10 May 2018 - It has been another good year for ASDACS. There has been a 7% rise in income, which includes royalties from Copydan (Denmark, Greenland and Faroe Islands) as well as our many other partnerships. Alot of this due to the work of EO, Deb Jackson, and her trip to the CISAC General Assembly in Portugal in June last year (2017).
Deb concluded four new partnerships for ASDACS; AIPA (Slovenia), Copydan (Denmark, Greenland and Faroe Islands) DBCA (Brazil) and SABAM (Belgium). This brings the number of partnerships we have now to 28. Deb also secured NZ income with SIAE (Italy) and furthered negotiations with Copyswede (Sweden).
We moved premises in June 2017 to offices in Ultimo with improved conditions for the staff. Benefits include air conditioning, faster internet, a central location and our own meeting rooms.
Our previous admin and research assistant, Belinda Button, has moved to the ADG in the professional development coordinator role. We were sorry to lose her, but she is replaced by Brenton Amies, who has a wide background in arts administration.
ASDACS launched its new website in May 2018 with easier access to information and resources for members and stakeholders (includes a new distribution rules and procedures outline). An online membership and distribution system will follow this year.
We have continued negotiations with Screenrights, as well as supported ADG's negotiations with SPA, with the aim of establishing a standard percentage for directors for retransmission rights. These negotiations are on going. We’ve also updated the retransmission rights clauses for directors.
The ASDACS board has granted $40,000 this year through it's cultural and charitable purposes fund, to go towards ADG master classes, the ADG Awards and the ADG business of directing workshops.
Our thanks go to Deb Jackson and Kingston Anderson and all of the ASDACS staff for the year’s work. I also heartily thank board members Donald Crombie, Kevin Lucas, Howard Scott Hartford Davis, Grant Campbell, Pat Fiske and Lauren Hillier for their work during the year. Lauren sadly leaves the board this now, having done great work for us.
Stephen Wallace
Chair ASDACS