On Wednesday 30th September, Sing Out members met at Elzenhof for the association’s annual General Assembly, electing a new Board to run the choir.
It’s been a busy start to the Season: auditions, welcoming our new members and our Bi+ Visibility Day event all came at once! Just as we were starting to get back to our usual Wednesday rehearsal rhythm, it was already time to hold our association’s annual General Assembly.
The General Assembly is a legal requirement for Belgian non-profit associations like ours but it is also a timely opportunity to look back over the past year and acknowledge all we have achieved thanks to the hard work of all those members who volunteer for the choir.
Like every year, we first split into smaller groups by language spoken to follow several short presentations on key topics related to running our association.
- Marina Belotti, outgoing Treasurer, presented the Season 8 accounts and the Season 9 budget, followed by interesting discussions around the association’s ‘Fabulous Reserve’ rainy-day fund and fluctuating success with subsidy applications over the years.
- Robbie Blake, outgoing President, presented the Season 9 annual activity plan, plotting a course through rehearsals, choir weekends and mini concerts to our next big event: The Love Show at the Centre culturel d’Uccle on 11 and 12 June 2027.
- Alessandra Callegari, Board member, presented the results of our annual end of Season member survey, explaining how member feedback had led to concrete action, such as a new 10-minute break during Wednesday rehearsals and a brand new Joy Team focusing on inclusion.
- A group of singers active in JT Strategy presented the choir’s new Strategic Plan – many thanks to Manon, Célia, Arsinoë, Vera, Valérie and Damien. Our last plan ran from 2022 to 2026 so the team spent last Season coordinating a collaborative process to draw up a new strategy to take us to 2030. The collaboration will continue as, in a Sing Out first, it will now be up to the Board, Joy Teams and other interested members to take the actions set out in the new strategy and create a roadmap stating who will do what and by when.
It was then time to reconvene the whole association to vote on the following important items:
- Approval of the minutes of the 2025 General Assembly
- Approval of the Season 8 accounts
- Approval of the draft Season 9 budget
- Grant of discharge to the Board and internal auditors
- Admission of new voting members
- Nomination of two members to audit the Season 9 accounts
Finally, the evening culminated in the moment we had all been waiting for: the election of the new Board. For the first time in Sing Out’s 9-year history, it was a competitive election with more candidates than seats available on the Board. While Alessandra Callegari remains on the Board to complete her two-year term, all six remaining spots were available, with eight candidates standing. All eight candidates gave persuasive two-minute speeches explaining why they would like to join the Board, making it particularly tricky for members to decide who to vote for.
Outgoing President Robbie Blake had been hard at work in the days running up to the General Assembly to clearly understand the requirements of Belgian law and our association’s bylaws in this scenario. Thanks to his commitment, the election ran smoothly and our new Board was elected by an overwhelming majority. The new Board has since met and agreed who will be doing what, as set out below.
- Alessandra Callegari, she/her – President
- Carlos Roldán Mejías, he/him – Vice-President & JT Inclusion link
- Ricard Celorio i Sardà, he/him – Vice-President & JT Creative link
- Katrijn Vandenborne, she/her – Treasurer
- Lil De Donder, he/him/she/her – JT Communication link
- Luigi Ghiani, he/him – JT Community Building link
- Zoë Bouckaert, she/her – JT Strategy link
Shortly after the General Assembly, founding member Christophe shared some #choirgeek fun facts about the new Board:
- Alessandra is our sixth president in nine years. There have been three male and three female presidents.
- Katrijn is just our third treasurer in nine years thanks to Marina Belotti taking on this role for most of our history.
- We have a full Board (seven members). This was not the case during Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7. The smallest Board ever was in Season 4 with only three members (the minimum allowed). The new Board shows how motivated members are to get involved in managing the choir!
- The rule of continuity (as set out in our bylaws – 1/3 of the Board members should have been members of the previous Board) is not respected for the second time in our history. It was the case during Season 5, with only 2 experienced Board members out of 7. In this new Board, there is only 1 experienced Board member.
- However, the gender parity rule is fully respected (3 women, 3 men, one non-binary person). This was not the case during Seasons 2 and 4.
- The center of gravity of the Board moves to the South with 2 Italian members (as on the previous Board) and 2 Spanish members (a Sing Out first).
- It’s the first time since Season 4 that we don’t have a native English speaker on the Board.
- It’s the first time we have two native Dutch speakers in the Board. We usually had only one, except during Season 4, when there were none.
- For the first time, tenors are in the majority on the Board (4 out of 7).
- All voices (SATB) are represented except basses. That has only happened once before in Season 4.
- There are three Belgians on the Board (One French speaker, two Dutch speakers). That hasn’t happened since Season 2.
- It’s the youngest Board we’ve ever had (in terms of when they joined the choir, not their ages!) with 4 of the 7 having joined the choir last year.
The choir is extremely grateful to the outgoing Board for their hard work and dedication and wishes all the very best to its new administrators!