FUNCTIONS OF AREA

Supporting Societies

The support structure provided for Societies by the Centre includes: the Area Support Team (AST), the Support Team, the Training Team and the team at the Centre. They are all there to support local Committees with the day to day running of their Societies and offer help and advice should they run into difficulty.

It is more important that Societies receive the support they need rather than who provides it. All of the elements of the support structure should work together in order to ensure Societies feel supported and keep one another informed when there is an issue with a Society. Support for Societies can range from answering a simple query such as how to use the website or confirming the date of an Area event to assisting a Society formulate strategies to save it from closure.

It is not necessary to share details of simple ‘every day’ queries but if you are unsure of the answer to a particular query, check with colleagues at the Centre or the Support Team. The monthly e-bulletin sent to committee members is a good source of information. The current and past bulletins can be found in the resources area of the website: theartssociety.org/resource/bulletin

More substantial queries on matters that could potentially endanger the future of the Society should be shared among the three elements in order to achieve a co-ordinated approach to the support that can be offered and to keep everyone updated about the situation.

Procedures

When a Society approaches the Membership Department with an issue that cannot be dealt with simply and quickly, an offer of help from the Support Team will be made. If that offer is accepted the Membership Director will send full details of the issue to the local Societies Advisor (if there is one), the Chair of the Area Support Team (CAST) and the Co-Chairs of the Support Team who will decide on the best course of action and who should take the lead in dealing with the issue. Whoever takes the lead must ensure that relevant action is taken and that everyone is kept updated with the situation and request help when necessary.

If a Society issue is to be dealt with by the local Area Support Team, the CAST must ensure that the Co-Chairs of the Support Team and Membership Director are kept up to date with any developments.

Training

In addition to the support given by the Team at the Centre, the AST and Support Team, The Arts Society provides training for all volunteers involved in the running of a Society or Area. Training is intended to allow volunteers to develop their skills, learn new ones, to make them aware of the support on offer and to make them feel comfortable in their new role.

Training helps ensure that best practice and new procedures are adopted and all provide an opportunity for networking and the exchange of ideas.

The Training Team together with Area Training Co-ordinators and other training volunteers help develop training materials and run ‘specialist’ training such as confident speaking. The Training Team is supported by the Training and Content Manager within the Membership Department. The Training and Content Manager also maintains the Training microsite training.theartssociety.org which is a useful resource for guidelines and short films about a variety of topics.

Further information about training can be found in the resources area of the website.