Jane Mercer Memorial Fund

In memory of Jane Mercer, the late chair of FOCAL International, this fund has been established by her friends and colleagues of FOCAL International, as a mark of the significant contribution she made to the furtherance of our industry. The fund is administrated by FOCAL International, through the FOCAL Training Sub Committee.

The object of the Jane Mercer Memorial Fund is to collect monies and make available grants to individuals or organisations that can be used for training, education and promotion of the footage industry and its associated areas.

It is proposed that the fund is financed in a number of different ways.

• Appeals to individuals and organisations
• Fund raising events, lectures and other initiatives
• Ad hoc donations from FOCAL International. e.g. The Executive board anticipate making a contribution towards the fund dependent on the budgetary position.
• Investing capital in the best possible way to produce income
• Any other appropriate fund raising activities

Jane Mercer was passionate about the archive and content industries. She began her career with Associated Rediffusion Television, later working at the British Film Institute as Press Officer and in the 1970s moved into film research. During the course of her career she worked for all the UK major television companies and in the mid 1990s began teaching a short course at the National Film and Television School. This led her on to do similar work at the BBC, ITN, PACT (the Producers Alliance for Film and Television) and the European Documentary Network. Jane was Chair of FOCAL International 2000-2005, during which time she championed professional development and training. She received the FOCAL International Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. Jane’s words sum up her passion and beliefs: ‘I believe deeply and passionately in what FOCAL is and does and I think that the world of footage libraries and archives, unlike much of the media industry, has a community of aims and ideas and a generosity of spirit which makes working for it not only a great responsibility but also a huge pleasure’.

• The Jane Mercer Training Award training.htm
• Attendance at FOCAL training events
• Work experience opportunities
• Free Associate Membership of FOCAL International (no voting rights) for 1 year. (Associate membership is at a preferential rate for those new to the industry)
• Jane Mercer Memorial Lecture. FOCAL International intend to establish an annual or regular memorial lecture. An invited speaker would be asked to present on a topic directly relevant to the aims of FOCAL International and to promote our industry.
• Any other appropriate initiatives in keeping with the spirit of the fund

If you would like to donate to this fund, please contact info@focalint.org

For further details and application forms for the Jane Mercer Training Award see www.focalint.org/training