Regional Arts Victoria Terms and Conditions of Membership
These terms and conditions should be read in conjunction with Regional Arts Victoria’s Constitution approved and adopted by a special resolution of members at a Special General Meeting held on 8 December 2022.
These terms and conditions are valid for Memberships from 31 October 2023 to 31 October 2024 inclusive.
1. Regional Arts Victoria Membership Overview
1.1 Regional Arts Victoria (RAV) operates a paid membership program for the purpose of supporting creative individuals and organisations in regional Victoria.
1.2 A Member of RAV is defined as an individual or organisation who:
a. meets the eligibility criteria in Clause 2
b. has paid the relevant Membership Fee
c. has been approved as a Member by RAV
1.3 The annual membership year is 1 November to 31 October. Applications for new Members are accepted throughout the year. Existing Members must renew their Membership between August and October each year.
1.4 RAV Members are entitled to participate in RAV’s General Meetings and elect the proportion of RAV’s Board Members described in RAV’s Constitution. For details of these rights and responsibilities see the RAV Constitution.
2. Eligibility
2.1 RAV offers two member categories:
- Individual Membership (including Life Members and Board Members)
- Organisation Membership
2.2 Individual Members must be over 18 years old, ordinarily resident in Victoria and be working as practising creative or in a support or producing role.
2.3 Organisation Members must be either an incorporated body in Victoria or have its principal place of business in Victoria. Organisations must have the promotion of regional arts or cultural pursuits as a primary or principal focus and be a registered not-for-profit or charitable organisation.
3. Applications for Membership
3.1 Prospective members of Regional Arts Victoria (“Applicant(s)”) must complete an application form available on the RAV website: www.rav.net.au.
3.2 By completing the form and submitting it to RAV, the Applicant confirms that all information provided by them is true and correct.
3.3 If the Applicant is an organisation, the organisation must nominate one (1) person (“Nominated Representative”) to represent the organisation for the purposes of exercising the organisation’s rights and responsibilities as a Member of RAV. The application form must therefore include the name and address of the nominated representative and be signed by that nominated representative.
3.4 If the Applicant’s membership is approved by RAV, the Applicant must pay a Membership Fee within two (2) months of the date on which the Applicant is advised of RAV’s approval. Upon payment the Applicant becomes a Member of Regional Arts Victoria until 31 October of the year in which the Applicant paid their Membership Fee,
3.5 RAV reserves the right to decline Applicants in its absolute discretion.
3.6 To be an eligible Member a fully paid fee must be received by Regional Arts Victoria each year.
4. Cancellation of Membership
4.1 Members can cancel at any time in writing to [email protected].
4.2 Part year refunds are not issued for membership cancellations.
5. Privacy and Use of Images
5.1 Personal information collected for the purposes of becoming a Member of RAV (such as address and contact details) is securely stored by RAV. Members’ financial data is processed by a third party and is not retained by RAV. Regional Arts Victoria’s privacy policy can be found here: https://www.rav.net.au/privacy-policy/
5.2 RAV reserves the right to publish the names of Members in RAV’s communications including but not limited to website, social media and enews.
5.3 All images uploaded to the RAV website (see Clause 7 below) may be used by RAV to promote Members, membership generally, RAV and Members’ events at RAV’s discretion. RAV will credit images appropriately or Members may be contacted for image credits where they have not been provided or are unclear.
6. Member Contact Details
6.1 Members are responsible for keeping their contact information current. Members’ contact details will not be shared with third parties without the prior permission of the relevant Member.
6.2 In addition to the Nominated Representative, RAV requests Members to provide a ‘primary contact’ for all Organisation Memberships. The Nominated Representative and Primary Contact may be the same person.
6.1 RAV will provide the Primary Contact’ with general communications relating to Member renewal, insurance and general RAV communications.
6.2 The Nominated Representative will be advised about matters relating to RAV’s Annual General Meetings (AGM) and related matters such as Board nominations, they will have the right to vote or nominate a proxy voter at RAV AGMs and Special General Meetings.
6.3 Each of the Nominated Representative or Primary Contact may request that an additional organisational contact receive the information usually received by them, or instead of them.
7. Member Benefits
7.1 Member Dashboard: Members have access to a RAV Members’ Dashboard on www.rav.net.au where they are entitled to:
a. Set up and maintain a public profile
b. Add events to What’s On listings; listings are also included in RAV’s monthly Enews.
c. View jobs, grants and other opportunities, posted weekly by RAV staff.
d. Access resources developed for regional creatives and creative organisations
RAV will provide new Members with login details set up and maintain their profile.
Member Profiles and other content is moderated by RAV prior to publication. Publication (live access) of Member profiles and events will take up to three (3) working days. RAV reserves the right to edit or alter any profiles or events for spelling, grammar, and formatting.
7.2 Organisation Members’ discount
Organisation Members with their own members, may offer those members half-price RAV membership. Access to this discount is available by logging into the Member Dashboard.
7.3 Funding Centre
Members who join or renew by 31 October each year, may activate a complimentary Funding Centre subscription by 30 November. Between 1 December and 31 October any new or late renewing members are not able to access this benefit.
7.4 Insurance
a. RAV Organisation Members receive Association Liability and Volunteer Workers cover as part of their membership inclusion.
b. All individuals, and organisation RAV Members with a gross annual income under $1,000,000, are entitled to join RAV’s master Combined Liability Insurance policy. This is a very cost-effective option for organisations and individuals.
c. Members must determine whether the insurance products meet the Member’s needs. Further information can be found in Insurance Information.
7.5 Priority and free access to RAV events
Current RAV Members may be offered priority access or complimentary tickets to events run by RAV when these events are run in the region where the member is located. These may include RAV in Residence and touring show events. Notifications of such offers will be sent to Members via email and places are limited.
8. Life Membership
8.1 If, in the opinion of RAV, a Member has made, a significant contribution to RAV, RAV may nominate a Member as a Life Member of RAV.
8.2 A Member nominated for Life Membership must be notified of their nomination and asked to accept or reject their nomination. If accepted, that Member will automatically become a Life member, with effect from the date on which they accept their nomination.
8.3 An organisation is not eligible to become a Life Member.
8.4 A Life Member has all the rights and privileges of Membership.
9. Code of Conduct and disciplining members
If any Member wilfully refuses or neglects to comply with the provisions of the Regional Arts Victoria constitution; or is guilty of any conduct which, in RAV’s opinion, is unbecoming of a Member or prejudicial to the interest of RAV; RAV may censure, suspend or expel the Member and remove the member’s name from the membership register.
10. Dispute Resolution
If a dispute occurs between RAV and a Member, RAV will aim to objectively, discreetly and promptly resolve the issue using the following four-step process:
Step One – Member informs RAV Membership staff of the issue, who will attempt to resolve it through discussions with the people involved.
Step Two – If Step one does not resolve the dispute, the RAV Membership staff will advise the RAV CEO of the issue. The RAC CEO will attempt to resolve the issue through discussions with the people involved.
Step Three – If Step Two does not resolve the dispute, or the dispute involves the CEO, RAV Membership staff or CEO will advise the RAV Board of the issue. A nominated Board Member will attempt to resolve the issue through discussions with the people involved. Minutes from those discussions, including a proposed resolution for the dispute, will be circulated to everyone involved.
Step Four – Mediator involvement: If Steps One, Two and Three do not resolve the dispute, or one of the parties is unhappy with the resolution proposed, the dispute may be referred to a private mediator. The parties may then agree on the process the private mediator will use (such as mediation, conciliation and consent arbitration). The mediator may exercise any method of dispute resolution it considers appropriate to ensure the settlement of the dispute.
Members may appoint another person, organisation or association to accompany and/or represent them at any of these meetings.
Further Information
Further information about these terms and condition can be obtained by contacting:
Regional Arts Victoria
Ground Floor
470 St Kilda Road
Melbourne VIC 3004
(Please note that all staff work all around Victoria, this address is not available for visitors.)
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 1300 882 531