What’s Been Going On?

October 3, 2012

Since Save Kids' TV closed its doors at the very end of 2011, there have been nine months of planning and preparation.  

• We merged SKTV & CFTF in the early part of 2012, in a new not-for-profit company - The Children's Media Foundation.  There's a new Board and a series of Working Groups whose leaders form our Executive Committee.
• We conducted a consultation on the structure and funding model for the new organisation.
• We set up and now run the All Party Parliamentary Group on Children's Media and the Arts. Prominent Parliamentarians have been elected to officer roles (with Baroness Floella Benjamin as Chair) and ithere have been three meetings in 2012, with much the same agenda as CMF - using research and expert insight to inform decision-making. (More news on the APPG here).
• In April 2012 The Board appointed Greg Childs as Director of the Children's Media Foundation. With Administrator Jacqui Wells also on board the organisation is now up and running. Greg can be contacted at: director@thechildrensmediafoundation.org
• The new CMF website has ambitious plans to develop its potential as a centre of debate amongst our supporters and patrons, a research database, with tools for archivists and media educators.
• The BFI ha staken on responsibility for curating the Children's Film Foundation archive - one of our assets -  and In July they released the first in a series of DVDs which can be purchased on the BFI website.
• We continued our support for certain key campaigns.  Save Kids' TV donated to Animation UK to help develop a comprehensive report on the economic impacts of a tax-break for animation.  The All Party Group welcomed representatives of the animation industry - including Wallace and Gromit - to the Houses of Parliament, just before the Budget when the Chancellor announced the tax incentive.  We have since contributed to the Treasury consultation on the detail of the tax-break proposal.
• We also opened up a new campaign front of our own. The Smith Report on the future of British film specifically mentioned the need to stimulate children's and family film production in the UK (following representations we made during the report's consultation stage). The BFI have been charged with delivering and we have consulted with the new Director of the Lottery Film Fund there, on how to  stimulate more independent chidlren's and family movies to be made in the UK.
• We've signed up four "Founder Patrons" who are kick-starting the organisation with financial and moral support.  If you'd like to support us too - you'd be very welcome.  You can sign up here.

What Now for the CMF? Our Founder Patrons