History producers in midst of forming board to advise on next conference

Questions arose of possibly merging with the science producers’ conference as Achilles Media attempted to set the stage for the formation of an advisory board to oversee the next World Congress of History Producers. Achilles Media principal Robert Montgomery said that organizing the history congress provides a "symbiotic relationship" with the Banff Television Festival, which it also hosts since taking over from the bankrupt Banff Television Foundation (BTF) last April (CCR, April 22/04). BTF had a contract with the science producers’ association to run its conference as well but the contract terminated with the bankruptcy, and this year the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival took over running the World Congress of Science Producers. In the past few years, BTF has run the two conferences back-to-back so that delegates only have to travel once to attend both, and the history producers seemed keen to continue in that vein. Montgomery suggested it was up to the yet-to-be elected advisory board of history producers to undergo such discussions with the science producers. "We haven’t had a discussion on that particular subject (coordinating dates and the place of the next conference with the science producers). We were focused on getting this event together," he said in response to questioning on the subject. "We are aware that the Science Congress people are looking at their dates and places, but they have not engaged us in their discussions. I think the board is the tool to do just that (collaborate)…The board can decide where the connection works and where it doesn’t." Others suggested an outright merger with the science producers conference, but Montgomery replied, "I think that is not up to me. We’re relatively new at this. We just got involved in the middle of April." But he did reiterate the importance of the festival to Achilles Media. "We’re a little events company. We are the managers of the Banff Television Festival, which happens in June and this happens in the fall, so for us it allows us to have optimum use of our team because there is an event in both seasons," he said. In an effort to move ahead with getting the history producers’ congress right next year, a group outlined plans for the history producers’ advisory board and sought nominations at the inaugural meeting of history producers held during this year’s conference in Toronto last week. Delegates were encouraged to nominate up to two potential board members, which could include themselves. Nominations are being accepted online in the secured delegate’s area of www.history2004.com until November 12. Delegates registered at last week’s fourth annual World Congress of History Producers will be eligible to vote online for the 12-member board. Online voting will start on November 23 and will be open for two weeks. It is expected that the advisory board will be announced in December. "I think it is a really important initiative for making this congress more vital, more interesting to all delegates," said WGBH International (Boston) director Tom Koch, who is one of 11 members on the advisory board nominating committee. The nominating committee envisions a 12-member board consisting of seven broadcasters and five producers. The board would also have three European representatives, three North American representatives and the remainder could come from anywhere else in the world. Some delegates questioned the wisdom of having an even number of members on the advisory board in case of disagreement on a subject. "The issue of board governance has not been dealt with," replied Montgomery, who suggested the board size could be changed as the nominating committee sees fit. Montgomery expects that the board will meet at least four times a year, and its mandate would be to provide Achilles with guidance on an ongoing basis, and provide stability to the conference. The host broadcast for next year’s conference would also have representation on the board. The next conference will be held in Rome, Italy with RAI Educational as the host broadcaster. No dates have been announced. Montgomery said that the advisory board would probably meet at MIP, MIPCOM and the Banff Television Festival, with telephone conference calls in between. "Our role in organizing the congress is miniscule, and it’s time that we make sure that the community this event serves comes to the fore to ensure this event definitely meets their needs," Montgomery said.

History producers in midst of forming board to advise on next conference

Broadcast | November 8, 2004

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