Australian Children's Television Foundation facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Abbreviation	ACTF
Formation	1982; 43 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

The Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF) is a special group in Australia. It's a non-profit organization that helps create and share awesome TV shows and movies for kids.

The ACTF does many important things. It helps make rules for children's TV, funds and shares Australian kids' shows, supports new ideas for children's media, and creates learning materials for schools. They give money and help to Australian writers and producers who want to make great programs for young people.

How the ACTF Started

The Australian Children's Television Foundation began thanks to a determined person named Patricia Edgar. She was the main force behind its creation. For five years, Patricia was in charge of a committee that set rules for children's TV shows. She believed that truly good programs wouldn't be made unless there was a special company, not focused on making money, that could create amazing shows.

Patricia's ideas caught the attention of Norman Lacy, who was a government minister for the arts in Victoria. They decided to work together to make her idea happen. Norman Lacy used his position to get support from other government leaders across Australia. He even hired Patricia to help guide the project. They got office space and some starting money. The Minister for Education in New South Wales, Paul Landa, also helped lead the early meetings.

In 1981, Norman Lacy spoke to a special government committee. He explained why it was so important for the Australian Government to regularly fund this new foundation. This committee agreed and suggested that an independent group should be set up to make children's TV. This led to the creation of the ACTF. It was planned to be funded by the Australian Government, with help from state and territory governments too.

Victorian Arts and Educational Services Minister Norman Lacy, with Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, launching the Australian Children's Television Foundation in Melbourne in February 1982.

Norman Lacy's political efforts and Patricia Edgar's smart ideas and lobbying skills eventually worked. Even though Norman Lacy lost his government seat in 1982, Patricia Edgar kept pushing for funding from the main Australian Government. She had help from Dame Beryl Beaurepaire, a leader in the Liberal Party.

Finally, the ACTF was officially started with support from the Australian Government and almost all the state governments. Patricia Edgar became its first Director and stayed in that role for 20 years. She really helped kickstart the children's television industry in Australia.

Some of the famous shows she helped create include Round the Twist, Lift Off, The Genie From Downunder, Sky Trackers, and Mortified. Her programs won over 100 awards from Australia and around the world! These included four AFI Awards, two Logies, an International Emmy Award, and the Prix Jeunesse.

After Patricia Edgar left in 2002, Jenny Buckland became the new CEO. Between 2002 and 2008, the ACTF helped with big shows like Holly's Heroes, Mortified, and Lockie Leonard. Mortified won more awards than any other children's show in its history.

Most of these shows were ordered by commercial TV channels because of special rules about how much children's content they had to show. The ABC, another big TV channel, didn't order much children's drama during those years. They mostly showed their own programs or imported shows from other countries.

In 2006, the ACTF pointed out that switching to digital television was a great chance to make better TV for Australian kids. They asked for a special digital channel just for children. The ACTF teamed up with the ABC to push this idea, and it got support from the government.

In 2009, the government gave the ABC money to create special channels for kids. These were ABC2 (for younger children) and ABC3 (for school-aged children).

ABC3 brought in many new ideas and programs. Since 2009, new shows supported by the ACTF and shown on ABC include My Place, Dance Academy, Nowhere Boys, and Bushwhacked!.

The story of Australian children's television and the ACTF are closely linked. The ACTF has played a huge role in supporting unique Australian programs and making sure there's help to produce them.

ACTF Leaders and Board

The ACTF still gets money from the main Australian Government and all the states and territories, including Queensland now. Each state and territory government can suggest someone to be on the ACTF board. The main Australian Government can suggest three people. These board members can then choose up to three more independent members.

Many important people have been on the board over the past 35 years. One person who has made an amazing contribution is Janet Holmes à Court. She joined the board in 1983, representing Western Australia. In 1990, she was chosen as the chairman of the board and has been re-elected every year since! She is now an independently chosen member of the board.

The main office of the ACTF is located on Smith Street in the Fitzroy area of Melbourne.

Awards

The ACTF and the shows it has supported have won many national and international awards over the years. These awards recognize excellence in children's television, from best series and direction to acting and educational resources.

Productions

The ACTF has helped develop or support many well-known television series, including: