AAA Standards Committee Governance and Procedures

DRAFT Revision 001, 01/23/2006

Standards Committee Composition:

Standards Committee (SC) members are volunteers in good standing from the Artspace Artists Association. The SC must maintain a membership of at least 11 members.

SC members shall elect a Chair and Secretary. The Chair should have been an SC member for at least a year. If the Chair cannot function in his/her duties, the Secretary will act as the Chair.

{The SC is developing rules on Chair rotation. We are currently using a system of “votes of confidence” that occur every 2 years or whenever an SC member asks for one.}

SC members shall also select a Publicity Head, who is responsible for SC publicity initiatives. The Publicity Head also coordinates publicity of AAA juries with Artspace Inc., particularly in the areas of direct mailings, print advertising and press releases. (While Artspace Inc. has been bearing the cost of printing, AAA reimburses Artspace Inc. for actual postage costs.)

Sub-committees may be formed to research specific procedural questions before the SC. Examples of such topics are jury composition and rotation of committee chairs.

Standards Committee General Procedures:

A minimum quorum of 6 members must be present for a vote. Votes are by secret ballot. SC members must be in good standing with AAA to vote. The Chair may request a non-binding vote to illuminate an issue.

Slide Jury Composition:

A minimum quorum of 6 SC members must be present. Members who are attending an SC function for the first time do not vote. The Executive Director (Exec) or the Dir of Programming & Exhibitions (DPE) may be present as a voting juror, but is not counted towards a quorum.

 The Exec or the DPE are allowed one vote in the slide jury. This vote is a privilege in recognition of AAA’s membership on both the Artspace Inc. Board of Directors and its Executive Committee.

Slide Jury Procedures:

A studio artist will be responsible for checking applicant packets for complete materials as they arrive at Artspace.

The Chair will be responsible for scheduling a space for the slide jury with either the Building Manager or a studio artist.

Two SC members will be responsible for organizing applicant slides into carousels.  Two SC members will return slides to their packets after the jury.

The Chair will moderate the discussion and appoint a timekeeper.

One member will be responsible for reading/summarizing resumes and artists statements during the jury.

Two members will tally the votes. The Chair and Secretary will confirm the tally.

An SC member other than the Chair will call applicants to let them know if they will be proceeding to the 2nd jury.

The Chair &/or Sec will mail/return packets to applicants not going on to the final jury.

The Chair &/or Sec will (e)mail instructions to applicants going on to the final jury and bring applicants packets to the final jury.

Actual Works Jury Composition:

The Jury shall consist of 3 outside jurors ($100 stipend each), 2 chosen by the SC Chair, 1 by the Exec. One of these jurors could be from outside the Triangle community (up to $200 stipend). All 3 outside jurors would be selected from the Standards Committee Approved Juror List. The Chair and the Exec will coordinate their juror choices under the advisement of the SC.

Should a juror fail to appear for a final jury, the Chair shall appoint a substitute from the SC/AAA membership. If the Chair cannot function in his/her duties, the Secretary will act as the Chair.

Upon request, the Chair will provide an alphabetical listing of past outside jurors to an AAA or SC member. The listing of jurors will not match individual jurors to a particular jury. Disclosure of jurors’ identities by the Chair or others to AAA or SC members is not to be made by email. It is much easier to recruit outstanding jurors when they know that their names will not be associated with a particular slate of applicants or exploited for publicity.

Actual Works Jury Procedures:

The jury will take place about 6 weeks after the slide jury. The SC Chair will work with the Building Manager to reserve a space for the jury. Juries are usually on Saturday mornings and last about 2 hours. Applicants will be notified of the jury date after the slate of jurors has agreed to serve.

 Applicants may bring their actual works on the Thursday and Friday preceding the jury. Applicants will not be allowed to linger in the jury room after delivering their artworks. Applicants who display unprofessional behavior at any stage in the process shall forfeit consideration for membership.

Applicants must pick up their works after 2 pm on the Saturday of the jury. Applicants are not allowed to linger around or enter the building on Saturday before 2 pm. Two SC members will be responsible for checking applicants’ works in and out of the building.

The SC Chair will be present (or appoint a foreman) to take notes of the jurors’ remarks and to answer any questions about the SC, AAA, or the first SC slide jury. The Chair is responsible for moderating the jury. The Chair is responsible for refreshments and may seek reimbursement from AAA for that cost.

The Exec (or his/her representative) will be present or available to answer any questions about Artspace Inc. and the history of Artspace. The Exec is also present to complement the Chair and provide an additional report to the SC on the internal workings of the final juries. The Exec is expected to take additional notes on juror comments and provide those notes to the Chair.

Jurors will be given member standards criteria, a copy of the first slide jury results and instructions as to their complete independence. Jurors will be asked to keep notes. The Chair will collect the notes after the jury.

The Chair &/or Secretary will assemble and summarize the jury notes at an applicant’s request. Applicants are not to be told the names of other applicants or the names of jurors.

The Chair will respond to applicant and AAA member inquiries about jury results or procedures. Applicants, accepted or rejected, will NOT be told the names of outside jurors.

Standards Committee Approved Jurors List:

The Chair &/or Sec will maintain a list of outside jurors approved by the SC membership. The list will be annotated with the jurors’ contact info, title, and media or qualifications. The SC will strive to strike a balance among artists, arts educators, and gallery and arts management professionals as choices for jurors.

The Chair will maintain a list of both accepted and rejected outside jurors. The Chair will only publish or share a list of accepted jurors, purged of negative information about rejected jurors.

Procedure for adding/deleting names from the Jurors List:

Any AAA member may offer possible juror names for SC approval. The SC also welcomes names for consideration from the Exec and DPE.

A single SC member can veto the addition of a juror’s name to the list. A name can be removed from the list by majority of the members present. Past jurors are eligible to serve again after 3 years.