From the President's desk
NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Sat 15 August 2009 (2:00pm WST; 3:30pm CST; 4:00pm EST)
Download Locations & Agenda (12KB)
Dear AVA Members and Prospective New Members,
Go to Nov 08 board meeting notes
I am writing to you in my capacity as the newly elected President of the AVA to welcome you all to the AVA again, and to let you know of recent developments and exciting new initiatives for the AVA in 2009. It is now time to renew our memberships and this can be done either with the forms enclosed or via the AVA website.
AGM
The AGM of our association was held at the ANATS conference in September last year, and at that meeting most of the board stepped down having completed their terms of office.
These board members were Geraldine Cook, Cate Madill, Bronwyn Millar, Pat Wilson and Alison Winkworth.
On behalf of all the AVA members I would like to acknowledge the wonderful contributions made by these very busy people during their respective terms of office over the last 2-4 years.
New Year, New Beginning
I should also like to pay tribute to Dr. Susannah Foulds-Elliott who held everything together in the weeks leading up to and following the AGM, and to acknowledge her staunch and inspiring encouragement to all members to continue the important work of the AVA.
As a consequence of her passion and considerable wooing as only a fine mezzo-soprano can do, six new members were enticed to accept nomination to the board, some of us for a second or third time!
New Office Bearers
At our first meeting on Monday 29th September, office bearers were elected and contact details, photos and short biographies of the board members can be seen on the AVA website which you can locate by Googling ‘Australian Voice Association’.
The Board of the AVA for 2009 now comprises:
Office Bearers
- President: Dr. Jan Baker (Adelaide),
Associate Professor in Speech Pathology, Speech Pathologist/Family Therapist, Singer
- Vice President: Adele Nisbet (Brisbane),
Lecturer in Voice and Vocal Pedagogy (Singing), Researcher, Singer
- Secretary: Dr. Susannah Foulds-Elliott (Melbourne),
Singing Teacher, Researcher
- Treasurer: Mr. Tony Smith (Melbourne),
Lecturer in Theatre Voice
Board Members:
- Dr. Matthew Broadhurst (Brisbane),
Otolaryngologist specializing in phonosurgery
- Dr. Sally Collyer (Melbourne),
Singing Teacher, Researcher, Singer
- Ms. Johanna Flavell (Adelaide)
Speech Pathologist, Researcher
- Ms. Lotte Latukefu:
Lecturer in Singing, Singer
November 2008 Board Meeting
At our Board meeting which we held on November 10th we began planning for 2009, and the following decisions were made.
Membership to the AVA for 2009 will include:
1. AUSTRALIAN VOICE
This is the official journal of the ANATS and is subscribed to by members of AVA and NEWZATS. It is co-edited by Adele Nisbet and Dr Jean Callaghan. From 2009, it will be available as an on-line publication.
2. VOICEPRINT
This is the more informal Newsletter of the AVA and three editions will be provided for all members either by direct post or online. Editors for VOICEPRINT will be Susannah Foulds-Elliott, Jane Bickford (Flinders University) and Sally Collyer, and we will be inviting contributions from members throughout the year. The first VOICEPRINT will be issued in March /April, the second in August and the third in October.
3. WORLD VOICE DAY – APRIL 16th 2009
This will be marked by the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP) and we will be inviting your participation and suggestions for ways in which we might bring World Voice Day to the attention of relevant groups, members of the public and government bodies etc.
4. NATIONAL SPEAKER TOUR - DR. MATTHEW BROADHURST -OTOLARYNGOLOGIST
We are delighted to announce that Dr Broadhurst has agreed to conduct a national tour where he will present sessions on Advances in Surgical Techniques for Performance Voice. This will be in the first half of the year, so do check the website for information about his experiences working in the United States with Dr. Steve Zeitels and for news of this exciting event. AVA members will be given priority with registration.
5. INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER TOUR
MS CHRISTINA SHEWELL - VOICE TEACHER, COMMUNICATION SKILLS TRAINER, SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY VOICE SPECIALIST, AUTHOR
The name of Christina Shewell will be known to many of you already as one of the finest voice therapists in Britain.
We are thrilled, that in the year of her much anticipated new book, VOICE WORK: ART AND SCIENCE IN CHANGING VOICES (2009), published by Wiley-Blackwell, she has kindly agreed to come to Australia at our invitation.
Christina will conduct workshops in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide in late September and early October to coincide with the university mid-semester breaks.
Learn more about Christina’s professional background, her Voice Skills Perceptual Profile, and a range of presentations she has given in Britain and Europe.
Updates about her visit to Australia will be on the website and AVA members will be given priority with registration.
I look forward to working with you all in 2009 and want you to know that by 2010, we fully intend to be planning another AVA research forum, however modest!
Happy New Year to you all from Jan Baker
