Assembly
II. ASSEMBLY GROUP MEMBERS
Who makes up the Assembly working-group?
Members of this group will include members from the new host organization as well as anyone interested in facilitating the upcoming Assembly
We advise members from the previous assembly working group and/or host organization to participate in the planning and organization of the upcoming assembly, either for advice and consultation or as an active member;
Preferable that each assembly working group members are responsible for the full process of an Assembly: planning, organization, facilitation and ensuring documentation/tooling is completed, facilitating choice of next Assembly host;
During every assembly a new working group is devised who will take on the tasks and process of organizing the next assembly
*Please note that there will be a period of time where 2 assembly groups are overlapping: as one Assembly ends, the initial working group continues following up until the documentation and tooling is complete (also a reflection / evaluation of what went well / what was important / what didn’t work …); while the new working group begins planning for the next Assembly.
It is important that we challenge the boundaries/distinction between the AC host and AC members to allow equal participation and engagement with the Assembly program. The hosting team creates a schedule allowing for the rest of AC members to take part in coorganising during the Assembly, especially the reproductive labour such as cooking, cleaning, taking care of each other.
III. CHOOSING A HOST FOR ASSEMBLY
How is an Assembly chosen?
NOMINATION
During an Assembly, any member can nominate itself to host an Assembly having considered the areas for consideration below. There will be a dedicated time during the Assembly schedule to share and discuss ideas, as well as making the decision. If there are more than one organization that want to host, the nominated organizations should discuss among themselves by reviewing the considerations alongside a facilitator of their choice (either a working group / an individual / selected members) to help with the decision making process.
AREAS FOR CONSIDERATION:
WHO
Any AC member can nominate themselves based on their availability, level of commitment, and/or context relevance to the progression of AC’s development.
LOCATION
It is advisable that the location of the Assemblies change over the years to diversify the schedules, visits, contexts and content of the Assembly; thus to change over different countries as well as allowing different partners to get the chance to host;
To ensure that all partner organizations are able to travel and obtain visas to attend the host location for the Assembly;
To take into consideration that the location may be dependent on the nature of the assembly; this may change over the years to focus more on collaborative projects rather than administration of AC.
WHEN
Preferably Assemblies should be held within 12 months of the prior Assembly;
Preferably not during a ‘high-season’ to avoid high costs of travel and accommodation;
Not to overlap with a partner organization’s major project i.e. a member is hosting a biennale in a certain month and cannot attend an assembly at the same time.
*If there are months that are known before-hand that organizations cannot commit to at all, this should be announced during the assembly or communicated to the Assembly working group as soon as possible to take it into account.
DURATION
In the past, assemblies have varied from 10-12 days. Length could change depending on the content/nature of an assembly and availability of members. Preferably assembly group should discuss with partners beforehand on the length and content to get everyone’s approval and commitment levels.
IV. PLANNING AN ASSEMBLY
How is the Assembly organized?
PRE-PLANNING
Pre-planning is key for organizing an Assembly to ensure that everything passes by smoothly. The preparation should begin at least 8 months before the Assembly takes place. The Assembly working group must ensure devising a feasible work-plan that covers the following:
Logistical Planning: visa documents, arrivals/departures, transportation, accommodation, to be planned ahead of time and be cost efficient;
Schedule: this will include both visits organized by the host as well as working sessions, ensuring positive energy, momentum and a good flow of the meetings. The WG tries to find the balance and harmony in the schedule.
Host Visits: these will vary from artist talks, site visits, walks, events, etc. that are particular to the host context as well as to AC.
Working Sessions: the Assembly working group will have to gather information from all the working groups and collaborative projects to see how much time is needed for discussion and any necessary tools/equipment for sharing.
*Advisable for Assembly Working Group to arrive a few days before the start of the Assembly to finalise the program schedule and ensure tasks are covered.
COSTS
Each organization will pay for its own flights, visa, accommodation, per diem, from the collective pot. The Host can pay for 1 or 2 people from the collective pot, the remaining amount is covered by assembly budget.
The host organization will be allocated a certain sum of money (TBC) to organise the Assembly, which will cover meals, transportation and programming.
V. FACILITATING AN ASSEMBLY
Facilitation literally means ‘making easier’. In the case of the Assembly facilitation group, it means they would make the process of discussion, overall program and schedule run smoothly. The group keeps an eye on the informal (and formal) hierarchies in the group to maintain the horizontality of the network.
Each working group will organize and facilitate its own sessions, as well as any decision making processes with consideration of the Facilitation Guidelines (still to be created.) Throughout the year, each working group has one or two facilitators as the contact person for the Assembly working group (the group can decide to rotate this role).
TASKS
Before an assembly
Create preparational working document(s), that include:
Schedule for the assembly;
Working group proposals that AC has to make decisions on;
Contacting all working groups to:
Ask for desire, time and content for the assembly;
Collect proposals for decision making;
Collect information on materials needed for assembly (e.g. material for printing, some special stationery, etc.)
Needs to decide in coordination with the harvesting team (see below): what we document and how?
Building the assembly schedule in collaboration with the host of the assembly, including energizers;
Share draft schedule to AC for suggestions;
Process suggestions, finalize and share final schedule;
Share working document within a reasonable amount of time allowing AC partners to read and study before the Assembly.
During an assembly
Facilitate the overall Assembly schedule, ensuring that the Host isn’t overwhelmed with organizing and planning the schedule. Allowing other AC members to rotating roles: guardian of intention, guardian of time, collecting harvests from plenary sessions.
Follow up with working groups and host in case of changes/additions to the schedule, and adapt accordingly;
Follow up with AC members ensuring the general momentum, energy and flow of program is going smoothly, and adapt accordingly.
Each Working Group will be responsible for:
Documenting, analyzing and archiving their harvests;
Facilitating their own sessions during the Assembly;
After an assembly
Reflection document that includes:
Summaries of all plenary sessions;
Decisions made through the assembly;
HARVESTING ASSEMBLY
Documentation group (to be discussed with the WG): needs to organize a harvesting team for the assembly, who will be responsible for gathering harvests from plenary sessions and summarizing them. In addition, harvesting team should be able to advise or suggest relevant materials needed for documenting Assemblies, i.e. video sessions, audio recordings etc.
What do we document and how? - needs to be decided prior to assembly by assembly WG and harvesting team (see ‘tasks’)
Summary of the Assembly would be shared in the upcoming Tam-Tam following the Assembly.
Tooling will be shared by participants of AC.
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