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the big picture
It is that time of year when the membership department is recovering from the annual renewal process, the Awards, sponsorship, publishing and edito- rial teams are once again starting the ‘awards year’ and the corpo- rate events team are working hard to cope with the demands on the building at our busiest time.
The membership team are quite literally coming up for air after coping with a record-break- ing couple of months – we had a record number of membership renewals and more new mem- bers than ever before. The post received on a daily basis after the renewal notices went out had to be seen to be believed.
Thanks must go to Amy and Toby for their sheer hard work in processing the thousands of forms. Remember that Amy also runs our membership events!
I should also take this opportu- nity to sincerely thank all mem- bers who enclosed donations with their renewals – to date your cheques have made up the incredibly generous sum of £45,000. Thank you for your out- standing belief in the Academy and the work we do.
We have a number of exciting events this Autumn. The BBC are televising two BAFTA Tributes: in November we honour Julie Walters and in December, Ronnie Barker – both incredibly deserving recipients. On Sunday November 30, we host the British Academy Children’s Film and Television Awards in association with the LEGO Company at the London Hilton, Park Lane.
These Awards continue to go from strength to strength and this year we have launched an excit- ing and unique initiative for the LEGO/BAFTA Kid’s Vote. For the first time, we will give thousands of children across the country a chance to have their say about their favourite film.
The Kid’s Vote was launched in September as part of Film Education’s National Schools Film Week and details of the vote were sent to 50,000 schools nationwide. Additionally, over 5000 children were given the
opportunity to watch the short-listed films for free, in 16 locations around the UK. BAFTA also opened its doors to children with screenings arranged by the four UK branches.
Many thanks must go to the LEGO Company and Film Education for their fantastic support of the Kid’s Vote. Voting continues until 21 November at www.kidsvote.net but you can only vote if you are 16 or under!
Our fundraising for ‘Raising the Roof’ con- tinues to go well. There are a number of events taking place to swell our funds, with a number still at development stage.
Amanda Berry, Chief Executive
On Sunday October 19, we celebrate Lord Attenborough’s recent 80th birthday with a screening of Gandhi followed by dinner. At Lord Attenborough’s request, tickets have been sold for this event so that we can use his birthday celebration to raise as much money as possible for ‘Raising the Roof’. Our sincere thanks go to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for their generous sponsor- ship of this event.
Members will be able to share in our President’s birthday cele- brations on October 18 when we are hosting membership screen- ings of Magic and Oh! What A Lovely War, with Lord Attenborough in attendance.
We also have plans for two special events later this year: a membership auction with a celebrity auctioneer and a unique film screening.
Our plans for the Film Awards (February 15), Interactive Festival and Awards (February), Television Awards (April 18) and Craft Awards (May 16) are well underway. This year the Interactive Committee decided to split the Awards in 2004 into two ceremonies and create a festival of events celebrating the interactive industry.
The BAFTA Interactive Awards will focus on new media, whereas the BAFTA Games Awards cere- mony will focus purely on the games industry, with 18 cate- gories covering all formats and genres. The changes were made to give all areas of new media far greater support and recognition.
We have been holding trial runs for the on-line voting system for the Film Awards and I’d like to thank all of those who volun- teered to help us with these trials.
A great deal of work has been done in recent months develop- ing the site but with all film voting going on-line we will test and re- test until we are happy the site is as near perfect as it can be. From what I have seen so far, I think users will find it much easier to use.
I hope you enjoy this issue of ACADEMY and the accom- panying tribute brochure for Lord Attenborough.
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