Australian Children’s Television Foundation CEO Jenny Buckland has paid tribute to chair Janet Holmes à Court after it was revealed the businesswoman and philanthropist plans to step down from her position after nearly four decades.
In an interview with The Australian, Holmes à Court reflected on her 36 years in the role, expressing her pride at the 61 Australian-made programs made during her tenure, the likes of which have included Lift Off, Round the Twist, and MaveriX.
“It’s a huge pleasure to know that kids in 160 countries around the globe watch Australian programs, listening to our accent, our humour, learning about our values,” she told the publication.
“For example, MaveriX was shot in Alice Springs with a largely indigenous cast, and now Netflix has released it globally and translated it into 38 languages.”
For Buckland, the impact of her chair on the ACTF and Australian children’s television was “beyond measure and beyond words”.
“Her passionate advocacy for quality children’s television comes from the heart – Janet has a deep love for children and Australian culture and believes that providing screen content and access to the arts for all our children says so much about the kind of country we want to be,” she told IF.
“She has been a wonderful colleague and friend to all of us who have been lucky enough to work with her. Her lasting legacy is that she has taught us that above all our job is to put the audience first.”
Earlier this year, Holmes à Court was named as one of seven members of an expert advisory group for the federal government’s National Cultural Policy, which is expected to be unveiled before the end of the year.
She told The Australian that “self-regulation is not enough” when it came to policies surrounding the commissioning of new children’s content on streaming services and free-to-air channels.
“I think there’s a crisis in children’s screen content in Australia,” she said.
“When quotas were put in place for children’s programs back in the 1980s – the first of their kind in the world – the Foundation was established and suddenly Australian children could see their own stories. And now, 40 years later, we’re in crisis. We have lost the quotas for children’s content and free-to-air channels and streaming services are not mandated to produce or fund it.”