SMASA

SMASA is an acronym for Session Musicians Association of South Africa with an objective to create a vibrant South African music performance system build on the back-bone of session musicians. This vision will be realized through strong session musician driven cooperatives movement.

Session musician’s co-operatives will be guided by both the values and principles defined by the International Co-operative Alliance. The definition is as follows; co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others. Principles

The co-operative principles are guidelines by which co-operatives put their values into practice. 1st PRINCIPLE: VOLUNTARY AND OPEN MEMBERSHIP, 2nd PRINCIPLE: DEMOCRATIC MEMBER CONTROL, 3rd PRINCIPLE MEMBER ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION, 4th PRINCIPLE: AUTONOMY AND INDEPENDENCE, 5th PRINCIPLE: EDUCATION, TRAINING AND INFORMATION, 6th PRINCIPLE: CO-OPERATION AMONG CO-OPERATIVES, 7th PRINCIPLE: CONCERN FOR COMMUNITY