Internal Rules of the association

The following internal rules stand as a contract between IETM members and the IETM Secretariat. New members are expected to read these internal rules thoroughly and to approve them when filling out the online IETM membership application form. Please note that these rules are non-statutory but can be read in conjunction with the Statues of the association.

Download the internal rules in PDF ->

Mission statement of IETM

IETM advocates for the value of the arts and culture and empowers performing arts professionals through access to international connections, knowledge and a dynamic forum for exchange. IETM stimulates the quality, development, and context of the contemporary performing arts, in all its diversity.

Who can become a member?

• Organisations: All employees and Board Members of an IETM member organisation benefit from the IETM membership, as long as they have an individual account linked to the organisation on the IETM website.
  
   
• Freelance/self-employed professionals: Here defined as individuals who are not salaried employees, neither part-time nor full-time, by an organisation which itself would be applicable for the IETM membership. They also do not work on a continuous or regular basis with an organisation who would be applicable for IETM membership.
  
   
• Associate Members: Organisations providing support to the performing arts field, in their own country as well as internationally. IETM Associate Members are official bodies, ministries, arts councils and public funding organisations, and foundations. They have the same rights as other members but their higher fee includes a support grant to the network. We provide our Associate Members with a special forum for peer exchange and feed them with information on our activities and policy developments.

All IETM members are professionally engaged in:

• the development and distribution of new, innovative contemporary performing arts,
  
   
• artistic collaboration and exchange across national borders.

In addition, IETM asks its members to:

• commit to the aim of IETM to advocate for the value of arts and culture within our societies
  
   
• subscribe to our basic values of generosity, responsibility, solidarity and openness.

In a nutshell, IETM members represent all performing arts disciplines: theatre, circus, street arts, dance, mime, music theatre, new media, performance art, interdisciplinary live art forms, object theatre, site-specific work, and more. IETM members include artistic companies, organisations, festivals, venues, residencies, collectives, producers and independent artists, theatres and dance houses, cultural/research/resource centres, fellow artistic and cultural networks, universities and institutional bodies. They work in all aspects of international cooperation: education, creation, production, presentation, curation, promotion, support, research.

What does IETM membership mean?

• Commitment to the process of networking, to furthering the aims of IETM, and to sharing information, knowledge, skills and contacts in order to create the best possible conditions for contemporary performing artists to develop, create and share their work across national borders.
  
   
• Participation in the life of the network, contributing to topics, moderating, speaking, reporting or otherwise helping during the events, ‘buddy’ or mentor new members and voting at the IETM General Assemblies. Members are free to host IETM events through contacting the Secretariat. 
  
   
• Help to spread information about IETM and its activities and make it visible to others in the sector

What does IETM membership offer?

• Access to all IETM Events: Members can send one representative from their organisation for free – additional representatives must pay a reduced fee of €50 regardless of their income. 
  
   
• Full access to the IETM website www.ietm.org to register for and access information about all events, reports and activity plans, publications, members announcements, contact details of other members, etc. Members can use the members database, change their personal data, advertise or look for jobs, search for partners, and participate in group discussions. They can also post their own news/resources/calls to action, which are then promoted on IETM’s social media channels and in the newsletter.
  
   
• Receiving the monthly IETM newsletter and other information on international collaboration in contemporary performing arts. Based on your profile information, the IETM Secretariat may contact you directly with calls or projects that could potentially be of interest to you.
  
   
• Access to the advanced partners search tool, allowing members to browse through the members list and the list of individuals who have an account on the IETM website.
  
   
• Representation on a European level. One of the oldest and largest European networks, IETM is a leader in advocating towards international and European institutions on culture sector issues. Members can contribute by answering surveys and promoting our calls and policy papers.
  
   
• The possibility to apply for the Newsround or Pitchorama sessions, allowing members to pitch their project live or on video during Plenary Meetings.
  
   
• Full voting rights during the General Assembly, possibility to take part in the governing bodies, access to discussions and planning processes that help shape the network and its future activities. 
  
   
• Access to the travel grant schemes (for membership categories 1 and 2).
  
   
• And much more; the more active you are, the more you benefit from being part of the network.

Membership fees and administration

How to join the network and what happens next?

New members are invited to join the network through an online membership application form. The complete instructions on how to join IETM can be found on ietm.org/join.

After submitting their membership application, the new member receives an email along with an invoice to be settled within 30 days. Once the invoice has been paid, the Secretariat organises an online welcoming session with the new member to know more about them, their activities and their expectations of IETM, as well as to tell them more about the network, their membership benefits, the ways to interact on the IETM website, and more. New members are also mentioned on the IETM forum, in the newsletter and on social media

How much does the IETM membership cost?

IETM members pay an annual membership fee, valid from January to December – for new members, the fee remains the same regardless of when they join during the calendar year. Fees vary, depending on the annual turnover of the organisation or of the freelance activities (= total income received in one year: subsidies, ticketing, sponsorship, etc.).

The fees are adjusted to inflation rates every 5 years (the next adjustment will take place in 2025). Please note that, in some cases, we may ask you to share with us your organisation’s financial report from the past year.

Membership fees

How does the membership renewal work?

The IETM membership is automatically renewed every January. In late January or early February, the IETM Secretariat sends an email explaining the renewal procedure to the main and billing contacts of all IETM members. Members are requested to fill out an online renewal form where they have the possibility to pay their membership renewal by credit card or by bank transfer.

The payment deadline is set in the second week of March of the ongoing year. After that deadline, an extra 6% is charged if the membership is still not paid. The Secretariat sends at least two reminders before the deadline in addition to the initial renewal emails. Organisations facing difficulties are urged to contact the Secretariat before the deadline to make alternative arrangements. 

The IETM membership is only valid when the membership fee has been paid. 

How to cancel the membership?

Our statutes require that members can only withdraw/cancel their membership in writing to the Board via the Secretariat at membership@ietm.org before the payment deadline of the membership renewal, or else that fee of the ongoing year must be paid. This is a legal requirement according to our statutes. 

What happens if a fee is outstanding at the end of the year?

If a fee is still outstanding at the end of the financial year, the Secretariat will cancel the membership and inform the member in writing. The membership fee will, however, still be due and will have to be paid. If the member decides to re-join IETM, unpaid fees must be settled. 

Why is it important to keep contact details up to date?

In order to be listed correctly on the Membership List, to receive the IETM mailings and the membership renewal information, members must return information about their organisation before the deadline, or when their details change. Members can update their contact details directly on the IETM website. Before the end of the year, the Secretariat will send a communication to the main contact of all members to verify that their information is up to date.

Event Administration

The access to IETM events is free of charge for the first representative of a member organisation. Beyond the first delegate, each additional participant from the same organisation will pay a registration fee of €50. Please note that these rates are only valid during the early-bird registration period. If the registration is made after the early-bird deadline, each member participant will have to pay a late fee of €100. These rates only apply to members who have settled their membership fee. Members will be required to settle their membership fee before accessing the event.

Non-members may attend an IETM event. Local hosts will set the fees for local participants. For other non-member participants, costs of participation depend on the annual gross income of the organisation and will vary between €100 – €300 per person, again, in the case the registration to the event is done before the early-bird deadline. If the registration is done after the deadline, the participation fee is €300 per participant. 

The early-bird deadline is usually approximately 1 months to 3 weeks prior to the event.

If the organisation decides to become a member during the Spring Plenary Meeting or within 15 days after the event, the participation fee will be deducted from the membership fee.

There may occasionally be registration fees for other types of IETM events and events, but members will always have preferential rates.

Governance and organisational structure of the network 

You can read more about the governance and organisational structure of the network on this page. This text, Governance and Organisational Structure of IETM, was approved by the IETM General Assembly held by written consent from 2-24 June 2021. All older versions are hereby outdated.