Invitation to the Annual General Meeting

This year’s Annual General Meeting will take place, in a reduced format, on 27 March 2021 and deal with the formalities in the usual rhythm. Members will be able to participate again via livestream and there are plans to introduce a chat channel for outside contributions to the meeting.

Dear members,

In mid-January 2021 around 30 representatives of the Anthroposophical Societies in different countries held a video conference: while for some of them it was early in the morning and summer (New Zealand), it was the middle of the night (India), evening and snow (Europe) and midday (America) for others. It emerged that hardly any of the representatives foresee being able to travel in person to the AGM scheduled for 26 to 28 March 2021. The decision was therefore made to postpone the spring conference of the country societies to the summer (12 to 14 July 2021), when it will follow on from the planned Alma Humana conference (a meeting for people from Romance-speaking countries and anyone interested, with German and English interpretation).

Shorter AGM on 27 March 2021

In these consultations, which included the Goetheanum Leadership, the Executive Council decided to hold the AGM at the usual time, but to reduce it to one day because of the uncertainty of the Corona situation.

We invite all members who will be able to attend to the General Anthroposophical Society’s Annual General Meeting at the Goetheanum on 27 March 2021, from 9 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. This means that formal procedures will not be left unaddressed for too long, and it is impossible to say with any certainty if and how a full annual conference will be possible later in the year.

Following last year’s positive experiences, we will hold a similarly concentrated AGM, livestreamed in German and English. In addition, we will experiment with a live chat channel that allows members to ask questions which will be brought to the meeting by a chat moderator.

Exact conditions for the meeting will depend on local and national government regulations at the time and will be communicated in the next issue of Anthroposophy Worldwide.

Proposed agenda for the 2021 AGM

27 March 2021

9-10.30 a.m.

1 Welcome and opening of the meeting

2 The situation of anthroposophy and of the Anthroposophical Society in the world – Executive Council report and other short contributions

10.30-11.15 a.m. Coffee break

11.15 a.m. – 1 p.m.

3 Developments and initiatives in the School of Spiritual Science and its Sections

4 The Anthroposophical Society in the different countries: changes and perspectives

5 Discussion

6 Presentation of motions submitted by members

1–2.30 p.m. Lunch break

2.30–4 p.m.

7 Presentation of the 2020 financial statement and auditors’ report

8 Discussion of the 2020 financial statements and approval

9 Election of Auditors

10 Motion to discharge the Executive Council

11 Decision on further motions and concerns submitted to the 2021 AGM

4–5.15 p.m. Coffee break

5.15-6.30 p.m.

12 Commemoration of the dead and artistic conclusion

Concerns to be submitted at the 2021 AGM

The general meeting asks the Executive Council to examine

– if the procedure, explained in detail last year, regarding the form, which was intended at the Christmas Conference of 1923 but which has since been seriously harmed and disregarded, for cultivating the anthroposophical movement as the new Christianity

– is to be re-established and realized, including on a legal basis, in a contemporary and authentic form with a view to the forthcoming centenary of the Christmas Conference in 2023, and

– if yes, to announce this to the membership within six months.

– If it should not be possible, the Executive Council should announce how it may be possible.

To access the full presentation and rationale for this concern log in on the Goetheanum website, www.goetheanum.org/login and go to 2021 AGM.

The suggested ‘disentanglement’ would mean a separation into

– the Anthroposophical Society in a narrower sense,

– the legal administration of the Anthroposophical Society, and

– the administration of the Goetheanum building.

The Executive Council would be the connecting link between the three organizational forms.

Since the 2019 AGM a group of around 30 members has met in three colloquia in order to work on a comprehensible chronicle of the history of the constitution since 1902.