Minutes for Autscape Board meeting 24th January 2026
Meeting opened 4.14 GMT
Present: Heta, Kacey, Martijn, Martha, Richard, Trish
Apologies: Elaine (Late)
Absent: James
Observers: None
1. Approvals
1.1. Approval of the minutes for the November 2025 board meeting as posted to the list on 13th Jan 2026
Minutes approved, 5 for, 1 abstention
Elaine joined the meeting at this point
2. Ratifications
2.1. Ratification of the decision taken on list, the Treasurer proposed that 400 Ticket Tailor credits be bought at a cost of £100.80 (unanimous 05/12/2025)
Ratified, 7 for
2.2. Ratification of the decision taken on list, the Treasurer proposed the board approve the budget for online Autscape 2026 (unanimous 22/01/26)
Ratified, 7 for
2.3. Ratification of the decision taken on list, the online Event manager proposed the programme for the online Autscape 2026 (unanimous 20/01/26)
Ratified, 7 for
3. Proposals
3.1. The Vice Chair proposed we send the third draft of our response to PicRights
Carried, 7 for.
3.2 The Vice Chair proposed that, from now on, all presenters at Autscape be required to: (a) sign an agreement certifying they own the copyright or have a valid license to use all the copyrighted materials in their presentation, and (b) as a condition of having their slides published on the Autscape website, transfer any transferable rights to publish such copyrighted materials to Autscape, or remove the copyrighted materials for which such transfer is not possible.
Carried, 7 for.
4. Follow ups
None
5. Role reports
5.1. Chair
Nothing to report (Chair and Acting Chair)
5.2. Company Secretary
The Company Secretary reported that they are just getting ready for the AGM, and reminded board members standing again that they still need to be nominated and put in a nomination statement. After the meeting she also wants to get a head start on the annual report. It was confirmed that Martijn vice-chair would chair the AGM. It was also noted that there have been no nominations for the board yet.
5.3. Treasurer
Posting to list
5.4. Online Event Manager - report on list 17/01/2026
The online event manager also reported: All presentations have been confirmed. Information about presenters is on the website, and presentations will be added shortly. Registration is expected to start today. Social media publicity is in progress, and I urge all board members to join the effort by reacting, sharing and commenting.
Event Manager's report at: https://login.autscape.org/mailman/private/board/2026-January/012635.html
5.5. Event Manager 2026
The Event Manager 2026 reported: After the AGM I will put together the Management committee for the August event and get going with the organising. I am hoping to have a meeting in Feb.
5.6. Chair of fundraising subcommittee
A report was received from Ian:
We haven’t yet started up again this year, but I continue to encourage board members to be supportive of our efforts, especially as our reserves are so low.
5.7. Tech co-ordinator
The Tech Co-ordinator reported that they continued to make incremental improvements to the website. The navigation menu on the left is now more user-friendly in desktop view as it no longer scrolls along with web pages.
I have been waiting for years for updates to outdated texts on the website, and I will call for them again now. I can't be writing this entire thing myself. Pages like https://www.autscape.org/organisation/idealvenue have not been updated since 2011 and it's embarrassing. This is the board's collective responsibility, as no one in particular has been assigned this job.
The next thing on my to-do list -- modernise the mobile navigation menu.
Elaine said she has some text for the website which she would send later
5.8 Membership Secretary
Nothing to report
6. AOB
6.1 Erasmus
Heta reported they are concerned about Autscape participation in the Erasmus project application process. If we want to continue, she thinks more people need to become involved and suggests Elaine and Richard start contributing along with anyone else who has the time and interest.
She has tried to draw the board's attention to this on the list, but thinks everyone has been too busy with other matters.
Heta also mentioned that there is a deadline on 30 Jan for some things that need to be done in order to stay in the process. This is a reputational matter, because we committed to being there, and now five other organisations are wondering why Autscape is not there, and not letting them know what's happening.
She said it had been explained in detail in the posts sent to the board list, but to some extent it's about being there and negotiating, to form a shared understanding with others. Some things emerge in the negotiations, and cannot be given to anyone as just lists of task.
Richard and Elaine volunteered to be involved and Heta said we need to make it official that they also part of the team speaking for Autscape in that process. The goal, is to define a role for Autscape that a) allows us to share our expertise and b) benefits Autscape as an organisation.
Heta suggested a meeting of themselves, Kacey, Elaine and Richard early next week to clarify.
We will need to define who the potential project workers should be, and as Heta understands from what Richard has said, those cannot be board members.
It's up to the Autscape team on this to define things so they're not vague.
Further discussion on this was deferred to list.
Meeting closed, 6:02pm