2022 2023 G S A AGS U I D E
2022 2023
G S A AGS U I D E
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W H A T ’S I N H E R E Introduction from the Student President Welcome from our Events Convenor GSASA Mission statement The Team The Student Representative Council Class and Lead Rep system The Annual General Meeting Sabbatical Elections To Dear You – Jue (Joy) He Project ProjectSpacesFunding SRC FundingGatherCommitteeTime–Theo Hynan-Ratcliffe Societies, collectives, clubs SRC Societies Committee Dear me, it’s going to be okay – Dorica Santos Our new Liberation Officer Role CampaignsStudentcommitteeAdvocacy at GSASA 4 6 8 10 14 16 18 19 20 22 24 26 28 32 34 36 38 40 42
Assembly Building Scott Street
Announcements about opening hours and office hours will be made at the start of the academic year. We look forward to welcoming all of our students back to their building as soon as possible!
Glasgow School of Art Students’ Association
G3 CANVAS:Website:Instagram:Facebook:6PE ac.uk/courses/266
Welcome to the parade that is Glasgow School of Arts’ Students Association! Or if that’s too long to say - “GSASA”. Don’t worry you’ll get used to the acronyms
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To the Freshers:
It’s a long, gruelling journey to get to this point and we’re so happy to have you here with us. Now it’s not perfect but it’s ours, it’s home and there are plenty of ways for you to get involved and shape it for the better. You’re gonna discover so much about yourself being surrounded by diverse, creative voices so really make the most of it! T R O
I N
from the student president
Stop the presses, you made it to Art School!
W
Heya everyone,
See you all soon,
Like last year, my role continues
from our events convenor
to help assist put on studentled activities and events. Furthermore, with the help of Leilani (The Community and Societies Coordinator), I will be helping with our amazing society activities. I had so much fun last year organising great events for you all. These included planning the Fresher’s program, COP26 activities, Black History Month celebrations and of course the Degree Show After Party!!! Also, all the exciting society activities such as the Society Ball which was brilliant!! I can’t wait to continue supporting you all again with all your ambitious ideas and for even more exciting times ahead!!!
But most importantly, as well as planning events, I am here to be your supporter, your representative and amplify your voice - the students voicewhenever needed. So please feel free to come to me whenever you need help no matter how big or small. I’m so excited to plan crazy events with you and celebrate all your achievement. It’s going to be an exciting year and I cant wait!
Kind Josieregards,KO E L O M E
C
For all those who are new to Glasgow... Welcome!! You have many exciting things to discover. From the food, the art, the music, Glasgow has so much culture to offer, you’re gonna love it. And to those who are returning... Welcome back!! I’m excited to see all your familiar faces.
Hope you had a good summer and are ready to come back and start the new academic year at GSA!! My name is Josie and I will be starting a second year as your Events Convenor at GSASA, (Whoo ROUND 2!!)
The Sabbatical Team are your student representatives. Together, they ensure that your voice is heard at GSA and GSASA, and work to support the student body in campaigning and through the Student Representative Council.
Josie K O Events Convenor (Vice President) Pronouns: she/her Email: J.ko@gsa.ac.uk
Email: r.oneill@gsa.ac.uk
Rory is an artist, facilitator and researcher working in Glasgow. As a graduate of Fine Art, his research revolves around spreading queerness and liberation in bureaucratic structures mainly, but not limited to, in educational and cultural institutions.
Rory uses drawing to nurture a practice of noticing, having produced detailed illustrations in his graduating year based on tour walks through the Kelvin Valley, reflecting the transient narratives of the urban nature-scape. Rory aims to work inclusively and collaboratively with the student body of the Glasgow School of Art and facilitate a fairer, effective and equitable learning experience for all students, no matter their Speakbackground.toRoryabout
Rory O’Neill Student Pronouns:President he/they
The Team
Sabbatical Team
Josie KO is a Glasgow based multidisciplinary artists and a graduate of Glasgow School of Art. Bringing together a kitsch DIY aesthetic full of colour and humour with dark gothic undertones, her work playfully presents narratives which speaks to the Black British experience in a white dominated environment. By integrating craft practices into her work, she uses its relegated status in the art world to address the identity politics of marginalised groups while simultaneously celebrating the art from these communities that is often left out of the canon of art history. As well as her art practice, Josie is also passionate about community work and was head of Intersectional Feminist Society during her time at university.
all things Partnership, Representation, Campaigning, Engagement, and basically anything GSA!
Leilani Rabemananjara
Student Engagement Coordinator (Community and Societies)
Pronouns: she/they Email: l.rabemananjara@gsa.ac.uk
Student Engagement Coordinator (Academic and Learning)
Speak to her for anything relating to the Association’s digital platforms including its website, newsletter, social media channels and CANVAS pages. She is happy to support you in promoting any of the events and activities you are involved with, so please get in touch.
Alice Andrews
Pronouns: he/him
Choterina Freer
Pronouns: she/her Email: alice.andrews@theartschool.co.uk
Mike Kurtyka
Leilani is the Community and Societies Coordinator for the Association and focuses on supporting and developing student societies, groups and sports. They also have a background in Community Development and Community Education and are a good point of contact for students eager to develop their own communities, wanting to work with the local community, or work with community/informal education.
Choterina is the Communications and Digital Engagement Coordinator for the GSASA. She supports students and their representative groups to manage online spaces and communications. Choterina has worked in digital communications across various sectors, including art and academia. She has experience of working for student unions and in widening participation within art and design education. She is also a practicing visual artist who has first-hand experience of arts higher education and student representation.
Student Engagement Coordinator (Digital and Communications)
Speak to her about the Student Voice; Academic issues; Student representation; Advocacy and Support and learning and professional development events and programme ideas.
Pronouns: she/her Email: c.freer@gsa.ac.uk
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Originally from the USA, I moved to the Hague in 2002 but my wife & I had unexpectedly discovered we were expecting our third child! We made what we thought would be a short-term move to Glasgow to be near family, but this became permanent. Over this 20-year period, I have worked in a variety of sectors - a charity, a social good arts & crafts SME and supporting study abroad students in Higher Education. The Executive Manager role is something that excites me as it brings together all three. I look forward to helping the GSASA thrive into a new future and welcome your suggestions and support.
Alice Andrews is the Academic and Learning Coordinator for the Association. She strives to be a friendly, kind and supportive person for students at GSA, and can support student representatives (such as Sabbatical Officers, Class Reps and Lead Reps) in their roles. She is the key contact for the Student Voice at GSASA, and works across the school to champion student partnership. She is the first point of contact for students seeking advice and advocacy from the Students’ Association for GSA complaints (informal and formal), student conduct processes or academic appeals. She has a background in Art History, with a particular interest in feminist art practices and UK lesbian and queer histories.
GSA Students’ Association Staff
Speak to Leilani about setting up a society, society funding, boosting engagement with your society and exploring its structure, sports teams and activities, or events that work with the local community or develop student community.
There are at least three meetings of all three committees of the SRC this year. These are formal meetings for the President and Events Convenor to report back to all members on their core activities in the first semester and priorities going forward, and for Council members to raise important issues pertaining to the Association and its activities. For SRC members who wish to stand for Election to the GSASA Board of Trustees, the first meeting is a chance to make your case for election to other council members, and an election of council members to the Board will take place.
Their voice is at the forefront of decisions made at the Students’ Association. They express their opinion on what works well, and what
The SRC The Student Representative Council
How to be Elected
If you are elected as a Class Rep for your programme, you are invited to join any of these Committees and will not need to undergo the online Election process unless you wish to stand for Liberation Office.
Come find us at the Freshers’ Fair on Wednesday 21st September to ask us any questions!
Whole SRC Meetings
They are the decision-making group in relation to the activities and funds of the student groups and societies at GSASA. They are a sociable group who bring people and projects Theytogether.are a space for societies and student groups to share about their recent and upcoming activity, collaborate together, and seek a supportive environment from other students, Sabbatical Officers, or GSASA staff.
We’ll be launching the nomination period for Liberation Officers and members seeking to stand
The SRC is key to how GSASA represents you - our members - at GSA. The SRC is so important to us, we can’t function without them and they can’t function without you! The SRC exists as three committees, exclusively comprising students, that help to keep this place running.
for election to the Campaigns, Funding and Societies Comittee on October 7th 2022.
They oversee a budget of £1000 per Semester for Campaigns to take place across the Academic Session. They discuss the running of the Students’ Association, which will be key to developing programming ideas around Campaigns and contributing to the Association’s business plans in the coming year.
Theydoesn’t.are a creative and representative group comprised of new Liberation Officers who push new ideas.
They help ensure that the Students’ Association are being fair in supporting students practice and personal development. They make amendments to funding processes to make sure these processes are as fair and practical as possible. They are a supportive group who help projects find valuable resources for their fellow students.
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They discuss and allocate the funding of £3000 per semester which the Students’ Association awards for extracurricular Student Initiated Projects.
Societies Committee
This will close at the end of our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on October 12th 2022 and then we will enter into an Online Election Period which will be held via Canvas. The Election will close on Friday 21st October with the Student Representative Council Office being announced via an allschool email.
Campaigns Committee
Funding Committee
put yourself forward for election to the Board of Trustees for the Students’ Association.
Class and RepresentativesLead
There are two types of student representative at GSA
They do this by attending regular meetings, and keeping in contact with class representatives and staff members within the school. They attend important meetings like Staff Student Consultative
Committees and the Boards of Studies, where they are the key representative of students interests and concerns, and they actively participate in improvements to student learning across the school. They also work together to work on projects which improve student representation at GSA, and are encouraged to participate in shaping key projects concerning student learning and student partnership at the School.
Like Class Reps, the role provides students with excellent experience, participatingprofessionaldevelopingskillsandactivelyinimprovingGSA as a learning environment.
The student representative system has been designed by GSASA and GSA in partnership with students to ensure as many decisions as possible made at GSA are informed by the Student Voice. You are central to making this system work, and if you become a rep you will be a conduit for student opinion between the student body and GSA staff.
The Lead Reps’ role is an appointed position and represents their whole school rather than just their class. They play a vital role in driving forward some of the most pressing issues that affect students across all years and specialisms in their school.
To reflect the level of responsibility and time that comes with this role, an honorarium is awarded Lead Reps. Currently this is £350 per taught semester.
Lead Reps
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Being a Class Rep is an important role and one which can be rewarding and beneficial to students who take it on. They are essential to the running of the GSA and the Students’ Association and play an important role in promoting and championing the needs of student Ascommunities.arep,youdevelop professional skills and make decisions actively improving opportunities for your fellow students.
There are two sabbatical positions, and any student can run for Sabbatical Office - The Student President and the Events Convenor (Vice President). Both promote involvement in the Students’ Association and develop representationstudent-ledincluding the SRC.
Campaigns and opportunities to run are publicised to the student body well in advance via email and CANVAS. Good luck!
Sabbatical ElectionsAnnual MeetingsGeneral
If you are a current student and a member of GSASA, you can stand for a position and vote in the election! Elections this year will be held just before Spring Break to allow for nominees to concentrate on their final submissions.
Each spring, you, members of GSASA, will decide who you want to be your elected representatives for the upcoming academic year. Take time to vote on your representatives to voice your rights and concerns at the GSA. The Sabbatical team are essential in making sure the student voice is heard at GSA and GSASA!
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is where all members of the Students’ Association assemble to discuss the ins and outs of the GSASA. It is where you get the chance to hear directly from your Sabbatical Officers and receive insight into what we have planned for the Association in the upcoming year.
and lead rep programmes and campaign for issues that matter to Thestudents.EventsConvenor (Vice President) responds to emerging needs and issues raised by the student body, through the programming of social, learning and professional practice events and projects, and lead on the Degree Show celebrations. They work with students to develop student-led events and projects.
Assembly WednesdayBuilding,12thOctober
The AGM is the first step in being part of the discussion on the Assembly Building and we want you to understand the power you have in deciding the future of your Students’ Association. Other topics that we’re going to discuss are our brand spanking new Student Representative Council, new Liberation Officers, Black History Month, New Student Societies we’d like to support, and what the plan is as we re enter our building again.
Be there or be square!
This year the AGM is back in real life! We need enough of yous to come on down to vote on a few things, like some minor constitutional changes and introduce our Board of Trustees!
at 5pm
The Student President works with GSA and the Students’ Association to the benefit of students across the School, across academic and welfare issues. They influence learning and teaching strategy and student welfare matters across
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This is the space for a broad open discussion where you are encouraged to feedback on your experiences; giving us valuable insight into improving the functions of the Association and better support your experience at the GSA. If you have a topic you’d like to raise at this year’s AGM, please contact Rory and/or Josie directly.
SpacesProject
Our Project Spaces are dedicated to supporting and accommodating a range of student led projects and activities. We have two Project Spaces available for student exhibitions, workshops, meetings, or anything else you can think of! The spaces are allocated through applications to an Open Call. The Assembly Building will re-open early in the academic year, so keep an eye out for our Project Space Open Calls in Semester 1! The open call will go out via email and the GSASA Canvas Page.
Wednesday 3rd May 11am – 1pm; Venue TBC
Wednesday 8th February 12 noon; Zoom Applications Deadline Friday 3rd February 5pm
Drop-Ins with Student Engagement Team
SECOND CALL OUT Committee Meeting
Applications are sent at least two weeks in advance of the deadline, and will be available via your student email and canvas.
Wednesday 9th November 12 Noon; Zoom Applications Deadline Friday 4th November 5pm
Wednesday 2nd November 11am – 1pm; Venue TBC
We run an open call for applications three times a year. Drop in advice sessions are available in advance of each deadline should you need a hand with your application. These are led by staff within the Association. Application forms for any upcoming open calls can be downloaded from our website and canvas pages. Project funding applications are then reviewed and awarded by our SRC Funding Committee, meaning that decision making on applications is led and managed by students.
THIRD CALL OUT Committee Meeting
Wednesday 10th May 12 noon; Zoom Applications Deadline Friday 5th May 5pm
FIRST CALL OUT Committee Meeting
EK Y D A T E S 1 2 3
Drop-Ins with Student Engagement Team
Project Funding
24 25 the curriculum.
Drop-Ins with Student Engagement Team Friday 3rd February 5pm
Meetings.
You’ve come with empty and too full boxes, time scrunched in the corner, fallen out of the cracks onto the bus floor.
It all comes together in the accidents.
Space and time aligning – catalysts for thought- being generous with these key mediums are in their own way a method/process of thinking.
G A T H E R T I M E
A space for practicing your voice, for devising your own language, forming bounds, time pulled back to digest and process information, creating and constructing a locality, all on our own.
space and time, supported through an expanse of possibilities, and individual opportunities of conversation, advice, and Timeknowledge.isakey
You might, or probably, or definitely will feel like you don’t have enough, you can’t spare any, but it will flood you, slowly, quickly, all at once when it is not wanted, in the before and the afterwards.
Bring time, in the corner of your palm. Under your fingernails, ever so slightly.
on what we come away with from GSA, it tends to be an ability to understand the importance and impact of time, an appreciation of how generous you need to be with your time both to your work and also to other people’s.
As you enter, all I can tell you is what I have known to be true, and what lingers across me as I leave, and return – and repeat.
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material that artists often incidentally work with – that we all work with – time is malleable around every and all forms of people, a key medium that impacts and is impacted. The key sought after Wheningredient.Ireflect
This is a space where time begins to be your own, and the more of it you give to this space, each tiny chance encounter and accidental memory, begins to form, begins to forge and function as a catalyst for the kind of work you will make and that you will carry with you.
Theo Hynan-Ratcliffe
Art school is a combination of space and time; it creates the parameters through which this time can spill out, a holding of space and time for you.
Gathering time with all your hands.
Generosity of time spent carrying, talking, searching, staring at things, can build connections spark ideas, what might become a five year research project can spark from a two minute conversation in a library or the corner of a studio.
Make time for the incidental, the catching of conversations
Little clustered rooms and disparate islands of buildings – and we –each students’ body burrows and beats and scuttles between them, creating a furrow between library, and studio, and pub, and back and back GSASAagain.provides
What are the benefits of setting up a society or student group at GSASA?
and groups are entirely student-led, and student organised, and grow out of student’s interests meaning a society’s existence can ebb and flow, or some societies can even last years.
Societies, student groups and sports clubs are an amazing way to create community as part of your GSA experience beyond the limits of your academic interests and studies. They are places for creating friendships, community, ideas and projects, gaining and practicing new skills for life or future employment or putting those skills to the service of bigger
They can be a group based around a common interest or a common identity. They can be a space of learning or a social space. They could form out of a campaign idea or a solution to a problem. They could address a specific concern in or beyond the curriculum, or they could even speak to students’ political interests locally and nationally.
CollectivesSocieties, & Sports Clubs
All societies are supported by the Students’ Association in countless ways including financially in their funding and also in growing
Allthings.societies
their membership and deciding how they wish to organise and manage themselves as an autonomous group.
Examples of our societies include Yoga Society, Queer Society, Knitting Society, Hiking Society. You can find further information about societies on our website, canvas pages, or by emailing the Community and Societies Coordinator, Leilani.
Want to set up a new society? Get support with wherever your idea is at!
To explore setting up a new society contact the Community and Societies Coordinator, Leilani Rabemananjara (l.rabemananjara@gsa. ac.uk). They are happy to help you regardless of wherever you’re at with planning your society. You could, as an individual, have the spark of an idea you’d like to explore or already have something fully-formed with a small group of like-minded students. Either way societies can, and do, form out of both!
– meaning that the decisionmaking and running of societies at GSASA is brought into the hands of those involved in them!
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Wednesday 16th November; 12 Noon (Venue TBC)
Wednesday 17th May; 12 Noon (Venue TBC)
Societies Committee
The Societies Committee meet twice a year.
The Societies Committee is a meeting comprised of club and society groups that are represented, at minimum, by one of their members attending as an SRC representative and other members who stand and are elected during the Annual General Meeting or any other meetings of members throughout the year.
Societies Committee exists as a space for societies to reflect on, and share, their recent activities and updates with one another, creating a space for collaboration and support through other students, societies, elected Sabbatical Officers, and GSASA
Thestaff.Societies committee also has a significant role in approving the affiliation of new societies and reviewing funding that has been spent by different societies
All societies at GSASA are automatically part of a community - a club and society specific decision-making meeting - called Societies Committee.
Please get in touch with Josie KO, j.ko@gsa.ac.uk, your Events Convenor and Chair of the Societies Committee, to find out more about Societies Committee. Whilst this meeting will be mostly of interest to students leading, or involved with society activity, it is open to all students.
Dear me,
You’ll join GSASA and find a society that you’d like to join. Better yet, you’ve started your own society. You’ll soon discover that there are no boundaries and people are there to support you in any way they can. You did consider becoming class rep, but soon realised that MIGHT be too much alongside growing your GSAsociety.has been through some tough times, it needs people like you (us) to give it some love, attention, and care to help it heal.
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to discover, both in yourself and things around you. You’re going to meet amazing people and have unique experiences. Yes, there are some bad seeds and difficult moments, but it won’t stop you from growing. Like mum said, “Art school will let you blossom into the flower that you You’reare.”going
p.s. Don’t spend all your allowance, be wise
Dorica Santos
ED A R M E , I T G’S O I N G T O B E O K A Y
Scary isn’t it? New city, new people, new everything. Scary… yet Thereexciting.issomuch
more time you spend with people, you’ll realised you’re not alone.
So, stay true to yourself and enjoy your time at GSA. It’s going to be FutureFrom,okay. me
xx
to step outside your comfort zone and meet people from all walks of life. That is, of course, if you won’t stay in your little bubble. You may feel pressure from making friends within your course, but I promise you, meeting other creatives will benefit you so much more than you can imagine. I promise you, you will find at least one person to relate to. I know, at first glance GSA is difficult to navigate, but the more involved you get and the
In this role you’ll be supported by GSASA through:
We recognise the value of lived experience, the value of selforganisation in these issues and the value that having more representation in these areas will bring to all aspects of student life and experience at GSA. We want to support you and listen to your experiences whilst being a Liberation Officer. We recognise the roles and pressures on people operating in Liberation roles and want the experience of being a rep to be empowering and beneficial to you and the broader community you represent.
Support and advice is available for all reps through the Student Engagement Team throughout the year.
Please get in touch with Rory O’Neill, President and Chair of the Campaigns Committee, to find out more about the Liberation Officer roles and positions and check out our page on the Student Representative Council for information on how to
Receive a £200 honorarium per semester for semesters 1+2
The Executive Committee will monitor and evaluate th workload and expectations on reps by the Association and School on an ongoing basis, and at the end of your term.
Design and Illustration: Tintin Lindkvist Nielsen
communication and storytelling.
Instagram: @tintinart
Website: www.tintinart.com
