1. Purpose
The Eastern Ontario Drama League (EODL) fosters development and interest in the performing arts. It serves as a resource centre for theatre activities in Eastern Ontario, and provides community theatre groups with a communications medium throughout the province. EODL promotes artistic and technical standards, and encourages education in theatre arts. A program of competitive drama festivals is a principal means of advancing these aims. EODL is a member of Theatre Ontario.
2. Organization
The territory for which the EODL has responsibility is divided into three sections: Western, Eastern and Northern. Western section comprises the Counties of Northumberland, Peterborough, Haliburton, Hastings, Lennox and Addington, Prince Edward and the City of Kawartha Lakes, and associated municipalities. Eastern section comprises the Counties of Prescott / Russell / Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Leeds and Grenville, Lanark, and Frontenac, and associated municipalities. Northern section comprises the City of Ottawa, and the County of Renfrew, and associated municipalities.
3. Membership
Any community theatre group or individual interested in the aims and objectives of EODL is eligible for membership.
4. Fees
Group and individual membership fees are recommended by the Executive and approved at a Special or General Meeting. Fees are payable to the Membership Chair and are renewable annually in June.
5. The Board of Directors and the Executive
The Board of Directors shall include:
- President
- Vice-President
- Immediate Past-President
- Secretary
- Treasurer
- Chairs of the Sections
- Chairs of Standing Committees
- EODL-Elected Member of the Board of Theatre Ontario
- One accredited representative from each Member Group in good standing
- Two Members at Large
The Executive of the Board of Directors shall include:
- President
- Vice President
- Immediate Past President
- Secretary
- Treasurer
b. The President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, the Chairs of the Standing Committees, two Members at Large and the elected member of the Board of Theatre Ontario shall be duly elected at the Annual General Meeting.
c. The Section Chairs shall be appointed as per Article 6, paragraph 1 their appointments shall be endorsed at the Annual General Meeting.
d. The Chair of the Nominating Committee and the Festival Liaison person shall be appointed by the EODL President, and their appointments shall be endorsed at the Annual General Meeting.
e. The representatives of member groups shall be elected or appointed by their groups and qualify on communication of written authority from the member groups' Executive. Any member group may, if it considers such action necessary, appoint an alternative representative, to be appointed and admitted to the EODL Board on the same basis as indicated above.
f. Members of the Board of Directors shall hold office for one year. The President and Vice-President may only be re-elected for one additional year, save in unusual circumstances, and with the approval of a duly constituted Annual General Meeting. This restriction does not apply to other positions on the Board.
g. Meetings of the Board of Directors of the EODL shall be called by the President. Notices are to be sent out to Member Groups and all others entitled to attend, at least two (2) weeks prior to the selected date of each meeting.
h. Special meetings of the Board of Directors may be called at any time by the President or the Secretary of the EODL at the written request of three (3) of the Member Groups, said request to be received by the Secretary twenty (20) days in advance of the proposed meeting.
i. Nine (9) members, including the President or Vice-President or Immediate PastPresident, and a minimum of one (1) representative from each Section shall constitute a quorum of the Board.
j. The duties of the Executive will be to make decisions on time sensitive matters when an extraordinary meeting cannot be called within the time frame or a majority of the Board of Directors cannot be polled by telephone or electronic mail. The decisions of the Executive shall be ratified at the next scheduled general meeting.
6. The Section Chairs
Each Section shall be represented on the Board of Directors by a Chair appointed by the EODL President, in conjunction with the Nominating Committee, at the Annual General Meeting, it being understood that the appointee must be a resident of the Section. It shall be the collective duty of the Section Chairs to serve on the Nominating Committee and, in the intervals between Board of Directors Meetings, to assist the EODL President in the administration of the EODL in such ways as the President shall direct. In general, the Section Chairs will advance the interests of the EODL within their respective areas. They shall endeavor to promote cooperation between the member groups in their Sections in all areas of mutual interest in theatre, and serve as ex-officio members of Festival Committees, and Committees on Training Programs established in their Sections.
7. Standing Commitees
Standing Committee shall consist of: Archives, Awards, Constitution, Finance, Foundation, Membership and Newsletter.
8. Meetings
a. Meetings of EODL are classified as follows: (i) Board of Directors (ii) Executive (iii) General (including Special and Annual General Meetings)
b. Voting privileges for individual (non-Executive) members are as follows: (i) They may vote at General Meetings (ii) They may attend but not vote at Executive Meetings
c. General Meetings of EODL shall be held at least four (4) times a year of which two (2) shall occur prior to December 1 and one between January and the Annual General Meeting. The Annual General Meeting shall be held between May 1 and June 30. These four (4) meetings shall be called by the President and notices be sent out to Member Groups and all others entitled to attend at least two (2) weeks prior to the selected date of each meeting
9. Voting
a. Board of Directors MeetingsAt all meetings of the Board of Directors of the EODL, the right to vote shall be held by the following:
- President
- Vice-President
- Immediate Past-President
- Secretary
- Treasurer
- Chairs of the Sections
- Chairs of the Standing Committees
- The EODL-Elected Member of the Board of Theatre Ontario
- One duly accredited representative from each Member group in good standing.
- Two Members at Large As per Clause 5 (i), nine (9) members including the President or Vice-President or Immediate Past-President and a minimum of one (1) representative from each Section shall constitute a quorum at any Board Meeting. All members have full and equal votes save the President who, by custom, votes only in case of a tie. No member may vote in more than one capacity.
b. Executive Meetings At all meetings of the Executive of the EODL, the right to vote shall be held by the following:
- President
- Vice-President
- Immediate Past-President
- Secretary
- Treasurer At all Executive Meetings one vote shall be held by each of the EODL Executive members present. Any three (3) members of the Executive shall constitute a quorum. All Executive members have full and equal votes save the President who, by custom, votes only in case of a tie. No member may vote in more than one capacity.
c. General Meetings At all General Meetings one vote shall be held by each EODL member present. Group representatives shall be considered ex-officio members at all General Meetings. Nine (9) members including the President or Vice-President or Immediate Past-President and at least one (1) representative from each Section shall constitute a quorum at any General Meeting.
Page 5 of 7 All members have full and equal votes save the President who, by custom, votes only in case of a tie. No member may vote in more than one capacity.
10. Duties of the Executive
The duties of the Board of Directors shall be:
a. To formulate policies which will further the basic purpose of EODL and create and specify the duties of whatever standing or temporary committees it considers necessary to implement these policies
b. To appoint, in consultation with their Chairs, and before September 15, the membership of all Standing Committees, e.g. Archives, Awards, Constitution, Finance, Foundation, Membership, Newsletter, and to publish same in the next edition of the EODL Newsletter.
c. To ensure newsletters and/or bulletins are published in sufficient time so that members are notified of meetings and other activities
d. To review and revise the rules governing EODL festivals as required, and distribute the revised rules to all of the Member Groups, plus the date and location of each festival, four (4) months in advance of the festival dates
e. To submit recommendations at General Meetings on any important matters, for example those involving changes in policy or the Constitution.
11. Nomination Committee
The Nominating Committee shall consist of four (4) members: a Chair appointed by the EODL President and the three (3) Section Chairs. The Chair of this Committee shall be either a Past-President of EODL or a senior serving member of the Executive not currently holding any office referred to in this Clause. The Committee shall be constituted by the first meeting following the Annual General Meeting and shall serve until the next Annual General Meeting. It shall be responsible for preparing the slate of officers to be presented to the Annual General Meeting, and for nominating replacements for Board members and committee Chairs who are unable to complete their normal term of office, or are not functioning to the satisfaction of the Executive.
12. Election of the Board of Directors
A slate of officers which shall include the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and the Chairs of the current Standing Committees and two members at large (excluding the Nominating Committee and the Festival Liaison person) shall be presented to the Annual General Meeting by the Chair of the Nominating Committee. This regulation shall not, however, inhibit the right of any member to propose other nominations from the floor. If any elected officer or committee chair is unable to complete a designated term of office, or if the Executive declares a position vacant, the Executive shall appoint a replacement to serve until the next Annual General Meeting. In this case, the nominee shall be declared duly appointed if endorsed by a simple majority vote at the next legal meeting of the EODL.
13. Financial Responsibility
a. EODL funds shall be placed in one or more bank accounts as approved by the Board or directed to the Foundation fund. Guidelines governing the administration of the Foundation will be according to the motion of April 12, 1986, which established the Foundation and which will be attached to the Constitution for convenient reference.
b. Accounts shall be paid by cheque. Cheques shall be signed by any two (2) of the following:
- President
- Vice-President
- Treasurer
c. The fiscal year shall be June 1 to May 31.
d. The Treasurer shall submit to the Annual General Meeting an audited financial statement covering EODL operations during the last fiscal year. An independent auditor shall be appointed at the Annual General Meeting for the next fiscal year.
e. The President shall be granted a revolving petty cash fund.
14. Validity of the Constitution
The Constitution of EODL may be amended by a two-thirds majority vote at any General Meeting, including the Annual General Meeting or a special meeting called expressly for that purpose. Proposed amendments must be distributed to all individual members and member groups at least one (1) month in advance of the meeting.
Revisions: Revision 1 May 5, 1973 Sections 7(b), 7(d)Revision 2 June 4, 977 Sections 8, 9(a), 9(b), 12, 14Revision 3 June 14, 1980 Sections 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14Revision 4 June 1982 Sections 7, 7(a), 9(a), 9(b), 11, 12Revision 5 November 13, 1993 Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5Revision 6 June 5, 1994 Sections 13, 14Revision 7 June 21,1997 Sections 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14Revision 8 November 09, 2002 Section 3Revision 9 September 25, 2010 Section 4,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,13Revision 10 March 5, 2012 Section 6,7,8,910,11,12Revision 11 August 25, 2014 Section 6, 7Revision 12 March 24, 2016 All Sections
An investment fund, designated the Eastern Ontario Drama League Foundation, has been established, the interest from which will provide funds to subsidize the operating costs of EODL.
Contributions for the Foundation will be solicited from EODL members (group and individual), former members, corporations, private businesses, and the general public. Offers of Festival Awards and in Memoriam donations may also be directed to the Foundation.
There will be three categories of contributors:
Founder - for donations of $500 or more Sponsor -
for donations of $100 or more Friend -
for donations of any amount
Names of Founders will appear on all festival programmes. Names of Sponsors and Friends will appear on the festival programmes during the year in which the donation is received.
Sponsors may become Founders and Friends may become Sponsors or Founders through cumulative donations. The fund will be administered by a three person committee. The committee will include the Treasurer and two other members appointed by the EODL President (with due regard for continuity) for a two-year period. The Treasurer will issue tax deductible receipts to donors using the EODL registered charitable receipt number. The Foundation goal will be $10,000.00.
A report on the Foundation shall become part of the regular Treasurer's report.
The Executive shall invest the monies of the EODL Foundation in any investment or investments which they shall in their absolute discretion consider advisable, not being limited to investments in which Trustees are by Statute authorized to invest in trust funds and in like manner from time to time, to alter or vary such investments, and the Treasurer shall not be held responsible for any loss that may happen to the fund for reason of their so doing.
Any interest earned by the Foundation Fund in any given year shall be used by the Board of Directors of the EODL as they see fit and any interest earned by the Foundation Fund in any given year that is not expended in that year shall be added to and become part of the capital of the fund. The capital portion of the fund shall not be expended by the Board of Directors of the EODL for any reason in whole or in part without the approval of 75% of the EODL members attending an Annual General Meeting of the EODL.
Moved by: Beth McMaster
Seconded by: Bea Quarrie
Carried April 12, 1986, Lindsay, Ontario
Questions about the Constitution can be directed to Lorraine Palmer-Smith