PSNZ Council meeting update

Paul Whitham LPSNZ, PSNZ President

The “new” PSNZ Council met in Wellington for the first time over the weekend of 6 to 7 November, with the two Auckland members joining via Zoom. It was a great opportunity for the new councillors to come together and bond as a team. I am looking forward to the contributions that they will make to our organisation. Here is a full report on the meeting, including material already circulated to members in a bulk email.

COVID vaccine mandate

Council has considered a range of concerns related to COVID-19. We recognise that our events bring together groups of varying sizes, especially the National Convention but also a variety of workshops.

Under the most recent advice available there will be ongoing proof of vaccination requirements at venues that we use. This may extend to requirements of associated services such as transport providers.

Council has considered how to best support the wellbeing of our members, and the various service providers and trade partners with whom we work.

As a result, we have determined that all PSNZ arranged events will require participants to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Should parties associated with our events require proof of vaccination, members will need to comply with their requirements and supply proof to those parties.

Ours is a relatively small incorporated Society and we wish to ensure that member resources are used wisely. We do not see the spending of members’ funds to check the vaccination status of participants at PSNZ events as a sensible expense to incur. As a membership-based organisation, we believe we can work on a trust model. This will enable us to avoid collecting private medical information from our members.

This requirement will be effective from 1 February 2022. The choice of a date this far in advance enables members to make their own decisions relating to vaccination, to become fully vaccinated if they wish to participate in future PSNZ events, or to consider their future membership should they decide not to become fully vaccinated and are concerned about their ability to access PSNZ events.

In making this decision, we considered our membership demographic and acknowledged Ministry of Health guidance that older persons are more at risk of the impacts of COVID-19.

Our considerations are also intended to reduce the likelihood of events needing to be cancelled or postponed and the subsequent impacts, including financial, on both PSNZ and our members.

COVID guidance for clubs

Council has been approached by two clubs, seeking advice on how to deal with COVID issues relating to their operation. In 2020 PSNZ did issue some guidance about suggested operations under level 2.

It was decided that, as Council members were not experts in this area, the best advice was for clubs to look at material provided by the Ministry of Health, and the new traffic light framework. Then they would decide what was the most appropriate action for their members.

... PSNZ Council Meeting Update

2022 print competitions

Members will appreciate that trying to organise events under COVID creates a great deal of uncertainty. The PSNZ Sony National Exhibition and Interclub competitions could be seriously affected at various stages, particularly regarding prints.

We have therefore decided that PSNZ will not host the print section of the Sony National Exhibition or the Bledisloe and Chance interclub competitions.

This decision was not taken lightly. The digital sections are of course not affected by COVID levels. However, the print salons are affected in several ways: the ability of members in lockdown to have their work printed, the ability of the selection panel to convene in person to judge print images, possible issues with couriers, and the hanging of the exhibitions. Also, we do not want members to incur expense in creating works only to find that the print salons are cancelled at a late date. Also, we did not want members to incur expense in creating works for these salons which would be neither selected nor shown.

We trust that members will understand this decision, and we look forward to the return of the print section in the 2023 Sony National Exhibition.

There has been some discussion online about the fact that we have made this decision very early. In making these comments members are simply relating it to when the exhibition is shown in April. In fact, clubs had already started their selection processes, and entries for the exhibition open in January.

2022 print honours sets

Please note that the decision to not have prints in the PSNZ Sony National Exhibition does not affect print honours submissions. These will still be received as normal, however, with COVID disruptions likely to continue into early 2022, we would strongly recommend that anyone contemplating a print submission not leave it to the last minute. The delivery of New Zealand Camera has taught us that courier deliveries are taking much longer than in the past.

Images taken at workshops

Council discussed how to deal with images taken at workshops, following comments that members had seen identical images entered by different photographers into different events. At the heart of the concern was that we should be recognising the photographer’s work alone without the influence of other people. Many other photographic and art organisations have a blanket ban on images taken at workshops (with the exception of those taken by the workshop leaders).

Given that not all workshops operate in the same way, Council felt that this was a step too far. However, the PSNZ ethics statement will be strengthened. We expect photographers only to submit work as the principal contributor to its creation.

AGM

After receiving minimal feedback in response to our proposal to hold the 2022 AGM online, Council has decided to implement this action. The AGM will be held on Saturday, 2 April 2022 via Zoom. This opens the opportunity for more members to attend, rather than limiting it to those who attend the National Convention. We acknowledge the historical tradition of the AGM being held at the convention; however, it has been clear from numbers that the majority of convention attendees did not attend.

We will provide members with more details in early 2022. For those not familiar with Zoom, we will also host a trial session the week prior so that members are comfortable with the software.

Copyright in AVs

As an organisation involved in the creation of works for which copyright exists, Council has concerns with the use of some materials in AVs. Most notable is the use of music tracks. To ensure that we do not run into issues with copyright infringements, Council has agreed that music associated with an AV must either

a) Carry a Creative Commons Licence

b) Be the works of the AV creator, or

c) The AV creator has permission from the copyright owner to use the material and can provide evidence of this is on request.

This requirement will apply to all 2022 entries in the Jack Sprosen Memorial Trophy, as well as any AVs prepared in connection with PSNZ salons.

Planning for the future

The main activity of the weekend was to commence the development of a new strategic plan for the Society. The previous one ran through to 2020 but was not extended due to issues we were facing with regard to Council membership.

Now that the issues have been resolved, Councillor Brian Rowe is leading the development of the new plan. More information on this will come out as we progress.

2022 workshop series

With the exception of the Coromandel Landscape workshop, we were able to deliver most of the 2021 series without COVID interfering too much. Planning is now underway for the 2022 Workshop Series, with the first one scheduled for February. We hope to expand the number of workshops offered in 2022. More details will be provided early in the new year.

Judge training

Last, but not least in this update, Council met with Caroline Ludford LPSNZ LRPS, chair of the Judge Accreditation Panel. Council is fully supportive of the judge training programme and we hope to deliver four workshops in 2022.

Milano by Anita Ruggle

Kuala Lumpur twin towers by Nicole Tai