association. This shall be the responsibility of the Treasurer who at that General Meeting shall submit for the Member’s approval a budget for the coming year comprising in particular a forecast of the expenditure likely to be incurred under the Programme of Work referred to in Article 7. Neither the Committee as a whole nor any Member of the Committee nor any ordinary Member of the Association shall have the power or authority to commit the Association or its Members to any financial obligations in excess of the funds actually held by the Association. Any monies belonging to the Association shall be held in a bank account opened in the name of “The West Norfolk Artists Association”. The withdrawal of funds by whatever means shall require the signature of the Treasurer and that of the Chairman or Secretary.

10. Meetings

The Association shall hold informal gatherings in principle every three months in addition to a General Meeting held once a year to conduct financial and administrative business.

11. The General Meeting

Each year the Association shall hold an Annual General Meeting of its Members within fifteen months of a previous Annual General Meeting and subject to not less than fourteen days notice. Those entitled to vote shall be those present at the meeting who are Members of the Association as defined in Article 5. The Annual General Meeting shall be required in particular to adopt the accounts for the previous year and to approve the Programme of Work and the Budget for the coming year.

An Extraordinary General Meeting may be convened at not less than fourteen days notice by the Management Committee or by one third of the membership to decide any particular matter on which a decision cannot await the next Annual General Meeting. Such a meeting must be convened in writing. The business of such an Extraordinary General Meeting shall be confined to the matters for which it is convened as set out in the Agenda accompanying the letter convening the meeting.

12. West Norfolk Artists Association Equal Opportunities Statement

The West Norfolk Artists Association aims to support and encourage the principle of equal opportunities and opposes all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination. Its membership is open to all persons regardless of age, faith, creed, colour, race, sex, sexual orientation or disability within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995), provided that they are interested in or carrying out activities in the visual arts and crafts and approve the objects and strategy of the Association as set out in its Constitution.

13. West Norfolk Artists Association Child Protection Policy

The West Norfolk Artists Association has a Child Protection Policy which sets out a clear policy statement, application, implementation and Code of Behaviour. The Policy applies at all times and is subject to annual review. A copy of the Policy is attached to the Constitution.

14. Amendment to the Constitution

This Constitution may be amended only by resolution passed by a majority of two-thirds of the Members in General Meeting. Notice of proposed amendments to the Constitution must be given in writing not less than fourteen days before the General Meeting called to decide such amendments.

15. Dissolution

In the event of the Association being dissolved, any property remaining after satisfaction of all its debts shall be applied as the Membership decides by majority vote.

16. Disputes

Any disputes that may arise under the terms of this Constitution shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales.

Child Protection Policy

Policy Statement

The West Norfolk Artists Association (WNAA) helps promote visual arts practitioners, of all levels, living or working in the West Norfolk area. The Association occasionally runs events/workshops for people of all ages and abilities in a community setting. In the course of this work artists may be in contact with children, young people and vulnerable adults. Members of this Association are committed to practices that protect children from harm. For the purposes of this policy, children are any person under the age of 18 years, or those who are considered vulnerable.

Application

• This policy applies to all West Norfolk Artists Association Members who in any way deal with or manage activities involving children on behalf of the Association.
• A Member is any individual who holds membership by way of purchase or who holds honorary office or membership granted by the Association. For the purposes of this policy it will also cover non-members who volunteer their services in order to aid the WNAA. A volunteer is any person, not being a WNAA Member, who has agreed to take part in, assist in, or direct any event for WNAA.
• This child protection policy applies at all times and is subject to annual review.

Implementation

This policy and guidance will be effective from 28/10/2008. We will endeavour to safeguard children by:

• Providing guidelines through a code of behaviour for Members.
• Sharing information about concerns with agencies who need to know, and involving parents and children appropriately.
• Ensuring that the Criminal Record Bureau, in accordance with their guidelines, checks all Members with responsibility for children.
• Appointing a designated person to enable any concerns to be reported in accordance with our procedures.

Responsibility for implementing and reviewing the policy is that of the WNAA Management Committee and the Child Protection Officer. Review will be carried out over the following points:

• The relevancy of the policy to current circumstances.
• The effectiveness of the policy during the preceding year.
• The need to extend the policy to meet anticipated changes in legislation or WNAA activities.

CODE OF BEHAVIOUR

You must:

• Respect children’s rights to privacy and encourage children and adults to feel comfortable enough to report attitudes or behaviour they do not like.
• Be aware of the procedures for reporting concerns or incidents, and be familiar with the contact details of the designated person.
• Make others aware of any inappropriate affection or attention from a child.
• Report to the designated person any concerns relating to the welfare of a child in their care, be it concerns about actions/behaviours of another Member or concerns based on any conversation with the child; particularly where the child makes an allegation.
• Keep a written record of any injury that occurs, along with the details of any treatment given.

You must not:

• Spend excessive amounts of time alone with children away from others. Meetings with individual children should be avoided or take place within sight of others.
• Make unnecessary physical contact with children.
• Take children alone in a car to, or from, an event. Where this is unavoidable, it should be with the full knowledge and consent of the parents (or guardians) and the Member in charge of the Association event.
• Show favouritism to any one child, or issue/threaten any form of physical punishment.
• Start an investigation or question anyone after an allegation or concern has been raised. This is the job of the authorities. You should just record the facts and report these to the designated person.
• Make promises to keep any disclosure confidential from relevant authorities.

The following activities should never be sanctioned:

• Rough, physical or sexually provocative games.
• Engaging in any form of inappropriate touching.
• Making sexually suggestive comments to a young person, even in fun.
• Allowing children to use inappropriate language unchallenged.
• Allowing allegations made by a child to go unchallenged, unrecorded or not acted upon.