about:
- mission and purpose
- founding story
- kabk student union principles
- who are we (so far)
- selection of new board members
- selection of new members
- the reality of the work
- what the union is not
- communication
- representation
- finances
- responsibility and accountability
- evaluation
- archive
- to be continued
Let’s talk… racism.
Let’s talk… housing.
Let’s talk… care.
Let’s talk… representation.
Let's talk… accessibility.
Let's talk… mutual aid.
Let’s talk… student union!
Let’s talk!
These are the by-laws that govern the making of the first student union within the Royal Academy of the Arts (KABK), The Hague. By-laws are a standard policy document that outlines the formal aspects and functioning of the student union. They are a starting point in the discussion, but, based on the composition of the union's governing board, shall be subject to adjustments in time and in dialogue. We don't start from an assumption of being able to cover all bases, but we do have to start somewhere.
There are yearly over 700 students in the Bachelor's programs of the KABK (758 Bachelor, as of 2022-2023) and over 100 students in the Master's programs (114 Master, counted in 2022-2023). Our aim is to offer this broad-reaching community the means to express themselves in dialogue with the governing board of the institution, as well as arrange programming and initiate programs that will serve the wider community and create sociopolitical engagement and awareness among the student body.
The Student union sees academy-wide politics as a practice for life. Studying and being aware of one's academic context as well as the broader social and political context are not things that should be thought of as separate. The position of the student union is also one in which students can witness their voices and opinions amplified and can feel the power and their agency within the wider context of their educational community. This will be done with care and respect towards differences and in the spirit of reaching an agreement.
The drive for the founding of the union comes from an urge to organize a social support structure for students within the community of the KABK. This support can manifest itself in a variety of forms, but it starts first and foremost from a drive to politicize our education and link it to similar attempts at student politics that are happening outside our academy. From a drive to build a community that is not just dealing with symptoms of problematic structures, but actively engaging in demanding what we think of a better world in our artistic practice.
Below are just a few proposed ideas of how to practice politics:
1) Contacting new students before arriving in The Hague - helping the students with temporary housing, informative emails, links, and useful information e.g. informing them about online scams.
2) Presenting Survival toolkit to the new students - organizing talks and workshops about the first needs of new students arriving in The Hague (video format/publication/brochure/live presentation, etc.)
3) Organizing alternative introductory week activities - parallel to the official program
4) Forming “buddy systems”- pairing a new student with a student in a more advanced year who is a member of the student union - to help out new students that enter the community with housing tips, surviving in Den Haag or other Dutch cities, tips for non-EU students, etc. - as a way of building community within the KABK which is bottom-up or peer-based (student to student), instead of top-down (management to student);
5) Supporting student-initiated/proposed projects as well as maintaining and creating new connections with the outside of school (e.g. graduates coming back to give workshops) as a way to link to society at large and foster continuity in education, but also amplify what’s already valuable resources within the community of KABK;
6) Programming for the community with a political and socially engaged focus (lectures, movie screenings, workshops etc.) that make clear what student politics and priorities are in current time, visiting other student unions, (a and) political excursions;
7) Accessible “Open Office” hours run by students.
8) General Student Assemblies.
9) Running targeted surveys within the community to check in on general student well-being.
10) Documenting and archiving debates with the aim of preserving institutional memory giving those that step into the KABK community a broader understanding of the institution’s history.
11) forming sub-unions in the long run based on identities e.g. Asian, Black or Neurodivergent student unions.
12) Dedicating space and facilities for financial solutions - e.g. providing food or coffee.
13) Researching and making a list of Student Rights which apply to students across the NL - be they Dutch or international students - and making these rights public to students, as well as defending these student rights in dialogue with the management.
The facilitation of these student-led extra-curricular activities allows them to explore different interests, and increases their quality of life, while also building bridges between different departments. This helps increase social cohesion at the KABK. Dealing with cultural diversity is currently a pressing topic and this interchange can help combat the insular experience of studying in a foreign country and can make one feel more aware of their wider city and national context.
Why have a student union anyway?
This student union comes out of an urgency, but it has taken its time to arrive. In 2020, there was a lack of accountability in the conversation between students of the Royal Academy and the executive board that operated then around the topic of the sexual harassment scandal which took the Academy by surprise. A group of students took the initiative and came together to discuss how they can better be represented in conversation with the Academy. Other pivotal moments followed, among them discussions about support for the Palestine cause, as well as changes in KABK's organizational structure - new head teachers, new board members, new director, and additional change in directorial leadership.
It's now 2023. In these past three years, we've had weekly meetings with other student union representatives across the Netherlands, as well as other solidarity organizations within the arts, in preparation to build our own union. Among them, among the voices that inspired us and we are thankful for, we count The Hague Union of Students (THUS), Rietveld/Sandberg Student Council and Unions (Asian Union, Black student Union, Near East Union, and Latin American Caribbean Union), PZI Archipelago, Platform BK (Researchers and advocates for better art policy in the Netherlands), and Engagement Arts NL (Not-for-profit organization addressing gender-based violence, sexism, and discrimination Dutch arts field).
The student union also has learned from the KABK community initiatives which in the last year have grown to number: Green Office, Blue Office, Mosquito Newspaper, and Mushroom Radio.
Inspired by our colleagues in the Rietveld Academie Student Council, and their working document named Dolphinfesto we aim to apply a working method within the KABK student union which is non-hierarchical. Decisions within the student union will be made through consensus-building, and through voting.
We make a distinction between types of members. There are general members of the student union and core members. The core members can be alumni and/or students. The union starts with a base of 5 core founding members of the board and has a maximum of 7. Currently the board consists of:
Alina Lupu (Photography and Society MA)
I was born and raised in Romania and work as a writer and post-conceptual artist in Amsterdam. I did my Bachelor in the Rietveld Academie, in Amsterdam. To add to this, I’m a general board member of Platform BK, an organization that researches the role of art in society, and advocates for a better art policy. I hope to bring my varied experience and connections to practices of solidarity within an art academic context. There's a lot to be done and so much space and many resources to do it. So I'm excited to get to work.
Peyman Fazeli Farsani (Fine Arts BA)
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Omid Kheirabadi (alumnus Artistic Research MA)
I'm a performance artist with a background in architecture based in Rotterdam. As an Iranian artist poisoning myself in the late capitalist context of the Netherlands, my works circle around the questions of power, western hegemony, global disparities in economics and legal status, and political action. For me art making is a community activity, and a moment of conversation and co-creation. In order to desire change, we need to explore other ways of existing and understanding one another, and I believe performance art can facilitate such spaces. I'm excited to be part of the student union this year, and I'm looking forward to all the things that are possible for us to do together in the coming year.
Pum van de Koppel (Fine Arts BA)
I'm a multidisciplinary artist interested in verbs. I often use the artistic context as an excuse to play with the social and the expectations surrounding it. This playing and experimenting is accompanied by humour which does not serve to prevent awkwardness but on the contrary stems from sincere honesty.
Instead of departing from a place of confidence and expertise, my artistic research originates from not-knowing and its curiosity. Currently, I'm interested in performing a professional artist while being an unprofessional human.
Within the student union I hope to contribute with my humour and honesty to an open place for dialogue, criticality, community and togetherness. I'm eager to learn from each other during this work in progress and hope to see you soon.
Sonya Umanskaya (Graphic Design BA)
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General members can be alumni and or students and as many as possible. Here there are no limitation in terms of number.
Based on the above listing, the maximum number of members on the union board should be between 5 and 7. There are various roles/teams within the union, which can be:
• Coordinator
• Advisor
• Treasurer/finance
• PR
• Secretary
• Project manager
• Programmer (for the events)
The procedure to recruit new members is done through an open call, done once a year.
The open call is published on the student-run Mosquito newspaper in physical form - posters throughout the academy -, and via email, on the student union website, and the academy's portal, every October at the start of the academic year.
Members must be registered as a student in the KABK MA or BA at the time of applying for a position in the student union. Alumni are allowed to be on the board of the student union on its first running year, as part of a transitional board structure, recognizing their efforts in setting up the union and making it up and running. Alumni can remain in advisory, but not board member position, after the first transition year. Alumni can be invited for commissioned work (graphic design jobs for the student union, talks, workshops, etc.) by the student union. Representation comes from as many departments of the KABK as possible, covering a broad range of representation in terms of gender, race, sexuality, and financial background.
Given the limited number of spots available, we don't however claim to be exhaustive in representation. We will aim though to ensure that we are open to suggestions, comments, and questions, from as broad a range of lived experiences from within the KABK community as possible by instituting "Open Office" hours and having clear means of communication.
Any student can apply to be a member of the union with a motivation letter. To ensure accessibility the format of the motivation letter can take various forms like text, video, voice memo, etc.
We are interested in the assistance of people that are already curious about the Academy's structure and have knowledge about its policies or are willing to learn.
People applying for a position on the union's board should have organizational skills, time management, availability of at least 4 hours per week and comfort in handling budgets, or a willingness to learn.
When naming new board members the current student members decide for choosing the new members based on a voting system that every member of the union agrees with e.g. consensus, ballot voting, and a majority of votes. In a way this is a practice of democracy for all the students. The new members are named for a period of 1 year, with a possible extension to 2 years.
A maximum number of 5 core members should change at a time, out 7. The members that become core members should be part of the union for a while.
KABK MA, BA, Prep-year students and Alumni can register as members of the student union.
The registration can be done via email, the online form at the student union website (coming soon), or in person during the "Open Office" hours.
The basics of the work are email, admin tasks, and group meetings.
The members of the union meet once a week, where tasks are delegated and there's a check-in. The number of hours one could expect in terms of commitment weekly is around 4 hours, divided across meetings, “Open Office” and other types of projects.
There is an "Open Office" hours function that the union serves, which is either implemented online or in person, welcoming comments and questions from students. Times and dates to be discussed.
The union will have an email address made available to all members of the Academy community that want to send in tips, comments, and questions.
There is also, every (6) weeks a meeting with the executive board of the school, in which the union can offer a consultation to the board.
There are self-initiative drives to talk to departments, and structures and have a dialogue, issue apology statements, and keep discussions going from the side of the students towards departments and other public-facing structures.
student union members pick up work based on their interests, skills, and curiosity.
For work that is required in terms of communication, and making visuals for the student union, we aim to make open calls. This, due to the current structure of the union (the "what came first: the poster or the open call?" dilemma) won't be possible from the very beginning, but it's something we strive towards.
All weekly meetings of the student union will be archived and can be consulted.
Sometimes we can invite outside guests to do workshops, lectures, and programming, which benefit the wider community.
We will also work to organize a yearly Student Assembly that allows wider participation from the community of the Royal Academy.
The KABK has several representation bodies. There is a DMR (Deelmedezeggenschapsraad) where members run campaigns and are voted on by the community. There is a Study Programme Committee which gives advice on educational matters, where members are recruited on the basis of interviews. DMR has a function in more formal and legal roles and when the board makes major decisions. The Study Programme Committee works to ensure it maintains and improves the quality of education within the Academy. But if you are a member of either you are more than welcome to join the student union board.
The student union does not offer student counselling. However, we are aware that support can consist of a variety of overlapping elements. The student union is informed about the counselling structures within the KABK and can also plan to meet with their representatives and can point students in their direction.
The student union is not a complaints committee, however if a student also reaches out to the student union and requires additional support in making a complaint, student union board members can stand in support of this student, as a form of witnessing their complaint, if asked explicitly by the student.
In 2023 we will work on setting up a page within the KABK portal with the basic information about the student union.
Other communication channels from 2023 can be monthly newsletters and posters.
There is an "Open Office", which is either implemented online or in person.
We will use the Mosquito newspaper as a means to spread student union communication as well, though not exclusively.
Members
We are aware that a union of 5-7 members will encounter limits in representational capabilities, especially with 5 founding members attending masters programs within the KABK. With each Open Call, the student union will consider its representational limits and aim to select new members to enlarge this capacity.
Student Outreach
In order to include more voices in important decision-making processes it is important to invite and engage with other non-member students on a regular and qualitative basis. Recurring symposia organized by the student union should offer students moments to discuss matters in a communal way. A small-scale and more continuous method of including students involves organizing a weekly tea or coffee moment with a lower threshold than participating in a symposium, in which students should feel safe to voice their concerns.
Our budget is provided by the kabk and is 20.000 euro. This budget is meant to help us run an experimental first year. We use the budget to pay the work of running the union, to comission students, to invite guest speakers and to organise events, workshops and excursions. Although we (now) get our budget from the academy, we maintain an agonistic position in relation to the management, leveraging our position as students to make change possible from within the academy.
The responsibilities of the student union are not so clear-cut. How do you measure if a union is performing well in supporting students? In order to assess this, it is essential to invest actively in engagement with students and to create time and space to evaluate on a regular basis in which students feel safe to express their thoughts. Transparency about decision-making processes is part of the responsibility and accountability. Representation, responsibility, and accountability are closely related and all require close relationships with students within the academy.
In the autumn/winter of 2023/2024 we will set up a structure in order to ensure close contact between the student union, students, other representative bodies, and decision-making structures within the academy.
Evaluation is key for development. Therefore we aim to evaluate decisions (and their process), events, activities, and bylaws. This will happen on a structural basis (each 6 months), but also more incidental (after an activity). This evaluation happens between the members of the student union as well as between the student union and students, other representational bodies, and decision-making structures. The student union is aware that evaluation needs scheduled time and we will ensure to make time in our schedule for evaluation. These reflections will be documented and shared in the archive.
We aim to document discussions, decision-making processes, and activities in an archive. The motivation behind the archive is to provide transparency for all students and governing bodies. Another reason to make the archive is to document the spirit of the current times so that future students can inform themselves about the history of the union and the institutional zeitgeist.
If you’d like to improve this document, become a member, or simply come by for a chat, please reach out via studentunion@kabk.nl or via our Instagram account @kabkstudentunion.
