Australian Children's Television Foundation

Abbreviation	ACTF
Formation	1982; 39 years ago (1982)
Legal status	Australian non-profit public company limited by guarantee
Purpose	Support the development and production of, and distribute, high-quality Australian children’s screen content
Headquarters	Fitzroy, Victoria
Location	Australia
Website	www.actf.com.au

The Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF) is a national non-profit children's media production and policy hub.

The ACTF helps develop children's television policy; distributes and pays for Australian children's television series; supports new children's media; and develops screen resources for the education sector.

The Australian Education Council established the ACTF following recommendations to Commonwealth, State and Territory governments. It is supported by, and receives funding from, the Commonwealth Government and the governments of most States and Territories.

The ACTF provides funding and support to independent Australian producers and writers of children's programs.

History[]

The founding director of the Australian Children's Television Foundation Dr Patricia Edgar AM was the driving force behind the establishment of the Australian Children's Television Foundation. As the chair of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal's Children's Program Committee for 5 years enforcing children's program standards and the children's drama quota Edgar argued quality programs would not be made without a not-for profit production company creating exemplary programs. Her arguments caught the attention of the Victorian Minister for the Arts (and Educational Services) Norman Lacy who invited her to work with him. Lacy was an admirer of Edgar's ideas for improving the quality of children's television production. They agreed to join forces to promote the proposal for the establishment of an organisation to achieve their shared objectives. Lacy then used his ministerial membership of the Australian Education Council and the Australian Arts Ministers' Conference to initiate^[1] the establishment of the Australian Children's Television Foundation.^[2] He appointed Edgar to the Arts Ministry staff to steer the project, provided office space and establishment funding, and won the support of NSW Education Minister Paul Landa with whom he co-chaired the early steering committee meetings.[1]^[3][4]

In early 1981, Lacy addressed the Senate Standing Committee on Education and the Arts arguing for the strategic and national importance of a Commonwealth commitment to recurrent funding for the fledgling Foundation.[2] The Senate Standing committee report Children and Television Revisited recommended the establishment of an independent children's television production unit, which was the impetus for the foundation of the ACTF, to be funded by the Australian government with contributions from state and territory governments.^[5]

Norman Lacy's political advocacy and practical support coupled with Patricia Edgar's intellectual capacity and lobbying skills eventually won through and the Australian Children's Television Foundation was born with funding support from the Commonwealth Government collectively matched by all the State governments except Queensland.^[6] Subsequently, Patricia Edgar, the founding executive director of the foundation, retired and Jenny Buckland was appointed CEO in July 2002.

Major productions that the ACTF was involved with between 2002 and 2008 included Holly's Heroes (with Ann Darouzet and Jenni Tosi), Mortified (with Enjoy Entertainment), Double Trouble (with CAAMA) and two series of Lockie Leonard (with Goalpost Pictures). Mortified won more national and international awards than any other children's program in FFC history.

All those series were commissioned by commercial broadcasters, as a result of the quotas. The ABC was only commissioning very small amounts of children's drama during those years and most of its shows, other than its in-house productions such as Playschool and Behind The News (which was axed for a time), were imported.

In 2006 the ACTF publicly highlighted the opportunity afforded by the switch to digital television to provide a much better media service for Australian children. It called for the establishment of a dedicated digital public channel for children. The original vision was for a distinctive, comprehensive, children's public service channel which was predominantly Australian and available to every family that could receive digital free to air television. Ultimately the ACTF joined forces with the ABC to champion this idea, which received support from the Howard Government during the 2007 election campaign.

The Rudd Government gave the ABC funding which saw it establish its children's destinations on ABC2 (for pre-schoolers) and ABC3 (for school aged children) in 2009.

ABC3 attracted new entrants and original programming ideas. New programs commissioned by the ABC and supported by the ACTF from 2009 include My Place 1 & 2, three series of Dance Academy, several series of Nowhere Boys, three series of Bushwhacked, Worst Year of My Life, Again, Ready For This and Little Lunch.

The history of Australian children's television and the ACTF are inextricably linked, with the ACTF playing a pivotal role in supporting distinctively Australian programs, and advocating for the support mechanisms required to produce those programs. The ACTF has had a singular focus on achieving quality outcomes for child audiences, and its involvement in every stage of development, production and distribution of children's television since 1982 has made possible a slate of enduring quality children's television series that generations of Australian children are growing up with.

ACTF Chairman and Board[]

The ACTF continues to receive funding from the Commonwealth and all States and Territories (Queensland is now included). Each State and Territory Government has the right to nominate a member of the board, and the Commonwealth Government may nominate three members. Those ACTF Board members may elect up to three independent board members. There is a long and distinguished list of people who have been on the board over its 35-year history, but the most extraordinary contribution of all is that of Janet Holmes à Court. Janet joined the board as a representative for Western Australia in 1983. She was elected chairman of the board in 1990 and has been re-elected every year since. She is now an independently elected member of the board.

The headquarters of the ACTF are on Smith Street in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.

Awards[]

Productions[]

Notable television series developed or assisted by the ACTF include:

References[]

External links[]

• Official website