PantoSoc

1. NAME

    a. The name of the Society shall be the University of Bristol Pantomime Society (or PantoSoc)

    b. The Society shall be affiliated to the Bristol Student Union.

 

2. AIMS

    a. Have fun!

    b. To put on pantomimes annually.

    c. Put on panto workshops, pantos in a day and pantomimes on a small scales (e.g. for charity or local schools) whenever possible.

    d. Guarantee a part to everyone who auditions, either in the chorus or named. Where fire regulations place restrictions on the capacity of the venue, a cast maximum will be set by the committee once the capacity of the venue is known so that the cast size does not have a negative impact on the audience size. To limit the size of the cast only a set number of audition slots will be provided and taken on a first come first served basis. Those who are not given a part in the show should be encouraged to get involved through minor production team roles and society socials.

    e. To encourage as many people as possible to get involved in all areas of the production of pantomimes including being on stage, writing, directing and producing.

    f. Provide a new platform for innovative devised work.

    g. Organise PantoSoc trips to see other pantos, depending on interest.

    h. Abide by the Union’s Code of Conduct.

 

3. MEMBERSHIP

    a. Full membership is open to all ordinary members of the Union.

    b. Associate membership is open to those not students at the University of Bristol who are interested in the aims and objectives of the Society.

    c. Not less than two-thirds of the Society’s members shall be members of the Union.

    d. The committee shall keep a list of members, differentiating between full and associate membership.

    e. There shall be a subscription fee levied for membership, which shall be fixed at the discretion of the committee. It should be no less than the minimum rate demanded by the Societies Network. 

 

4. PRIVILEGES OF MEMBERSHIP

    a. Only full members may be elected to sit on the committee as President, Secretary or Treasurer.

    b. Associate or full members may sit as any other committee role or honorary members.

    c. All categories of membership shall have equal right to vote, attend meetings (including committee meetings) etc.

 

5. COMMITTEE

    a. There shall be a committee of the society which shall be the executive decision making body of the society.

    b. The President of the committee shall be a full member of the union.

    c. The committee shall be responsible for the general and financial policy of the society, as per the rules as laid out in the Union by-laws. 

    d. The committee meeting shall meet at least once every four weeks during the academic year, with the date and time to be set at the end of the previous meeting.

    e. Quorum of committee meetings shall be set at 50% of the committee posts (not including honorary offices) filled plus one, i.e. five or six if all positions are filled.

    f. If any committee member misses three consecutive meetings without apologies, they may be voted off the committee by other members.​

          i. If the position vacated cannot be left in such a way, then the responsibilities of the position can be temporarily assigned to a volunteer or a committee member assigned by the committee.

          ii. An EGM must be called within four weeks to permanently fill the vacancy, unless an AGM is imminent.

    g. The core committee will be composed of;

          i. President who is responsible for ensuring that meetings are chaired, and keeping the mailing list up to date. They shall also keep a list of all members and liaise on behalf of the society with other bodies. They have ultimate responsibility for the running and continued success of the society. The president shall be responsible for the keeping and maintenance of the Panto archives in digital copies.

          ii. Vice President who shall act as a deputy to the President, whilst being prepared to stand in for the President at short notice if necessary. The Vice President is responsible for the day to day running of the society as delegated by the committee.

          iii. Secretary who is responsible for all general paperwork of the society, excluding that covered by other offers. This includes the production of minutes of the society’s general meetings and committee meetings.

          iv. Treasurer who is responsible for all society monies in accordance with the society’s constitution and the union’s instructions. They shall also provide the committee with reports on the society’s accounts at least once a term.

          v. Publicity Officer shall be responsible for all internal and external publicity for the society. This includes advertising general meetings, keeping the website up to date and is jointly responsible for the show publicity with the show’s producer(s).

          vi. Social Secretary shall be responsible for organising social events throughout the year.

          vii. Stores Rep shall be responsible for the organisation, maintenance and adequate provision of any costume or props. This includes that access should be given to the relevant cast or crew members. They are responsible for communicating with other societies to provide them with costumes and props, if this is deemed suitable.

          viii. Charity rep shall be responsible for the society’s liaison with external community organisations, such as charities and schools (for kids’ panto). They are also responsible for the organising of raffles for shows in liaison with the production team, including the selection of charities, finding prizes and researching information. They should also organise other charity events throughout the year, where relevant in collaboration with the Social Sec of PantoSoc or any other society.

          ix. Inclusivity Rep shall be responsible for making sure everybody feels welcomed into the society. They should check all finished scripts before they are performed. In the event that the inclusivity rep and editors disagree on the suitability of anything in the script the issue should be raised to committee for the committee as a whole to make a final decision. The inclusivity rep is also responsible for bringing biscuits, cakes or other such baked goods to committee meetings.

    h. In addition to their individual responsibilities, committee members should perform any other tasks given to them by the rest of the committee.

 

6. HONORARY POSITIONS

    a. Honorary positions are non-portfolio officers that represent the society. These positions are society positions that are nominated and voted for identically to committee positions, but do not confer any rights or responsibilities.

    b. These positions may include, but are not restricted to: jelly baby rep, veteran pantoman/woman and foreign correspondent.

    c. The number of honorary members is limited to six, but does not necessary have to be 6.

 

7. FINANCIAL

    a. The Treasurer shall be a full member of the Union and not in their final year

    b. All financial agreements must be made in accordance with current instructions from the Societies Network.

 

8. GENERAL MEETINGS

    a. There shall be an Annual General Meeting once per annum, which shall take place in Term 2 before the Easter show.

    b. Notice of such meetings must be published on Facebook and sent by email at least seven days before hand, together with the agenda.

    c. Quorum of such meetings shall be set at twice the size of the committee plus one. This figure does not include honorary members.

    d. There will be a transitionary period in which the outgoing committee still assumes ultimate responsibility for the society until completion of the Easter show. The ingoing and outgoing committee are advised to use this transitionary period as a handover so that the incoming committee can shadow the outgoing committee in their roles within the society.

    e. An Emergency General Meeting may be called by 5% of the Society by application to the Secretary. An EGM shall be called as specified on the application, with at least 7 days’ notice.

 

9. PROPOSALS

    a. These meetings shall be used to select the production team and a writer.

    b. The production team selected must include a Director, a Producer and a Musical Director. A Vocal Director is also necessary for Christmas shows. Editors should also stand at the proposals meeting but can be selected at a later point by the writer(s) in consultation with the Director (or President if the writer and Director are the same person). 

          i. Writer(s) are in charge of creating a script

          ii. Director(s) are responsible for any acting that goes on stage.

          iii. Producer(s) are responsible for any logistical decisions related to show. This includes organising a rehearsal schedule, the creation of minor production teams for costuming and props etc., publicity (in coordination with Publicity Officer) and organising a cast meal etc.

          iv. Musical Director(s) are in charge anything musical this means the sourcing of a karaoke track for Easter and Summer as well as leading the singing rehearsals. For Christmas they are in charge of organising, arranging and conducting the band. They have final choice of songs, and where relevant in consultation with Vocal Director(s).

          v. Vocal Director(s) are in charge of the singing rehearsals at Christmas shows.

          vi. Editors are there to help the writer(s) in the writing stage, should they be necessary. They are also there to make any last minute changes to the script, after the writing process has been completed. At the final edit, which is a meeting of the editors, writer(s) and production team, the script shall be finalised with the final say being the responsibility of the editors, with suggestions from production team and writer. Should further changes be deemed necessary, the editors are responsible for finalising the script.

    c. If a full production team has not been selected, then an EGM should be held.

    d. Production team members have a given amount of time (set at the discretion of President and Secretary beforehand, 1 minute is recommended) to make a speech, before a 5 minute question and answer session from the rest of the society.

    e. Writers have a given amount of time (set at the discretion of President and Secretary beforehand, 2 minutes is recommended)  to make a speech before a 5 minute question and answer session from the rest of the society.

    f. In the case of a tie, committee members hold a second vote. If there is still a tie, the president has the casting vote.

    g. At the initial meeting, the writer must have a vague idea of set design, costuming and props.

    h. Proposals must have taken place by the following times;

          i. Christmas – End of May

          ii. Easter – End of December

          iii. Summer – End of Teaching Block 2

          iv. Edinburgh (if relevant) – End of December

    i. The budget must be then finalised between the production team members and the treasurer.

 

10. ELECTIONS

    a. Elections of officers (both full committee members and honorary committee members) shall take place at the society’s AGM.

    b. Elections take place through a blind vote with each member making a 2 minute speech if running for president, vice-president, secretary or treasurer, and a 1 minute speech for other roles, before a 5 minute question and answer session with the rest of the society. In the case of a tie, outgoing committee members hold a second vote. If there is still a tie, the outgoing president has the casting vote. The timing for the speeches can be set by the President and Secretary before the meeting.

    c. If committee posts have not been filled during the AGM, then an EGM shall be held.

    d. In all elected positions, candidates must run against Ron (re-open nominations), a can of Spam. Successful Ron campaigns will result in a reopening of elections as described in 10c.

 

11. SHOWS

    a. As described in 9b, a production team must include a Director, a Producer and a Musical Director. A Vocal Director is also necessary for Christmas shows.

    b. Production teams can make decisions autonomously from the committee, however are ultimately responsible to the committee. As many members of the production team as possible should attend committee meetings to report back on progress, particularly the Producer(s) and/or Director(s). Their report can be what they wish to bring up but should also be done through a set of questions decided upon by the committee.

    c. The production team should try to work alongside the relevant committee members in certain tasks, such as the Publicity Officer, Stores Rep, Social Sec and the Charities Rep.

    d. In the event that the production team is deemed to have made an unconstitutional decision or there is evidence the show could fail, then the committee can take appropriate actions to resolve the situation. This could involve replacing part, or all, of the production team.

 

12. AFFILIATIONS

    a. The society shall affiliate to external bodies only where membership of such bodies is essential to the fulfilment of the core aims, and only with the prior agreement of the Union’s Societies Network.

 

13. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

    a. Any amendment to this constitution shall require a two-thirds majority of the members present at a properly constituted General Meeting.

    b. All amendments shall only become valid once approved by the Societies Network.