International Federation of Television Archives


The Fédération Internationale des Archives de Télévision - International Federation of Television Archives is a worldwide association of institutions, commercial companies and individuals managing or with a special interest in audiovisual archiving in general and television archives in particular. Many members are commercial and public broadcasters, but also national archives are involved ever more. In general terms the association wants to connect the members, to spread knowledge in the field of television archiving and to defend their interests on an international level.

Organisation

The goal of the federation is to create cooperation among television archives, multimedia and audiovisual archives and libraries. To meet these goals, FIAT/IFTA provides forums to share knowledge and experience. Some of FIAT/IFTA’s main objectives are to provide a forum for exchange of knowledge and experience between its members, to promote the study of any topic relevant to the development and use of audiovisual archives and to establish international standards on key issues regarding all aspects of audiovisual media archive management. FIAT/IFTA has over 250 members. The office is currently situated at the Raidió Teilifís Éireann.
FIAT/IFTA has working relations with other organisations in the field, amongst others as a member of the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations.

Executive Council

FIAT/IFTA is chaired by a president and a general-secretary.
The President, the General-Secretary, the Treasurer and the Commission Chairs are ex-officio members of the Executive Council.
Next to these, the other Executive Council members, accumulating to a maximum of 12, are elected every 4 years, by groups of 6 alternating every 2 years.

Commissions

Next to the Executive Council, FIAT/IFTA has got 4 commissions, each with 6 à 12 members and a chair:

Conferences and seminars

FIAT/IFTA World Conference

The FIAT/IFTA World Conference is held each year, usually in October. The evening programme includes an opening cocktail, a gala dinner and the annual FIAT/IFTA Archive Achievement Awards gala. The 2017 World Conference was held in Mexico City, the 2018 edition took place in Venice, hosted by RAI. The 2019 edition took place in Dubrovnik and was hosted by HRT. On 25 October 2019, FIAT/IFTA President Bríd Dooley announced that the 2020 edition will be a joint conference of FIAT/IFTA and the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives in Dublin. Both associations will organise a General Assembly including elections for their Presidency and Executive Council at their 2020 conference.
In the even years the World Conference also holds a General Assembly, during which the new president and a part of the Executive Council is elected. The Conference features keynotes speakers, panels discussions, workshops, masterclasses, case study presentations, social events, and networking opportunities.

Regional Seminars

Next to this, FIAT/IFTA organises regional seminars around the globe, in order to focus on regional television archiving challenges. Recent editions were held in Rio de Janeiro, Bucharest and Dubai.

Media Management Seminars

The Media Management Commission also organises a biannual seminar called 'Media Management Seminar' since 1998. The proceedings of these seminars are published and printed and freely available online via the FIAT/IFTA website. Recent editions where held in Stockholm, Lugano, Glasgow, Hilversum and Toronto.

FIAT/IFTA Archive Achievement Awards

FIAT/IFTA Archive Achievement Awards is a series of three annual awards given for the best use of archival material, the best archive preservation project and the most innovative use of archival material. Several other categories have come up and disappeared over the course of the nineties and 2000s. Occasionally also a Lifetime Achievement Award is attributed to a person with exceptional and enduring merits in the field of audiovisual archiving.

FIAT/IFTA Save Your Archive

Save Your Archive is a program designed to help saving endangered audiovisual collections. The ambition is to save the world audiovisual heritage, starting with a few collections. The Program does so by various means, including by providing financial support, training and/or technical assistance. The program speaks to FIAT/IFTA’s core mission – designing useful policies and tools to serve the archival community and developing cooperation among its members. The program works under the umbrella of the Archives at Risk campaign by the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations. In the past projects in East Timor, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Romania, Colombia,... have received help from the programme.

History

FIAT/IFTA was founded as an association under French Law on 5 October 1977, when archives directors of mainly broadcasters but also national audiovisual archives felt the need to establish a separate organisation dedicated to television archives, as they weren't accepted as members of the International Federation of Film Archives. Most members knew each other via the European Broadcasting Union. After preparative meetings in the course of 1976-1977 in Paris, London and Rome, the first conference of FIAT/IFTA was held in October 1977 in Paris.
After Paris 1977, annual World Conferences took place all over the world:
YearLocationHostKind of event
2020DublinRaidió Teilifís ÉireannWorld conference and General Assembly with International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives
2019DubrovnikHRTWorld conference
2018VeniceRAIWorld conference and General Assembly
2017Mexico CityFonoteca Nacional, TV UNAM, Sistema Público de Radiodifusión del Estado MexicanoWorld conference
2016WarsawNarodowy Instytut AudiowisualnyWorld conference and General Assembly
2015ViennaORFWorld conference
2014AmsterdamNetherlands Institute for Sound and VisionWorld conference and General Assembly
2013DubaiMiddle East Broadcasting CenterWorld conference
2012LondonBBC, British Library, FOCAL InternationalWorld conference and General Assembly
2011TurinRAIWorld conference
2010DublinRTÉWorld conference and General Assembly
2009BeijingCCTVWorld conference
2008CopenhagenDR World conference and General Assembly
2007LisbonRTPWorld conference
2006MadridUniversidad Carlos III de MadridWorld conference and General Assembly
2005New York CityCBSWorld conference
2004ParisInstitut National de l'AudiovisuelWorld conference and General Assembly
2003BrusselsVRT, RTBFWorld Conference
2002AntalyaTRTWorld Conference and General Assembly
2001LondonBBC, British Film InstituteWorld Conference
2000ViennaORFWorld Conference and General Assembly
1999Santiago de ChileTelevisión Nacional de ChileSeminar
1998FlorenceRAIWorld Conference and General Assembly
1997BudapestMTV HungarySeminar
1996ParisInstitut National de l'AudiovisuelWorld Conference and General Assembly
1995WashingtonLibrary of Congress, together with AMIASeminar
1994BogenseeDeutsches Rundfunkarchiv, together with IASAWorld Conference and General Assembly
1993SofiaBulgarian National TelevisionSeminar
1992GenèveSRG SSR, then known as SSRWorld Conference and General Assembly
1991TurinRAISeminar
1990TokyoBPCJWorld Conference and General Assembly
1989LisbonRTPSeminar
1988Hilversum, The HagueWorld Conference and General Assembly
1987West-BerlinDeutsches RundfunkarchivSeminar
1986MontréalConcordia UniversityWorld Conference and General Assembly
1985LondonBBCSeminar
1984MadridRTVEWorld Conference and General Assembly
1983StockholmSVTSeminar
1982Rio de JaneiroRede GloboWorld Conference and General Assembly
1981Monte EstorilRTPSeminar
1980OttawaLibrary and Archives CanadaAnnual Meeting
1979SantanderRTVEAnnual Meeting
1978RomeRAIAnnual Meeting
1977ParisInstitut national de l'audiovisuelAnnual Meeting

Regarding the organisation of the federation, next to the ones mentioned above several other commissions have come and gone:
The past presidents of FIAT/IFTA were:
NameInstitutionStart year of presidencyEnd year of presidency
Otto SprengerARD19781982
Anne HanfordBBC19821990
Vittorio SetteRAI19901994
Tedd JohansenNRK19941998
Peter DusekORF19982002
Emmanuel HoogINA20022006
Edwin van HuisDutch Institute for Sound and Vision20062008
Herbert HayduckORF20082012
Jan MüllerDutch Institute for Sound and Vision20122016