MACE's stage two application has to be submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund by June 2009.  If it is successful, we would expect to appoint project staff in late Autumn of 2009 and for the real work to begin in early 2010.

The project will last for three years. 

That said, MACE is a permanent organisation that would want to maintain relationships with community groups beyond the life of the project.  After all, we would hope that film and video materials would continue to be found in 2013 and beyond and, as the public sector regional film archive for the midlands, MACE would be on hand to support you if required.   

We would like partners to initially organise a search for film and video in their community.  How this is done will be dependent on the nature of the community but articles in your organisation's newsletter and the local press could be a place to start.  If the community is small then a leaflet drop might be the easiest way to communicate with everyone you are trying to reach. You may even want to have an archive film screening that could kick the project off and make a bit of buzz in the area.

You may also be aware of existing film collection(s) in your community, in which case it might be worth talking to the owners to explain the opportunity that FULL CIRCLE offers both to them (a DVD copy of their films and the guaranteed preservation of the collection) and the wider community 

If film and video is found it will be sent to MACE for processing.  Once copied to a usable format it will be returned to the community where, content and copyright permitting, we would like your organisation to organise an event that engages people in the community.  Again, this would be something that would have to be appropriate to the community itself and, as such, decisions on what it is would have to be made by your organisation.  Indeed, it could become part of another project you are running or act as a way of attracting new members to your organisation.  

Your group may also wish to research and provide contextual information about the found material.  Support and training on how best to do this will be provided.   

Throughout these processes MACE will not expect you do things in a particular way.  We understand that each community is different and want you to shape the project so it meets your needs.  

Also, you will not be on your own.  You will be allocated a community project officer who will help you organise the film search as well as support and advise wherever they can.     

Four people will be appointed to work specifically with community organisations involved in FULL CIRCLE. 

Your main contact will be a designated community project officer who will help you devise your plans for the project.  This will include advice on how to conduct the intitial film search and suggestions on what event(s) might be appropriate to showcase the films and video that you find. 

They will also provide training on how to indentify, handle and care for film and video tape.  Where necessary training will also be provided on how to describe moving images for cataloguing purposes.  

In short, you will have unlimited access to direct support for the duration of the entire project.

An important part of FULL CIRCLE is the transfer of archival skills into communities across the midlands.  This will include information about how to indentify, handle and care for film and video tape, which will be provided by your community project officer.  In addition, training on how best to describe moving images for cataloguing purposes will also be provided where necessary.     

There is money in the project to pay for the hire of venues for events as well as leaflets for both the film search and to publicise events.

In addition, you may wish to raise further funds by applying to an appropriate funding body for any additional work that you might want to do with the film and video that you find.  MACE would certainly encourage further funding applications and your community project officer would be able to advise on who to apply to.  

This is not an issue as the the focus of the project is finding undiscovered film and video.  However, if you are already aware of material in the community then this is a bonus as it can be processed by MACE and screened in events that publicise the film search and highlights how material such as this can be used.   

The project will run for three years and during that time we would hope that moving image materials would be found and be processed by MACE.  However, we have a realistic view of the project and understand that this may not be the case.  Where this is the case we would still support you throughout the three year period as the project is about developing an understanding of the importance of film as historical document as well as locating film in the community.  

Not every community group is the same and your community project officer will encourage you to to respond flexibly to the way you want to organise the project and, in so doing, make it yours.  

We expect and hope that there will be quite a lot of variations in the approaches taken and it may well be that there is unexpected activity resulting from the first stage of the project.  

Your community project officer will support and advise but not prescribe.    

The material found by the local searches will initially be passed to MACE where it will be assessed to gauge its value to the community's and region's moving image heritage.  If appropriate the material will be duplicated and a copy passed to the holder of the collection and, if permission is obtained, another copy will be passed to the 'community' to form part of the local collection.   

It is hoped that the original or 'master' material will be deposited with MACE for long term preservation.  However, this is not a prerequisite. 

A copy of MACE's current deposit agreement can be found here.       

No.  If the owner of the material wants to keep the original or 'master' copies then MACE will provide advice on how to best care for them.  If the owner agrees to release master material for assessment but does not wish to deposit the material with MACE then it will be returned to them with copies where appropriate.  The supply of copies to the owner would be on the understanding that MACE can also make copies that will be held by the archive for future use, which would be dependent on copyright clearance.   

All material that is given to MACE is covered by either a deposit or donation agreement.  While the former states that the depositor retains any rights that they hold in the material the latter passes all rights to MACE.  For a donation agreement to be employed the owner must also be the copyright holder. 

These agreements are standard documents so it should be stressed that we can discuss changes to them if necessary. 

If the owner and copyright holder agrees that copies of material should also be passed to the 'community'  then an agreement outling the terms of their use within the community would also be drawn up by MACE.  The terms of this agreement would be dependent on a compromise between the needs of the community and the requirements of the owner. 

Yes. 

The BBC are keen to develop their community engagement and have agreed to be a partner in the project.  They will be interested in the way the project develops as content for news stories on both BBC Midlands Today in the west midlands and BBC East Midlands Today in the east.  They may even develop some programmes out of the material that is found.   

The Rural Media Company, a community production company based in Hereford, is also interested in making new films based on archival material found as part of FULL CIRCLE. 

We are also keen to develop relationships with schools so that they have an opportunity to explore the use of footage relating to their locality in education.  If you know of a school that might be interested in getting involved please let Richard Shenton know. 

The project will only run for three years and will probably come to a close in late 2012.  At this point the contracts for the community project officers and the other project staff will expire.  However, we do not expect that all the material in your community will necessarily have come to light.  MACE will therefore be on hand to help and provide support if you wish to take the activities of the project beyond the end of the formal project.