A backlash over plans to reform The Arts Society, one of the UK’s oldest arts organisations, led to the resignation of its chief executive, chief operating officer and most of its trustees earlier this year. Florian Schweizer, the chief executive, and Tim Nicholls, the chief operating officer, departed at the society’s annual general meeting (AGM) held in August, “having reached an agreement with the trustees. Both felt their positions to be untenable,” says a pre-meeting report by the organisation’s trustees.
The Arts Society, an arts education charity, is the trading name of the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies. It has more than 60,000 members who belong to around 360 local societies in the UK and abroad. “These local societies, through their individual chairs, are the voting members of The Arts Society, and in this way they exercise democratic control. In 2023, the society carried out a review of its governance structure with the aim of achieving ‘good governance and an effective skills-based board’,” says Jeremy Thomas, the society’s new chair of trustees.
In January, the society put its proposals for reform to the membership. “These included a fully appointed trustee board, no longer elected by the membership, who would be solely responsible for decisions regarding the operation of The Arts Society, and the discontinuing of the voting rights of local societies who would still be responsible for running their own societies,” Thomas adds.
Following consultation, the proposals were modified to enable members to elect a minority of trustees, while voting rights on all other matters remained with trustees. But some regional groups, including those based at Helmsley and Norfolk, challenged the governance reforms put forward by Schweizer and the former trustees.
Democratic concerns
The revised proposals were rejected by a majority of voting members at an extraordinary general meeting held in June (70% voted against). “The opposing majority believed that the proposed changes would undermine the democratic nature of the society and the accountability of the board, and that the skills and effectiveness of the board could be strengthened by exercising the existing power to co-opt trustees,” Thomas says. The majority of the trustees subsequently decided to step down.
On 3 July the trustees received a resolution proposed by the Norfolk group, described as “a collection of societies who had been actively engaged in campaigning against the governance reform proposals”, according to the pre-general meeting trustees board report. The Norfolk group hoped to pass a resolution enabling nine new candidates to be elected as trustees at a general meeting on 23 August. Voting closed on 8 August, with five new trustees elected.
A largely new board is now in place operating under the existing governance arrangements, explains Thomas, who adds: “The new board is confident that we can embrace the challenges and opportunities ahead and lead the society into a successful future.”
A spokesperson for the Norfolk group tells The Art Newspaper: “We have achieved what we wanted to achieve. The proposal to disenfranchise all members did not find favour with the membership. Indeed, the proposal was defeated by some 206 societies voting against the proposal and not just the eight local societies from the Norfolk group. We are wholeheartedly behind the new board of trustees and wish them well for the future.”
The pre-AGM trustees’ report concludes: “We hope that following this period of aggression and challenge, and by handing over to a new board made up by many who led the opposition to the proposals, normality can be restored.”
