Film Archive Forum

1. Name

The organisation shall be called the Film Archive Forum (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Forum’). It will also be referred to as the UK Film Archive Forum, as the occasion demands it.

2. Objectives

1. To represent and support the public sector moving image archives in the United Kingdom
   
2. To promote and advise on all archival aspects of the moving image in the UK, particularly the preservation of film, video and other moving image media; with the training of moving image archivists; with acquisitions policy, standards for moving image archives, copyright; and with co-operation with film laboratories, and contacts with foreign moving image archives.
   
3. To establish guidelines and to maintain the highest standards of moving image archiving in the UK.
   
4. To represent the public sector moving image archives in the UK on national bodies that reflect the museum, library, archive and moving image sectors.

3. Membership

1. Membership of the Forum will be of three kinds: Full, Emerging Archive, and Observer.
   
2. Membership is institutional and is open to any moving image archive that subscribes to the objectives of the Forum. New and developing public sector moving image archives will be granted Emerging Member status, pending Full Membership. Bodies or archives which are less directly concerned with moving images in the UK, but which have an interest in the Forum’s objectives, may be invited to attend meetings as Observer Members.
   
3. Membership of the Forum of all kinds will be subject to the agreement of the whole Forum.
   
4. All members shall pay an annual subscription, with different amounts for Full, Emerging, and Observer status, such amounts to be decided at any one meeting of the Forum.

4. General Organisation

1. The affairs of the Forum will be conducted by the full meeting.
   
2. The Forum will be governed by an Executive Committee, comprising a Chair, normally the current Head of Information at the British Universities Film & Video Council (BUFVC), and the elected roles of Deputy Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer.
   
3. Executive committee members will serve for two years. No Executive committee member can be re-elected more than twice in succession for the same position.
   
4. A secretariat for the Forum will be provided by the BUFVC.
   
5. Any member archive may send up to two representatives to any one meeting, except at the discretion of the Chair.
   
6. All voting will be by a show of hands and all Full or Emerging archive members attending a meeting will be entitled to one vote per archive. Issues of membership will be voted on by Full Members only.
   
7. The Chair has no vote, but can make procedural decisions on voting if the occasion arises.
   
8. The quorum for any meeting shall be six Full Members.
   
9. The Forum can at all other times be represented by any Full Member(s), with the agreement of a meeting of the Forum, or following consultation with the Chair.
   
10. Where necessary, sub-committees representing special interests within the Forum, e.g. English regions, may be formed and call their own meetings, while keeping the full Forum informed of such activities.
    
11. Representation of the Forum on national committees will be drawn from the Executive, which will have the power to co-opt for this purpose.

5. Subscription

The annual subscription to the Forum shall be that sum which the meeting shall from time to time decide, such a sum being understood to be the minimum. Different subscriptions will apply to Full, Emerging, and Observer Members. Subscriptions shall become due on joining the Forum and, thereafter, on 1st April annually.

6. Finances

The financial year of the Forum shall begin on 1st April and end on 31st March the following year. All expenditure shall be authorised at Forum meetings, or at other times by the Chair and Treasurer. All funds, investments and assets of the Forum shall be held, managed, paid and applied as the Forum may direct. All such funds shall be held in an account or accounts in a bank or banks or otherwise in the name of the Forum as the Forum may from time to time direct. Any two of the following are authorised to act as signatories: the Chair, the Deputy Chair, the Secretary, the Treasurer.

7. Meetings

The Forum will normally meet four times a year (normally March, June, September and December), with additional meetings as may from time to time be deemed necessary, at the premises of Member archives and at dates to be decided at meetings of the Forum. The Executive committee will additionally meet at least once between each full meeting.

8. Definition

The definition of a public sector moving image archive is that given in the Forum’s publication Moving History: Towards a Policy for the UK Moving Image Archives (1999): “Repositories for the custody and preservation of, and access to, the history of our times as recorded on film, videotape and other moving image formats. Such archives contain works made by amateur and professional producers for cinema, television and other purposes. These archives encompass the history and culture of moving image media and respect the integrity of the works above any commercial or short term exploitation. These institutions operate for the public good on a ‘not for profit’ basis”.

9. Alteration

No alteration may be made to this Constitution without a two-thirds majority of those present and voting at any one meeting, for which twenty-one days’ notice shall have been given to the members.

Murray Weston
Chair, Film Archive Forum

This constitution was formally accepted by a meeting of the Film Archive Forum on 6th December 2000, and amended following a meeting of the Film Archive Forum on 8th September 2004.