Consitution

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
SOCIETY ACT
CONSTITUTION for the KINDLE ARTS SOCIETY

NAME

1. The name of the Society is the Kindle Arts Society.

PURPOSE

2. 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 to generate funds and provide venues to display art and performances;
   • Creating opportunities for people to create art;
   • Facilitating workshops and educational opportunities for people to acquire art skills;
   • Providing funds to support costs associated with building art;
   • Participating in arts advocacy and sharing our knowledge of arts advocacy;
   • Promoting the fire arts and fire arts safety on a municipal and provincial level;
   • Support the interactive arts community in British Columbia, principally focusing on Victoria and Vancouver Island;
   • Following the Operating Principles and Community Values set out in this Constitution;
   • Maintaining membership in other regional, provincial, national or international societies having objects which are complementary with or similar to those of the Society;
   • Acquiring, accepting, soliciting and receiving gifts, contributions, donations, devises and bequests of money, real and personal property and rights of every nature and description and to hold, invest, expend, use or deal with the same in furtherance of the objects of the Society; and
   • Doing all such things as are necessary and ancillary to the attainment of the above objects or any of them.

VISION

3. We believe that all people have an innate need to create. This society’s vision is of a world without barriers to creative self-expression, where everyone feels empowered to create art!

OPERATING PRINCIPLES

4. All board members, committee members, officers, and agents acting on behalf of the Society shall operate according to the needs and expectations of the membership as defined by these, the Society’s operating principles:

• • Empowerment & Do-ocracy
    – KindleArts will:
    • Minimize bureaucracy and empower members to autonomously support the society’s objectives.
    • Promote autonomy, personal creative agency, and do-ocracy.
  • Transparency & Accountability
    – KindleArts will:
    • Provide members with open access to the society’s financial and operational information.
    • Provide members with invitations to attend all society meetings (except in cases where the meetings concerns the removal of a member of the board or the society).
    • Act in accordance with the Society Values.
    • Practice consensus-based decision making.
  • Integrity & Responsibility
    – KindleArts will:
    • Be fiscally responsible.
    • Meet its commitments.
    • Display consistency in its decisions.
    • Respect all members equally.

SOCIETY VALUES

1. 1. 5. When a group of people find common purpose and pursue their goals as a group, the by-product is a community. To remain a functional community, groups must also come to understand their common values and pursue them alongside their concrete goals.The Kindle Arts Society is such a community. We share common goals and aspirations, but also a common set of duties, privileges, and values that support our mission.

         This is our collective identity: how we see the world, how we choose to interact with society, and how we interact with each other.

         The touchstones of our culture include:

         • SELF-EXPRESSION
         • PARTICIPATION
         • RESPECT
         • ACCOUNTABILITY

1. 1. SELF-EXPRESSIONSelf-expression is the process of striving to articulate one’s unique inner self out in the world. One product of that self-expression is called art. And to create art is to say: I exist. Art does not belong to some elite group with special abilities, skills, training, or social access. Art is essential to human happiness, and self-expression is the very fabric of human life.

      This is the nucleus around which our community forms. Without the pursuit of self-expression, we do not exist.

      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 autonomy, as well as our collective autonomy. We eschew controlling each other, and choose to control ourselves.

      Our self-expression exists in pursuit of unmediated experience, self-discovery, intimacy, and lifelong play.

5. 2. PARTICIPATIONEveryone is welcomed with the opportunity to participate and contribute. Access to the society’s resources is a privilege secured by our participation in support of the goals of the society.

      We are solution oriented and avoid negativity – instead we offer our services to resolve problems.

      There is no audience. Everyone is a participant.

      Ours is a gifting culture, where participants freely contribute without the expectation of reward or payment. Our gifts take many forms. Many projects involve large groups of community members; however, sometimes the best gift we can give to the Society is to pursue intensely personal inwardly-focused projects in pursuit of self-expression.

      We welcome the stranger, welcome newcomers, and actively pursue hospitality.

      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.

1. 1. 3. RESPECT

We respect the needs of both the members of the Society as a whole (“the community”) and the individuals who form it. We embrace diversity it all of its forms, including but not limited to: class, wealth, religion, race, sexuality, gender, sex, age, physical ability and more. We seek to create an environment of tolerance and mutual support, where we all have a sense of involvement and belonging.

1. 1. 4. ACCOUNTABILITY

We understand that we are responsible for our own actions, emotions, and experiences – and we are committed to being accountable for them.

We keep our commitments and trust others to meet the commitments they have made to us. 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.

We strive to minimize our impact on others by ensuring that our own emotional, spiritual, and physical needs are met. We take maximum advantage of our own resources before seeking community support. We do not allow others to clean up after us – all our trash and belongings (physical and mental) are our responsibility to manage.

We recognize that we’re accountable for the health of our community, so we cultivate an attitude of community service. We also know that our community is made up of individuals, so we honour each other’s personal needs.

We value our community and contribute to it so its resources are never depleted and it can operate in an environment of abundance.

WINDING UP / DISSOLUTION

6. Upon winding up or dissolution of the Society, the assets which remain after payment of all cost, charges, and expenses which are properly incurred in the winding up shall be distributed to a registered not-for profit society in Canada with a purpose similar to the purpose of the Kindle Arts Society, as may be determined by the directors of the Society at the time of winding up or dissolution.

NOT FOR PROFIT

7. The above purposes of the Society shall be carried out without purpose of gain for its members, and any profits or other accretions to the Society shall be used for promoting its purposes, and all of the above purposes shall be carried on in an exclusively charitable manner.

REIMBURSEMENTS

8. No Director or Officer shall be remunerated for being or acting as a Director or Officer, but a Director or Officer may be reimbursed for all expenses necessarily and reasonably incurred by him while engaged in the affairs of the Society.

UNALTERABLE

9. Paragraphs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the Constitution are unalterable in accordance with the Society Act.