The AILA Board of Directors met face to face in Adelaide for BM 174 last week. And it is my absolute pleasure to update you on the outcome of this meeting.
While the board meeting was packed with action lists, updates on financials, membership numbers and operational priorities, the highlight was also an opportunity to meet with the AILA South Australian (SA) Chapter Manager and Executive face to face and to experience their awards night.
The very professional MC duo stand-up comedian Kate Burr and our very own SA State President Daniel Bennett kept the room engaged and pumping, while a truly memorable welcome to country by Robert ‘Kardi’ Taylor highlighted why so many of the award-winning projects demonstrated a strong connection to country. These projects saw their proud indigenous representatives crowding the stage to receive well deserved awards and recognition.
Acknowledging to the collegial spirit of the night, the Hon. Nick Champion MP, Minister for Planning, went off script sharing his experience of the awards night exclaiming ‘this feels more like being at the Logies or the Oscars!’. A great testimony to the culture of landscape architects in the SA AILA chapter.
A special shout out to AILA State Chapter Manager Sally Bolton for her leadership and tireless work behind the scenes, and congratulations to the SA AILA Fresh members whose level of involvement and commitment on the night was commendable. It is exciting see the interest and engagement of our young members who are receiving a good grounding as future leaders.
It was a memorable night! Congratulations to all, awards entries and winners!!
The AILA Board and CEO received positive feedback from members, students, industry, and state government representatives – an invigorating reminder to celebrate the achievements of the profession and AILA gains resulting from our strategic plan and organisational priorities.
The board meeting explored how to continue to renew and strengthen AILA’s governance and to ensure continual improvement of AILA’s value proposition for members.
As we continue to be responsive to the needs of our members; foster lifelong and academic education; lift the profile of landscape architects in the community; and advocate to all levels of government we will further strengthen our distributed leadership model with greater alignment between the AILA Board and State Chapter Executives and Committees to make AILA an even better member-based organisation.
While good governance necessitates a need for continual reflection and improvement, it is important to remind ourselves about all the good things that are being achieved. The Board takes a recent burst in membership numbers and the positive feedback from our South Australian members as a clear indication that strategic goals and hard work of our Chapter Executives and AILA Staff is translating into membership increases.
The AILA board is proud to lead and be part of a valued and desired membership organisation.
Katharina Nieberler-Walker
AILA Director