Objectives and laws

§1
The name of the Association is the Solistforeningen af 1921. The Association has its seat in Copenhagen. The purpose of the Association is to safeguard and promote the artistic, social and economic interests of its members.

§2
Membership of the Association shall be limited to persons engaged in soloistic activities of a sound character.

§3
The decision as to whether a soloist may be admitted to the Association shall be taken by the Board.

Membership rights can only be exercised once the 1st year’s subscription has been paid.

Should the decision of the Board be against the applicant, the Board is obliged – upon request of the applicant – to submit the question to the next ordinary General Assembly, which will then take the decision.

This decision shall be final and not subject to appeal.

§4
The members are obliged, as long as the association is a member of the “Joint Council for Performing Artists”, to comply with the statutes and decisions of this council, of which the board is obliged to keep the members informed at all times.

§5
The Association may appoint honorary members. The appointment of honorary members shall be proposed by the Board and decided by the General Assembly.

§6
The Association is managed by a Board of 7 members elected by the General Assembly, so that one of the members of the Board is elected as chairman by the General Assembly, see §20 point 4.

The term of office of the Board shall be two years, so that three and four members respectively shall retire each year.

Re-election may take place.

§7
The Board, which is unpaid, elects its own Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary from among its members. The Board shall have the day-to-day management of the affairs of the Association and shall administer the funds of the Association to the best of its ability and under the responsibility of the General Assembly. It shall bear such administrative expenses as it deems necessary from time to time, including

representation, expenses of membership of other organisations and the like.

The President and the Treasurer shall jointly represent the Association.

The President, or in his absence the Vice-President, shall represent the Association externally and shall chair the meetings of the Administrative Board.

The Secretary shall be responsible for keeping the minutes of the meetings, which shall be signed by the Chairman and the Secretary.

The Treasurer shall be responsible for keeping detailed accounts of the Association’s income and expenditure.

The Board may employ paid help.

§8
The General Assembly elects 3 substitutes to replace Board members who are unable to attend a Board meeting or who resign as a Board member within their term of office.

In the latter case, the alternate shall remain on the Board until the next Annual General Meeting. Alternates shall be elected for one year at a time. Re-election may take place.

Alternates shall have the right to attend meetings of the Board and to be invited to such meetings, but shall have the right to vote only when acting as members of the Board.

§9
The General Assembly elects for one year two auditors and one deputy auditor to audit the accounts of the Association.

These auditors must be members of the Association, but may not be members of the Board or deputies.

The Board is authorised to engage a chartered accountant to audit and provide expert assistance to the Association.

§10
Meetings of the Board shall be convened – if possible – with one week’s notice by the Chairman. As often as he deems necessary. The Chairman is obliged to call a meeting of the Board of Directors with the specified notice when at least 4 members of the Board of Directors make a request to this effect. A quorum shall exist at any meeting of the Board when at least 5 members (alternates) are present.

Decisions shall be taken by a simple majority of votes, the Chairman having a casting vote in the event of a tie.

§16b
Rights which are vested in the categories of artists represented by the Association by virtue of copyright law, agreements or otherwise, may, by decision of the Board, be transferred to joint management when and to the extent that such transfer is deemed necessary or natural. The administration of rights may be carried out either in a separate administration department or by joining an administration organisation common to several organisations.

§17
The Board has the right to expel a member who has violated the laws of the Association or publicly exhibited conduct detrimental or degrading to the Association. As long as the Association is affiliated to the “Joint Council for Performing Artists”, violation of the statutes and decisions of this Council may also lead to expulsion.

The expelled person shall have the right to appeal to the General Assembly at its first meeting, at which the matter shall be decided by a simple majority vote. If an expelled member wishes to be readmitted, he must apply for admission. The application shall be dealt with in the usual manner (§3), except that the decision of the Board shall be subject to the approval of the next ordinary General Meeting if his exclusion has been decided by the General Meeting in due time.

§18
The General Assembly has the highest authority in all matters of the Association. The Ordinary General Meeting shall be held each year before 15 June and shall be convened with at least 10 days’ notice in writing to each member – at the address known to the Association – containing the agenda and the audited accounts.

The General Assembly shall be presided over by a chairman elected from within or outside the circle of members, whose signature to the minutes shall be full proof of the proceedings of the General Assembly.

Voting shall be by show of hands unless the Board of Directors, a majority of the members present or the chairman requests a written vote. Voting may be exercised by proxy by another member of the Association, provided that no member may vote under more than 2 proxies.

§19
Proposals made by members, including proposals for the election of the chairman, other members of the board, auditors and deputies, must be received by the board before 1 May of the year in question.

§20
At the Ordinary General Meeting, the agenda shall include:

1) Election of the chairman.

2) The President’s report on the Association’s activities during the past year.

3) Presentation of the audited annual accounts for approval.

4) Election of the President and other members of the Board (§6).

5) Election of substitutes (§8).

6) Election of auditors and deputy auditors (§9).

7) Drawing of lots for the scholarship referred to in §31.

8) Any other business.

§21
Decisions of the General Assembly shall be taken by simple majority, except in the cases referred to in §23, 24 and 25.

§22
The Board may convene an Extraordinary General Meeting with at least 5 days’ notice.

If at least 25 members so request in writing, stating the agenda, the Board shall be obliged to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting within 14 days of receipt of the request, giving the above notice.

§23
In order for amendments and additions to the Statutes to be validly adopted, at least half of the members of the Association must be represented at the General Meeting concerned and at least 2/3 of the votes cast must be in favour of the proposal in question.

§24
For the dissolution of the Association to be validly adopted, at least 3/4 of the members of the Association must be represented at the General Meeting concerned and at least 4/5 of the votes cast must be in favour of the dissolution.

§25
If at one of the General Meetings referred to in §23 and §24 the sufficient number of members is not represented, the matters in question shall be dealt with at an Extraordinary General Meeting convened by the Board of Directors not later than 14 days after the meeting.

At this General Meeting, irrespective of the number of members represented, the aforementioned proposals may be adopted provided that the majority of 2/3 and 4/5 of the votes cast, respectively, required by the aforementioned paragraphs is in favour of the proposal.

Proxies for the first General Meeting shall also be valid for the second General Meeting.

§26
The funds of the Association may only be invested in solid interest-bearing securities in accordance with the provisions for the investment of the funds of minors, provided that they do not consist of gifts of immovable property, movable property and the like.

§27
The Association shall be liable for its obligations only to the extent of its assets at any time. No personal liability shall attach to the members of the Association, including its Board of Directors.

§28
Any member who has been a member of the Association for at least five years shall be entitled, on request, to sickness benefit in the event of illness causing financial loss, up to the amount of the membership fee paid by the member concerned.

§29
Funeral assistance may be granted on application to members who have been members of the Association for at least 5 years, up to an amount determined by the Board.

§30
Christmas allowances may, on application submitted before 1 December, be granted to needy members in an amount to be determined by the Board. Where special circumstances apply, Christmas allowance may be granted to a member’s surviving spouse, parents, siblings or children.

§31
A scholarship, the amount of which shall be determined by the Board, shall be awarded by lot each year at the Ordinary General Meeting.

§32
The winner may not participate more than once in the draw for the grant.

Assistance for public appearances may be granted to members who have made public appearances at their own expense since the last General Assembly.

Application for eligibility must be received by the Board before. The application must be submitted by 1 May and must include proof that the performance in question has made a loss, that it has been of a legitimate nature and can be said to have been essential to the artistic and financial existence of the performance, and that the expenditure has not exceeded what is necessary.

The Management Board shall each year determine the amount of money which may be used for the purposes of this paragraph and the size of the individual portions. Aid shall normally be granted only to cover part of the shortfall.

§33
The Board may, in exceptional circumstances, grant a member an exceptional allowance. It may also, in exceptional cases, alone or jointly with other organisations or institutions, make gifts or contributions for purposes which either fall within the natural sphere of interest of the Association or can be said to be of a general national or humanitarian nature.

§34
If the association ceases to exist, an independent institution shall be set up to which the capital of the association shall be transferred.

The general meeting which decides on the dissolution of the association shall at the same time decide on the arrangements for the administration of the funds of the institution and on the person who is to be responsible for that administration.

Any profits from the assets, apart from administrative expenses, may be used only for the benefit of soloists and their survivors.

Members of the dissolved association shall always have priority.

Adopted at the General Assembly in June 1969, revised in 1988 and 1996.