AusStage
National Performing Arts Database
Flinders
University, as the lead organisation for a group of eight Australian
universities, is developing the AusStage national performing arts database.
The project is supported by an Australian Research Council grant, the Council
of Heads of Australian University Theatre Studies Institutions, Australasian
Drama Studies Association and members of Museum Australia’s Performing Arts
Special Interest Group]. The project will establish a core database as a
catalyst for additional projects.
OVERALL PROJECT AIMS
-
creation
of a website
as a focal point and mechanism for data entry and searching;
-
development
of a comprehensive national database
listing all performing arts events in Australia;
-
identification,
creation and storage of text, images, audio and video files
to be linked to the national database;
-
identification
of performing arts information and databases in
Australian collecting institutions;
-
development
of search protocols
to extract and present data from the AusStage database and other
information sources;
-
conversion
of legacy print-based and electronic records; and
-
development
of a performing arts gateway
through the National Library of Australia Subject Gateway Project.
NEW SOUTH WALES HUB
The
NSW Hub aims to create or capture information on Sydney and NSW regional
professional and amateur performing arts events from 1789 onwards.
Key
players during stage one are the University of New South Wales School of
Theatre, Film and Dance, University of New South Wales Social Sciences and
Library, Seaborn Broughton and Walford Foundation, the Wolanski Foundation and
Mark Carpenter, a private collector with a substantial Australian performing
arts database.
Wolanski
Foundation director, Paul Bentley, is assisting the development of a NSW Hub
after completing reports on information standards, NSW feasibility and
management of past events.
Testing
of data entry for current events (January 2001 onwards) is in train. The
creation of entries for past events is expected to begin within the next
couple of months with the importation of records from Mark Carpenter’s
database and creation of entries from the substantial Dennis Wolanski Library
of the Performing Arts program collection, now located at the University of
New South Wales Library.
To
sustain the project, it is intended that the University of NSW School of
Theatre, Film and Dance will manage ongoing data entry for current events (January
2001 onwards), with the assistance of a network of voluntary organisations and
individuals, using a web-enabled database.
We
would like to hear from organisations and individuals who may be interested in
providing data on events in particular organisations, venues, locations,
periods and art forms. .
FURTHER
INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION OF INTEREST
To
obtain more information or register your interest regarding NSW events, please
contact Paul Bentley.
To
obtain more information or register interest on events in other states, please
contact the national project manager Joh
Hartog at Flinders University
