Statute of Humour academy

Statutes 2013/2014

Article 1 – Establishment

a) The Academy of the European Festival of Humour and Satire, “Kremnické gagy” (Kremnica Gags) (hereinafter referred as “Academy”) is a representative evaluating committee of the active artists and the critics from the sphere of so called live art, who live and work in Slovakia, or in any other country of the European Union. The Academy is a direct successor of the Academy of Slovak Humour that operated within the framework of the Festival of Humour and Satire “Kremnické gagy” (hereinafter referred as the “Festival”) based on the existence of this unique event that has been organized in Kremnica annually since 1981.

b) The main organizers of the Festival - Mesto Kremnica (Municipality Kremnica), Nezisková oprganizácia NEO (Non-governmental organization NEO) Bratislava, G.A.G.-umelecká agentúra, spol. s r.o. (G.A.G.-art agency, Ltd.) Banská Bystrica are the establishers of the Academy.

c) The Academy is constituted by the establishers for the Festival every year separately. The new committee is appointed by the Dramaturgic Team of the Festival (hereinafter referred as “Dramaturges”) from the members of the former Academy of Slovak Humour (AHS) and from the well-known artists and professionals from the Slovac republic. The countries of European Union are in the Academy represented by invited and present directors of cultural institutes which reside in Slovak republic and/or by authorized representative of the embassies of European Union countries in Slovak republic. The representative of European Commission in the Slovak republic is also the member of the Academy. Total number of members of the Academy is max. 15 (including President).

d) The Academy is headed by the President who also chairs the jury of the Festival.

e) The President of the Academy is appointed based on the nomination of Main Realisation Team of the Festival by the Director of the Festival, and in accordance with the appointment decree till January 31 of actual calendar year in which the Festival shall be realised at the latest.

Article 2 – Guarantees

a) The main organisers of the Festival are the organisational guarantors of the Academy.

b) The academics, the members of representative and evaluating committee - the academics - are professional guarantors of the Academy.

c) The organisational and professional guarantors of the Academy guarantee free, objective and independent evaluation of the nominated works of art and performances without any influence from personal and/or group interests.

d) The professional guarantors of the Academy guarantee and exclude the possibility that they have creatively or by realization participated in the works of art and/or performances including agency representation in nominated works and performances at the Festival.

Article 3 – Tasks and Objectives

a) The main activity of the Academy is to monitor Slovak and European artistic scene continuously and to look for remarkable works of art and performances, that comprise the elements of top quality humour, satire and/or valuable entertainment. Based on the nominations by individual genres (categories) and the presentations at the Festival, to draw the attention of public, and based on awarding the best works of art and performances from Slovakia and abroad, to favour the production of the highest level of humour and satire in all its artistic forms and expressions within the framework of the European Union.

b) It is a long-term objective of the Academy is to motivate and to support Slovak and foreign artists in order they might create supreme quality and the best value works of art and performances with the elements of humour, satire and entertainment. It is also the Academy´s ambition to focus on values and to influence public opinion in the direction towards independent artistic grace, and thus also to the better quality of life style, with respect to which humour, satire and a cultivated entertainment play a significant role.

c) The task of the Academy is also enhancing and maintaining the prestige of the Festival.

Article 4 – Membership

a) The members of the Academy (hereinafter referred as the “academics”) are appointed based on the nomination of Dramaturges, the Director of the Festival, and in accordance with the decrees at the latest till the end of January of the calendar year during which the Festival is realised.

b) The well-known artists, dramaturges, directors, pedagogues and/or critics, who have dealt with humour, satire or the cultivated entertainment of some artistic genres professionally, are nominated as the academics. The membership of the Academy is limited to one season and is the subject of approval by the nominated person. The membership of academic in the Academy shall expire after the end of Festival.

c) The committee of academics represents the international jury that shall participate in all the presentations of nominated works of art and performances and based on voting, it resolves on the laureates of individual categories.

d) Every appointed academic is required to personally attend all nominated works and presentations at the Festival. If the academic states that he/she has not seen, listened to or read some of the nominated works he/she looses his/her right to vote on the works of art and performances in the category he/she mentioned.

e) During the season, the academics have the right to recommend the nomination commission the remarkable works of art and performances, that comprise the elements of supreme quality humour, satire and/or valuable entertainment, from Slovakia and from the countries of the European Union.

f) The membership of the Academy is honorary. The symbolic fee only covers the costs associated with the evaluation works (eg. purchase of literature), and transport to the Festival and from the Festival. The travel expenses related to transport to the Festival and from the Festival, accommodation and catering of all academics are paid by the establishers of the Academy.

g) During the Festival, all the academics and the President of the Academy are considered to be VIP guests and therefore they are entitled to see any and all accompanying performances and events at the Festival.

h) The academics shall follow the Statues during the execution of their obligations. Any other regulations, their modifications and any other directives regarding the activities of the Academy, that are not regulated by the Statues, should be approved by minimum 2/3 majority of the academics. The resolutions shall be adopted if approved by the majority of present academics´votes.

Article 5 – Nomination Commission

a) The Nomination Commission (hereinafter referred as “NK”) shall consist of the Dramaturges (Dramaturges) of the Festival, the President of the Academy and the Director of the Festival. Dramaturges shall be nominated and approved by the Main Realisation Team of the Festival always at the beginning of season, till 30.10. of calendar year at the latest.

b) The executive chairman of NK is one of the dramaturges of the Festival and shall be elected by the members of the Dramaturgy team at the beginning of season, till 30.11. of calendar year at the latest.

c) The NK shall choose the best works of art and performances for the actual season of the Festival (September–June) for individual categories. The members of NK shall see, individually or together, recommended productions based on the correspondence recommendations of academics, special recommendations of well-known professionals, and/or delivered CD/ DVD presentations.

d) The Nomination Commission shall hold its meetings in the middle of season and at the end of season. The NK shall be convened and managed by the executive chairman, and the final nomination should have the odd number of members (minimum 5, maximum 9). Each of the members of NK shall have one vote.

e) The NK shall report on definite nominations to the President and the approved members of the Academy within 10 day from the final nomination at the latest.

f) The NK shall make the final List of Nomination public on the web site of the Festival within 30 days from the day of final nomination at the latest.

Article 6 – Competition ”Zlatý gunár” (Golden Gander)

a) The establishers of the Academy, within the framework of the Festival, every year announce the prestigious international competition for the best works of art and performances that comprise the elements of supreme quality humour, satire and/or valuable entertainment.

b) The Nomination Commission shall nominate and include the nominated works of art and performances into individual categories according to their character and/or the genre of production.

c) The nominations may be especially submitted by the members of the Academy, the members of Dramaturgy and the President of the Academy as well as the members of AHS and the Academic Committee of AHS.

d) The nominations should be delivered to the members of NK in writing. It is also possible to send them by mail or e-mail to the address of executive chairman of NK or Festival’s main dramaturge (including the name of the work of art, its author, actor and the place or time of the nearest presentation of nominated work of art or performance), or by filling in the questionnaire form.

e) The deadline for the nomination of the works of art and performances for the competition of Golden Gan- der for the previous season shall be June 30. The laureates shall be announced at the nearest Festival.

f) The productions that have not been seen by any of the dramaturges, respectively the members of NK in person or as CD/DVD presentations till the deadline should not be nominated for the competition.

g) Primary the productions of last season with undisputable copyrights shall be nominated for the competition. This condition only applies to works and performances resulting in the Slovak Republic.

h) In case the NK shall not recommend any remarkable works of art or performances for some of the categories regarding the last season, the Academy shall not announce any laureate in the relevant category, but the prize of Golden Gander may be awarded to a different category extra.

i) The works of art and performances, whose author, co-author, creator or representative manager is the appointed academic, should not be nominated for the competition, but can be invited to the Festival as a guest production. The exceptions are the authors´ works older than 1 year, with the consent and without active input from the author (academic) used or implemented by other authors and implementers, and created as new work.

j) The nomination shall represent an official invitation for the Festival. The Dramaturgy shall include the nominated work of art or performance into the official program of the Festival determined for the public based on the agreement with its producers and the presentation shall be specifically marked as a nominated production. In case there is no agreement on the conditions for the participation in the Festival due to any reasons; i.e. the presentation of the nominated work of art or performance shall not be realised at the Festival, the nominated work of art or performance shall be excluded from the nomination and it shall not be evaluated by the Academy.

i) The Academy shall also not evaluate the works of art and performances that were cancelled by artists due to any reasons, were not realised as a whole, and include the elements of intolerance, racism, xenophobia, or might insult human dignity and/or religious persuasion.

Article 7 – Categories

a) The works of art and performances that include the elements of supreme quality humour, satire and/or valuable entertainment shall be divided into 6 categories. The number of authors or performers in the production shall not be decisive.

b) The categorisation of nominated works of art and performances shall be approved by the NK. In case there are any disputes regarding the categorisation, the Academy has the right to transfer the relevant nominated work of art or performance and to assess the nominated work of art or performance under a different category during the Festival. Any transfer into the different category should be resolved by minimum 2/3 members of the Academy.

c) Categories:

1. Dramatic performances and cabarets
2. Music productions (all genres)
3. Street and motion productions (clown shows, juggling, magic and illusions, statues, pantomime and dance)
4. Productions for children (puppet shows, dramas, music shows, etc.)
5. Caricatures and other recession humour artworks
6. Literary works of art, journalistic works of art and artistic utterance (*only the competition for the countries of V4 so far)

d) Special awards:

1. The Stano Radič Prize for an Artist of the Year
2. “Trafená hus” Prize (“If the cap fits - wear it” Prize) – the prize for most awkward work or event of the Year
(**only the national “award” so far)
3. The Life´s Work Prize for humour and/or satire.

4. The Organizer’s of the Kremnica gags Festival Prize

e) GRAND PRIX of the Festival Kremnica gags.

Article 8 – Voting

a) The voting on nominations shall be held within five days from the end of season at the meeting of NK at the latest.

b) The voting on awarding a laureate prize to a specific category and about a main prize GRAND PRIX shall be at the common evaluation meeting of the Academy during the Festival after the presentation of all the works of art and performances at the Festival. The evaluation meeting shall be convened by the President of the Academy and chaired by executive chairman of NK. Before voting, the academics shall honestly declare that they are fully acquainted with the work of art or performance; i.e. they have seen it, have listened to it or have read it.

c) All the academics should be present during voting and awarding the prize to individual categories and about the main prize.

d) The voting on nominations and the voting on awarding a price shall be resolved by the majority of votes.

e) The vote of the President of the Academy shall prevail in case of the equality of votes (only for the voting on awarding the prize).

f) In case none of nominations acquires the majority of votes for a relevant category, the prize shall not be awarded to the category.

g) In case there is the same standard of the works of art or performances with regard to the same genre, the Academy may divide the prize or to resolve on the prize of “ex-equo”. However, the Academy may only award maximum two prizes to one category.

h) The laureates of Golden Gander in individual categories and special awards shall be announced at the end of the Festival in Kremnica.

Article 9 – Awards

a) The international award of every category shall be “Golden Gander“, the three-dimensional artwork depicting the figurine of gander in stylized form. This symbolism dates back the period when the festival of Humour and Satire, Slovak Gags (later Kremnica Gags) was established, when its founders derived the primary origination of humour in the world from a goose („...gág, gág (cackle)…”). The internationally understandable name of festival comes from that time as well – “GAGY“ (Gags); the logo of Festival has been represented by the figurine of gander in the shape of kilogram and the mark of kg since 2006.

b) The special awards also have the shape of stylised metal statue, Golden Gander, apart from national anti-award ”Trafená hus” (“if the cap fits - wear it” Prize) that differs from the Golden Gander in several artwork signs.

c) The Academy may also award special – rag awards: the Prize of Humour Development, the Prize of Humour Disincentive, the Prize of Unwanted Magic, etc. These awards are neither shaped as Golden Gander nor as “Trafená hus” (“if the cap fits - wear it” Prize).

d) Since 2011, after the suggestion of Dramaturges, the main organizers of the Festival also award the Golden Gander prize. The prize differs from other prizes by different shade of patina.

e) Since 2011 the Academy awards the international main prize GRAND PRIX which is designed for the best annual work of art or performance of the Festival. The main prize is about 1/3 bigger and differs from other prizes by different shade of patina.

f) The Academy awards the prizes to the laureates at galaprogram ceremony at the end of the festival. The awards shall be handed over to the winners by the academics represented in individual categories and European Union representatives. The Organizer’s prize shall be handed over by festival’s manager and the main international prize GRAND PRIX shall be handed over by the president of the Academy. In case the author/or the artist shall not take over the award, the award shall be delivered to the author/or the artist to his/her their correspondence address within 30 days from the day the Festival shall end.

g) Apart from the main prize, the Academy may award so called the Medal of Humorists for the rescue of Slovak humour and the significant aid rendered to the Festival. This prize may be awarded to our supports and partners who have been supporting us for many years.

e) The production of all the prizes is ensured and financed by the establishers of the Academy from the budget of the Festival.

Article 10 – Approvals and Publishing

a) These Statutes were approved by the founders, the main organisers of the Festival on November 15, 2009 and shall be valid till September 30, 2010. The validity of Statutes shall be automatically prolonged for the following year if their context is not modified or supplemented materially.

b) The Statutes of the Academy including the competition of “Golden Gander” has the character of public document and the guarantors of the Academy shall make it public on the web site of the Festival as of the day the Statutes shall become effective, and the text of Statutes shall be offered for publication by printed and electronic media.

c) The name of Festival´s President and the names of appointed academics for a relevant season shall be made public on web site of the Festival till January 31 of relevant calendar year during which Festival shall be held.

Kremnica, December 1, 2010

RNDr. Zuzana Balážová
Municipality Kremnica

Mgr. Pavol Kelley
Non-governmental organisation NEO Bratislava

MgA. Ján Fakla, Festival manager
G.A.G.- art agency, Ltd. Banská Bystrica