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the big picture
It’s now a year since I became chairman of the Academy, with another year to go. This year has passed, as I rather sus- pected it might, with incredible speed. But what, if anything, has been achieved in that time?
I feel the main achievement has been to maintain the dynam- ic process of modernisation and growth in the Academy despite a difficult economic climate.
Our high-profile Tribute evenings – to Eon Productions, Sir John Mills, Spike Lee, and Billy Connolly – were the first big events in my term to help keep our role in setting standards of excellence at the forefront of public awareness.
The highly acclaimed Film Awards this year – possibly the most successful ever – strongly re- inforced that, as did the TV and the TV Craft Awards. But their success was actually greater than would first appear, because the serious downturn in the economy put the economics of staging all these events under considerable stress.
It’s a great tribute to members of staff and Council that we never- theless managed to mount five such successful awards ceremonies without any serious upset to our finances. Our members’ events and screenings also went up signifi- cantly – and numbered more than 350 in 2002/03 – creating ever bet- ter opportunities for members to view films eligible for voting and gain insights into the film or pro- gramme-making process.
You probably all know by now of our Raising The Roof campaign – part of the continuing effort to make membership of the Academy desirable and the building a wel- coming and enjoyable place.
Rather scarily, every time we investigate the amount of work to be addressed and the costs, the figures go up again! We were to have started the first phase of the refurbishment this summer, but the complex planning issues still haven’t been sorted out. So the plan now is to do everything in one go next summer.
I regret the delay but on the other hand, we are addressing systematically issues that have been neglected for years and are still proceeding as deter- minedly as we possibly can.
One silver lining in all this is the fact that it allows us more time for fundraising. I’m delighted to say that, despite the economic cli- mate, we’ve had a very positive
Michael Attwell, Chairman
response to the campaign to ask people and companies to endow new seats in a refurbished Princess Anne Theatre.
The other encouraging devel- opment has been the response to our asking renewing members to consider making a donation. We’ve had an astonishingly posi- tive response with a majority of renewing members pledging sums both large and small.
I want to thank both those endowing seats and members mak- ing donations for their tremendous support. We have raised a promising £200,000 to date, with an added commitment from The David Lean Foundation to works in the David Lean Room. It’s all extremely helpful and encouraging.
And to those who are still con- sidering a commitment, can I just say that we’re still a long way off what we need!
We have a number of addition- al fundraising initiatives that we’ll be announcing shortly. We hope they’ll involve fun and enjoyment, not just dipping into your pockets – so with luck, we’ll see this very robust endorsement from mem- bers and supporters continuing.
Throughout all this, our attempt to broaden the member- ship has been continuing. Growth has continued strongly, and in the last year we also accom- plished a goal I’ve always regarded as important: we finally had almost as many members under 30 as over 60!
We’re delighted to have members of all ages but if you think how ever-changing and vital our industries are, and how strongly under-30s are concen- trated in them, I feel we still have
some way to go in bringing in younger members.
The growth in membership is probably connected to the ever- widening range of the Academy’s activities. We have had, and will continue to have, a terrific range of events, meetings, and screenings – in fact, the sheer number is still going up!
The building of course remains open for food, drink, private meetings, and general socialising too. It still represents both a con- venient central meeting place and remarkably good value for food and drink – so do use it! It’s your building.
The end of my first year also sees the departure of Simon Relph as our Deputy Chairman and the arrival of Duncan Kenworthy to that position. Simon has been a tower of strength to the Academy and to me person- ally, and so a huge thank you must go to him. Duncan is already a great asset to the Academy and I welcome him to his new role.
As you know, we’ve also been holding elections to com- mittees and CounciI – and so a big welcome to all new and returning members, and thanks to retiring ones.
The life of the Academy and our complex network of meet- ings, events, relationships, and business are to some extent driv- en by, and largely managed by, our staff, led by Amanda and our Chief Operating Officer, Kevin Price. I can testify to this in a very direct way from my expe- rience over this last year – and so finally, a very heartfelt thank you to all of them too!
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