Wolanski
Foundation Supports NIDA Archive Project
The Wolanski Foundation has formed a partnership
with the National Institute of Dramatic Art to assist the development of
performing arts information resources at Australia’s leading theatre school.
The NIDA collections comprise official records,
company archives of the Old Tote Theatre Company and Jane Street Theatre,
personal collections of distinguished directors and staff such as Robert
Quentin, Tom Brown and John Clark, the NIDA Rodney Seaborn Library (a
reference service available to NIDA staff, students and the general public)
and the SBW Foundation Collection incorporating material from the theatre
historian and broadcaster John West, and material from the Dennis Wolanski
Library of the Performing Arts.
In December 2004, the NIDA Foundation Trust
launched an appeal to raise $3 million to establish improved facilities for
the collections and develop them as a major Australian information cultural
resource.
Wolanski Foundation director Paul Bentley will
join archivist Dr Peter Orlovich, Dr Margaret Leask, Kathryn Adler and Derek
Nicholson to develop archive plans, systems, programs and services,
complementing library services managed by Christine Roberts.
NIDA General Manager Elizabeth Butcher said:
“NIDA’s role in supplying well trained actors, directors, designers and
technicians to the industry is a story worth telling and a story worth
preserving. Mel Gibson, in a recent interview, spoke about it as a huge
entertainment force. Its impact on post-war cultural developments, such as
state arts centres and state theatre companies, needs to be appreciated. We
very much welcome the involvement of the Wolanski Foundation in the
project.”
Phillip Wolanski, a board member of NIDA, said:
“I’m delighted to be able to support the development of the NIDA
collections, housing some of the material dispersed by the Sydney Opera
House in 1997, and other significant items relating to Australia’s cultural
heritage.”
The Wolanski Foundation was established in 1998
to facilitate management, production and appreciation of the arts through
the provision of information services. It provides a web-based information
service and aims to generate ongoing value from the work of the Dennis
Wolanski Library of the Performing Arts, assist other organisations to
manage their arts information resources, and stimulate collaboration in the
management of arts information.
IDA will light the candles for its 50th birthday
in 2008. In celebrating its achievements, it will point with pride to a
stellar cast of directors and artists widely recognised in international and
Australian theatre, film and television.
Contact: Margaret Leask, phone 02 9697 7554.
Websites:
NIDA www.nida.edu.au
The Wolanski Foundation www.twf.org.au
