How is the DAI currently embedded in the ArtEZ University of the Arts and how is participation organised ?

| tag: Arnhem

STATUS QUO IN THE 2023-2024 ACADEMIC YEAR

1.Governance of the ArtEZ University of the Arts

2.Participation facilitated and /or authorized by the ArtEZ University of the Arts

3.Participation facilitated and cherished exclusively by and for DAI

ArtEZ accommodates a range of larger and smaller institutes and departments for art education and art research, in a multitude of artistic disciplines. It has branches in Arnhem, Enschede, and Zwolle, 3 relatively small cities in the East-Netherlands. The DAI is one of its Master programmes, outstanding because of its free-thinking, transdisciplinary, critical studies profile and closely knitted transnational community. Registered in the city of Arnhem, the DAI operates as a Roaming Academy: without a fixed building or permanent location.

DAI's syllabus and public activities are entirely designed and developed by the program itself, but the overriding university holds final authority and responsibility over its legal construction, its educational output and accreditation and its finances. 

ArtEZ University of the Arts is accredited and financed by the Dutch Governement. Legally it builds upon the Higher Education and Research Act (WHW), unfortunately only available in Dutch. Over the past 30 years the Dutch Governement has taken away many earmarked budgets that in the past were in the hands of smaller educational entities run by tutors and professors. Today, forever merging & expanding, semi-corporately organised mega-institutions, oftentimes run by executive boards consisting of professional managers have been given full authority over lumpsum budgets.   

We recommend you to continue reading, so as to better understand the formal power relations that we have to navigate. 

1.Governance:

The board of governors or RvT ( Dutch: Raad van Toezicht) of the ArtEZ University of the Arts is charged with the task of supervising the Executive Board. Its members are appointed and paid for their supervision and are to be held accountable by the Ministry of Education. 

The Executive Board or (in Dutch) CvB (= College van Bestuur) of the ArtEZ University of the Arts consists of two members: the President and Vice-President. Together with 10 appointed administrators, the so-called ArtEZ directors, the CvB decides about, and is to be held accountable for the division of budgets, tuition fees and the overall ArtEZ policy and politics and the implementation thereoff.

Read HERE who are the current the members of both the ArtEZ Board of Governors as well as the ArtEZ Executive Board.

The Heads of the Programs /artistic directors (such as DAI's Gabriëlle Schleijpen) are responsible for both the artistic and educational vision as well the practical realisation of their specific programs (for more details you can read: responsibilities and profiles Head of Masters), but they are not directly in conversation with the Executive Board; a group of academy directors/adminstrators is formally positioned in between Board and the Programs or Courses. The Head of the Programs are thus not in any direct conversation with the Board of Governors.

Originating in the early 2000s the Dutch Art Institute (DAI) together with other autonomously curated and programmed MA courses and programmes under the governance of ArtEZ (such as the Werkplaats Typografie), is part of an adminstrative infrastructure, the joint Masters, connecting all, non-homogenous masterprogrammes within the larger framework of the ArtEZ University of the Arts. The director of the joint Master Programs represents the interests of all master programs in the management consultation with the Executive Board. The annual budget of each master program under the responsibility of each Head of the Program /artistic director, is embedded in the overall joint Master’s budget for which the recently appointed new manager/director Iris Eshel is to be held accountable. Heads of Programs/artistic directors of all ArtEZ Masters meet regularly with her and each other, to discus concerns and stakes in relation to the overriding managerial politics of ArtEZ.

2. Participation authorised by ArtEZ:

- The Institute Council of ArtEZ ~ in Dutch: MR (medezeggenschapsraad) 

Formal relationship with the CvB / Executive Board as well as with the Board of Governors. The MR has an advisory role and sometimes right of consent. Currently there are no members who are working for or studying at the DAI. 

https://www.artez.nl/en/this-is-artez/our-organisation/institute-council

- Academy Council ~ in Dutch: Deelraad 

There is an Academy Council for each ArtEZ Academy, so also one for the joint ArtEZ Master programs (including DAI). This Masters Council has regular contact with the Master director (in 2024 and 2025 this is an interim), with the Institute Council and with the Executive Board. Students and employees can be member. Heads of Program are exempted. Currently there are no Academy Council members working for or studying at the DAI. 

- DAI specific Advisory Committee: OC

The OC consists of DAI's two Education Leaders (Nikos Doulos and Florian Göttke) and two students (members of the DAI’s COUNCIL, see DAI Led Participation) discussing and confirming the DAI specific Exam Regulations (for the next academic year). The OC reports to the Academy Council which will strictly follow the OC's advice regarding the DAI specific Exam Regulations.

3. Participation facilitated and cherished exclusively by and for DAI: 

COUNCIL

The COUNCIL is informed, among others, by the 

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

 

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