Constitution of the Kindle Arts Society
Sept 6, 2017
The purpose of the Society is to nurture creativity in everyone and to help kindle it into a fire of artistic self-expression by:
- Facilitating interactive arts events
- Creating opportunities for people to create art
- Facilitating educational opportunities for people to acquire art skills
- Providing funds to support costs associated with building and sharing art
- Participating in arts advocacy and sharing our knowledge of arts advocacy
- Promoting fire arts and fire art safety on a municipal and provincial level
- Following Society Core Values (S.P.A.R.C.) set out in this Constitution
Self-expression:
Our self-expression exists in pursuit of unmediated experience, self-discovery, intimacy, and lifelong play. This is the nucleus around which our community forms. Without the pursuit of self-expression, we do not exist.
We encourage the articulation of one’s unique inner self through art and play. To create art is to affirm one’s existence. Art does not belong to an elite group with special abilities, skills, training, or social access. Artistic expression is essential to human happiness, and self-expression is the very fabric of human life.
We cherish self-expression and freedom of identity without judgement. We call upon each other to express ourselves with compassion and respect for others. We pursue self-expression with respect given to personal and collective autonomy. We eschew controlling each other, choosing instead to control ourselves.
Participation:
Everyone is welcomed with the opportunity to participate and contribute. There is no audience. Everyone is a participant. We welcome the stranger, embrace newcomers, and actively pursue hospitality.
Ours is a gifting culture in which participants freely contribute without the expectation of reward or payment. Our gifts take many forms. We recognize that if we give the gift of our time, effort, energy, art, and passion – we create an environment of abundance, where there is plenty for all.
Our community is a do-ocracy: if you see a need – fill it. If there is a job to be done – do it. If you don’t like how something is done – volunteer to do it better.
Accountability:
We are responsible for our own actions, emotions, and experiences – and are committed to being accountable for them. We strive to minimize our impact on others by ensuring that our own emotional, spiritual, and physical needs are met. We recognize our limitations and commit within them. We take advantage of our own resources before seeking community support.
In keeping our commitments, we trust others to meet the commitments they have made to us. We do not expect others to clean up after us – our trash and belongings (physical and mental) are our responsibility to manage.
We value our community and contribute to ensure its resources are never depleted and it can operate with abundance. We recognize we are all accountable for the health of our community, and we cultivate an attitude of service. Our community is made up of individuals; therefore we honour each other’s personal needs.
Respect:
We respect the needs of both the members of the Society as a whole and the individuals who form it. We embrace diversity in all of its forms, including but not limited to: class, wealth, religion, race, sexuality, gender, sex, age, physical ability, place of origin, and more. We seek to create an environment of tolerance and mutual support where we all have a sense of involvement and belonging.
We treat each other with equality, tolerance, and respect – even when we disagree. We respect each other’s autonomy and strive to help each other to meet our potential.
Consent:
We hold ourselves to high standards of respect for others and respect everyone’s right to bodily autonomy. We are mindful of everyone’s right to say “yes” or “no” to any activity. In order to create a space where everyone feels safe to express themselves artistically and, where appropriate, sexually, we consciously develop a culture of consent.
Consent is an agreement between two or more people to engage or not engage in specific activities together. Consent occurs when people voluntarily agree to the proposal or desires of the other. Expressed consent is clearly and unmistakably stated, rather than implied. It may be given in writing, by speech, or non-verbally (e.g. a clear gesture such as a nod). In order for consent to be valid, it is given freely and continuously by a person with the capacity to do so. Consent is not just about sex; it’s needed before acting on any desire involving others.
We value the transformative experience of consensual touch, play, and interaction, and we believe that consent plays a vital part in our social cohesion.
This society is a member-funded society. It is funded primarily by its members to carry on activities for the benefit of its members. On its liquidation or dissolution, this society may distribute its money and other property to its members.