The FIAT/IFTA Executive Council met in Vienna

Saturday November the 28th the new Executive Council (EC) met in the ORF offices in Vienna. One main item on the agenda was a discussion on a more detailed budget for 1999 than was presented at the General Assembly in Florence.

The plan of expenditure for such heavy activities as the Rio Conference, the FIAT/IFTA Awards and the hired Administrative Coordinator was set.

An important event at the meeting was, of course, the signing of an agreement between FIAT and Sveriges Television AB (SVT). The latter is contracted to provide FIAT with the services of an Administrative Coordinator, including all office facilities. This arrangement will come into effect from December 1st. Mrs. Katharina Robertsson Reimer has been appointed as the new Coordinator and was introduced at the EC meeting.

Katharina Robertsson Reimer
Photo: Lasse Nilsson

She has been working as an Archive Editor at the SVT TV-Archives since 1993. Her educational training is BA at the University of Stockholm, extensive studies in French at the Sorbonne in Paris and a period of French studies in Montreal, Canada, with some teaching. She has also worked as a research assistant in French at the University of Stockholm.

You can get in touch with her via e-mail at the address: ifta@svt.se or by ordinary mail:

FIAT/IFTA Administrative Coordinator 
c/o SVT AB/Tevearkivet 
SE-105 10 Stockholm, Sweden. 
Phone: +46 8 784 5750 
Fax: +46 8 663 1232

Also appointed at the meeting was the new chair of the Training Commission, Mr. Branko Bubenik, head of the Croatian Television TV-Archives. As such he is also coopted to the EC and appointed member of the Conference Organizing Committee.

Mr. Branco Bubenik
Photo: Sten Frykholm

The date for next year's Conference in Rio was set to October 3rd-5th. The title will be: "Audiovisual Archives of the New World - A New World of Audiovisual Archiving". The venue and dates for the Conference and General Assembly of year 2000 were decided upon: Vienna at the beginning of October. This time our colleagues of AMIA - the Association of Moving Image Archivists (North America) - will be invited to celebrate the start of a New Millennium of Audiovisual Archiving with a joint conference at the Hofburg Palace.

Another important matter of discussion was the distribution of areas of responsibilities within the EC. Not only the Commissions but every area of activity will from now on have a coordinating member of the EC. We hope to publish this list very soon.

Members of the new FIAT/IFTA Scientific research work group were appointed. There will be a conference in this field of FIAT activities in Stockholm on October 28th-29th 1999 on the theme "Approaches to Television Studies". It will be jointly arranged by FIAT/IFTA, SVT, the Institute for future studies and the University of Stockholm. A detailed programme and a presentation of invited lecturers is soon to come.

Next EC meeting will be in Rome, March 12-13th 1999.

Lasse Nilsson, lasse.nilsson@svt.se