BAAT AGM 2020 - ONLINE

BAAT’s 2020 AGM had to be held online, following the measures introduced to control the Covid-19 outbreak. Consisting of just the Business section, there was a report on BAAT’s work over the past year, and votes on the standing AGM agenda items, new Chair, Vice-Chair and Council members.

The online meeting opened at 11 am with Tim Wright, Chair of BAAT, formally welcoming Professor Diane Waller OBE, Dr Val Huet, BAAT CEO, and current and prospective Council members to the meeting. The AGM was recorded and can be viewed in full with the link at the end of the report. Voting for agenda items was by the 18 people present at the meeting, added to the votes received in proxy ballots from 135 full members. The meeting therefore met the 90 voting members required at a BAAT AGM for it to be quorate.

Welcome and Report by Tim Wright, retiring Chair

Tim formally opened the meeting by welcoming all those present. He highlighted a number of issues from his AGM report, starting with the Covid-19 pandemic. This was already having an impact on BAAT and its members. Val Huet, BAAT CEO, had been working to mitigate the financial implications for the association. She had been due to take on the Research and Development Director role in May but will be staying on as CEO until the autumn when Anna Playle, the new CEO, will now be starting. Val’s working days have been reduced and most BAAT office staff are on furlough. Tim paid tribute to the patient-centredness that art therapists had been showing, in particular the efforts being made to continue with sessions in workplaces or online. He was aware of how the lockdown and social distancing measures had been impacting art therapists working sessionally or in private practice.

Tim then turned to the organisational changes that were taking place in BAAT. He felt this marked the end of a phase in which Council has been reviewing BAAT’s structures and staffing to ensure it was well-placed to meet future challenges. The CEO functions which Val Huet had been covering would now to be channelled into two distinct roles: a CEO responsible for day-to-day operations and membership support, and a Research and Development Director who will work to build on the success of BAAT’s conferences and further develop support for practice-based research. Tim looked forward to Anna Playle starting in the CEO post so that BAAT could embark on this new chapter of its development.

He mentioned how BAAT has been working to develop its communications. The move to the BAAT forums for Regional and Special Interest groups (SIGs) had been working well with growing participation in them. Council had made the decision to set up the forums following GDPR concerns about the Google groups and email lists that regional groups and SIGs had come to rely on. BAAT holds the responsibility of being data controller for the forums so this task no longer needs to be covered by co-ordinators, who can now focus more fully on the needs of their group and its members.

The inaugural International Art Therapy Practice / Research Conference, held at Queen Mary University of London in July 2019, had helped BAAT to build contacts with colleagues from around the world and raise its profile internationally. Tim looked forward to the next conference in 2022 which offers the chance to further strengthen links with other art therapy associations.

One highlight of the past year had been the success in establishing standards and funding for art therapy apprenticeships. Tim suggested a much harder challenge now lay ahead in making them a reality through working with training bodies and employers to embed apprenticeships into art therapy training. He felt it opened up the possibility of developing more workplace-centred forms of training as well as making the profession more accessible and therefore more diverse than is currently the case.

Tim closed his report with an update on the Department of Health consultation on the regulation of healthcare professions, which had considered the possibility that it might be safe to remove some groups from statutory regulation. The consultation appeared to have been side-lined for the time being, but the possibility remains that it could be revisited at some point in the future. Val and Tim have been working with Unite the Union to ensure BAAT is ready and able to respond should any challenges arise around this.

The meeting then moved to the AGM agenda items.

Minutes of the last AGM held on 18 May 2019, at Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA

The minutes for the 2019 AGM were put to the vote, with no corrections having been requested. Delegates present, and in the proxy ballot, voted to approve the minutes. They are now available on the BAAT website. Jayne McConkey proposed one item for Matters Arising:

International Journal of Art Therapy: Inscape and Newsbriefing

Both publications will only appear online or in digital form during 2020. This is because Taylor and Francis has announced it will not be publishing any of its journals in print form this year because of production issues relating to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Approval of the accounts for the year to 31 December 2019

Val Huet gave an overview of BAAT’s Trading, Income and Expenditure Account for the financial year ending 31 December 2019. The association had started 2020 with a healthy balance because of income from the international conference in 2019. BAAT had been planning to put some of this towards improvements to the website but this has now had to be put on hold. The priority at present is ensuring BAAT weathers the financial impact of the lockdown; for example, income will be reduced because of the training courses not running. However, BAAT’s turnover was just over £700K in the last financial year and it has reserves in place, so, with prudent planning, it should be able to withstand the current challenges.

Val then asked for any questions or comments on the accounts. Claire Louise Vaculik thanked Val for her management of BAAT’s finances. Clifford Free asked what sort of things were covered by Royalties Receivable? Val explained this was things like the upcoming book on the international conference proceedings, the royalties from which will be split between BAAT and the American Art Therapy Association. Diane Waller congratulated Val on the sound state that BAAT is in, adding that the international conference has been a wonderful event. Di felt the apprenticeship scheme would be enormously important as it will make the training accessible to people who would not otherwise have been able to consider it.

The accounts for the year ending December 2019 were then put to the vote. Delegates present, and in the proxy ballot, voted to approve the accounts.

Re-appointment of Higgisons as Accountants

Val Huet mentioned the help Higgisons had given BAAT this year with understanding changes to the PAYE system and advising on how to respond to members’ queries. Tim Wright recalled John Fulton’s question at the previous AGM about whether BAAT ever considers appointing another firm of accountants? Val responded that this was possible, although it was likely to be time-consuming, but if Council wanted to go ahead with a review it could do.

The meeting was then asked for formal approval of the reappointment of Higgisons, Chartered Accountants, for the next financial year. Delegates present, and in the proxy ballot, voted to approve the motion.

Election of Chair for a period of three years

Claire Louise Vaculik described feeling honoured to have been nominated for the post, having been involved in working therapeutically using the arts over the past 20 years, and having been on Council in various roles for nearly 15 years. She had supported Council in its review of BAAT’s governance systems, and wanted to continue to support the development of robust policies to assist the association’s growth. If elected, Claire Louise wanted to travel around the regions, meeting with as many members as possible to learn about the challenges art therapists are facing in their localities.

Delegates present, and in the proxy ballot, voted to approve Claire Louise’s nomination for Chair.

Election of Vice-Chair for a period of three years

Richard Whitaker spoke about having worked in the NHS for 27 years, including managing a community and in-patient service within Adult Mental Health, along with the experience he has gained over 10 years on Council. He wanted to bring the knowledge gained in these different areas to the role of Vice-Chair, and to help BAAT support colleagues working across a range of sectors. He felt passionate about progressing BAAT’s research agenda. If elected, he was keen to work with the new CEO and the Research and Development Director to help BAAT build on the links that were established at last year’s international conference.

Delegates present, and in the proxy ballot, voted to approve Richard’s nomination for Vice-Chair.

Election of Members of Council for a period of two years

Liz Ashby, Susan Carr, Sophia Cowx, Clifford Free, Karen Fenna, Viv Gibbons, Dominik Havsteen-Franklin, Colin Sims, and Jude Smit were standing for election to Council. Each of them made a statement in support of their nomination.

After hearing all the statements, delegates present and in the proxy ballot, then voted for each of the nominees for Council. The nominations of everyone standing were approved.

This concluded the formal business of the AGM. Jayne McConkey then gave a vote of thanks to Val Huet for the work she had done for BAAT as its CEO. A ‘virtual’ best wishes card had been signed for Val and there was a link so that other BAAT members could add to it. Val joked that she had expected to be finishing as CEO after the AGM but it was not meant to be. She would be continuing in post until the autumn when the new CEO, Anna Playle, will start work with BAAT. Val talked about how tough life is for colleagues and service users at present; in this situation she was happy to carry on and do all she could to see BAAT and its members through this latest challenge.

Any Other Business

Tim Wright gave a vote of thanks to the BAAT office staff. Val Huet echoed this and added that although most of them are on furlough now, they had to work extra hard beforehand to to put everything in place. Val thanked Abimbola Badiora, Bettina Erland Jensen, Ioanna Xenophontes, Alex McDonald and Davy Yong; Alex has been continuing with work on IJAT Inscape and Newsbriefing outside of furlough. She has also been working with Lex Bagust on maintaining BAAT’s social media presence. Val reiterated her thanks to all of the BAAT office staff for working so hard for the association.

Tim concluded by saying that although his elected term as Chair was now over, he would be about in an ex-officio role for the next year. Simon Richardson added that this would be his final year in the Honorary Secretary post, which would become vacant at the next AGM. If anyone was interested in finding out more about the role or shadowing him at Council over the coming year, they should contact him via BAAT office.

There being no other business Tim Wright closed the online 2020 BAAT AGM.

A video of the whole proceedings can be seen at https://vimeo.com/420671775 after entering the password AGM160520.