TV's facilities include media production so we asked Benedict Ayrton, artistic director at TV, what added value MTR had brought to the partnership. His answer illustrates another aspect of this sector - the importance of informal networks.

Denise had worked as a video freelancer for TV before establishing her own company (MTR) in the same borough. Ben says that the partnership arose from `a meeting of minds … there is a commonality of language (which) means there are all these things you don't need to explain to each other because you just know.'

TV, like MTR, is an organisation that is 'absolutely committed to participation and people developing their own skills through producing their own work.' Ben felt that this was 'particularly important on a project as sensitive as the Our Life one. It meant I had absolute trust in terms of her (Denise's) integrity. Her work is so simple and so effective.

Theatre Venture hoped the project would build links to other cultural groups in Hackney, which could be developed and extended.

This longer-term perspective heightened TV's concern that the young people must experience initial involvement as empowering⁴. The project evaluation tells us that 'there were a lot of concerns about who was going to see the final piece and whether the participants could be sent home because they had talked about their lives.'

Theatre Venture and MTR together produced a short evaluation of the project that identifies clear aims and objectives:

Aim: To offer documentary skills to young refugees residing in the Newham area.

Objectives:

• For the young refugees to produce a series of video diaries to be screened in Newham and the wider community;
• For the documentary/s to be used as an educational tool within schools and youth organisations; and
• To enable young refugees to take control over their own media and share their stories with the wider community and others who may live in isolation in the UK.

It is hoped that Our Life will act as a pilot for developing a more extensive TV project Cultures on Loan.

FUNDING

These videos are made on very little funding. The average budget per film project is under £2000. This primarily pays for staff time (although not at skilled media worker's rates) as MTR has its 'own kit and editor. I couldn't do it if I had to pay Soho rates'.

Even community rates are currently £400 - £500 per day for editing so grants less than £5000 assumes other means of editing will be found or provided. Chasing small, individual grants limits the time that can be spent on development and evaluation.

"Film making by young people, for young people."

MTR, whenever possible, will extends their philosophy of full participation to include project recipients in the process of identifying funding sources and making applications.

For a small organisation securing income can demand a large proportion of staff time but there are also some advantages to such piecemeal funding - it remains free to be guided by its own principles and priorities:

Core funding is hard to obtain without running your organisation as a business - quantity rather than quality.'