Type of site | Online database,information repository,relational database |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | Consortium of institutions headed byFlinders University |
| URL | https://www.ausstage.edu.au/ |
| Commercial | No |
| Launched | 2003 (prototype 2002) |
| Current status | Online |
| OCLC number | 855153043 |
| Dataset of live events in Australia since 1789, excluding music-only events. | |
AusStage: The Australian Live Performance Database is anonline database which records information about live performances in Australia, providing records of productions from the first recorded performance in Australia (1789, by convicts) up until the present day. The only repository of Australian performing arts in the world, it is managed by a consortium of universities, government agencies, industry organisations and arts institutions, and mostly funded by theAustralian Research Council. Created in 2000, the database contained more than 250,000 records by 2018.
The AusStage project was instigated by theAustralasian Drama Studies Association in 1999, withFlinders University inSouth Australia leading the project, funded by a grant from the Australian Research Council (ARC).[1] Other collaborating universities wereLa Trobe University (Vic),University of Queensland,University of New South Wales,University of Western Australia,University of New England (NSW),Newcastle University, andQueensland University of Technology. In addition, theAustralia Council, thePerforming Arts Special Interest Group, and industry representativePlaybox Theatre Company, Melbourne (later Malthouse) were initial collaborators.[2] Aprototype version of the database, known as The Event Database (TED), built for theAdelaide Festival Centre Trust by Joh Hartog and Julie Holledge (of Flinders)[3] was launched in October 2002.[1][4]
The purpose was to address a gap in accessible information about events and resources in the area of Australian theatre, drama and performance studies, by creating an online database of events in Australia, withindexes to access it, and also to provide a type ofonline catalog, or directory, of research resources of many types held across the country. The plan was to first combine existing data from the participating universities, and then expand over time, allowing for further data to be input.[2]
In Phase 2, from 2003 to 2005, the project was expanded, with more funding from ARC andCurtin University joining the group. The database was reorganised and the interface improved, but the main effort was put into data entry, with the number of entries expanding from 7,000 to 35,000.[2]
The project continued through several more phases, which included sub-projects on specific aspects, funded by various sources. In Phase 6 (2017-2018), the aim has been to build a visual interface, using newvisualisation technologies and focusing on venues.[2] During Phase 7 (2021-2022), AusStage focused on improving the user interface, adapting the schema to support policy analysis, and using VR to popularise performing arts research.[5]
As of August 2019[update], partners in the project are the Association of Performing Arts Collections (APAC), Flinders University, University of Queensland,Deakin University,Griffith University,University of Melbourne,Edith Cowan University, La Trobe University,Monash University, QUT, the University of Newcastle,UNSW,University of Sydney, the Centre for Ibsen Studies at theUniversity of Oslo in Norway, thePerforming Arts Heritage Network (PAHN),[6] and theState Theatre Company of South Australia.[7]
Project advisors come fromQPAC Museum,National Library of Australia (NLA), UNSW Library, the Performing Arts Collection of South Australia and the Performing Arts Collection at the Arts Centre in Melbourne.[7]
Past partners, advisors and collaborators have included staff and/or funding from theUniversity of Tasmania,University of Western Sydney,RMIT,Macquarie University,Murdoch University, theUniversity of Ballarat, University of New England,University of Wollongong,Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education,NIDA, theAustralia Council,Adelaide Festival Centre,Windmill Performing Arts. A large number of data entry staff is employed, with some based in theUK.[7]
There is a small team of volunteers at the NLA who have been researching and adding data from the library's PROMPT Collection (digitised inTrove). The working group has also been going through the library's holdings of music and theatreephemera, theJ. C. Williamson Collections. Both the AusStage database and the J.C. Williamson Distributed Collection were added to the UNESCO AustralianMemory of the World Register in 2021.[8][9][a]
The database provides records of productions from the beginnings of theatre in Australia up to today,[11] searchable by playwright, venue, company, director and other categories. A team of people working around the country have indexed articles from journals such as theAustralia and New Zealand Theatre Record as well as archived theatre programmes[1] and other printed and electronic materials.[4]
The first recorded theatre production staged in Australia, performed in the same year as the convict settlement was founded inPort Jackson, 1789, and put on by convicts in a hut, withCaptain Arthur Phillip in the audience, is included in the database.[12]
Coverage includes all performing arts events (including theatre, music,spoken word poetry,circus arts and other types) in Australia, venues, organisations, people, etc. Entry is either by browsing, or searching using the indexes, by event, person, organisation, venue, resource or work or any keyword.[13][14] It also contains links to content about the performing arts in Australia in other places.[15]
As of January 2018[update], AusStage contained more than 250,000 records, and has become a valuable resource for thousands of people who have an interest in researching Australian theatre companies, events, directors and anything else to do with the performing arts, for whatever reason.[12]
As examples of its many uses, one researcher used AusStage to geographically map differentcorroboree performances in the 19th century, and then link these to specifictribal andlanguage groups; another undertook asocial network analysis of Australian performing artists, finding that there was only 3.6degrees of separation between them.[16]
In 2021, AusStage was welcomed to the UNESCOMemory of the World Register. TheAustralian Memory of the World Program describes it as unique in its coverage, and states "There is nothing comparable in the world, even in the UK or USA, at a national level".[15]
As of January 2018[update] AusStage had received funding from theAustralian Research Council, the National eResearch Architecture Taskforce (Nectar), the Australian National Data Service (the latter two being divisions of theAustralian Research Data Commons since 2018) and the Australian Access Federation, but as its size has grown, so has its costs. The managers do not want to make it a subscription-only database, as this would contravene the spirit of its creation. It has received major funding from the University of Melbourne Library, the University of Wollongong Library, the UNSW Library and Flinders’ Central Library, but as of 2018[update] it needed to raiseA$200,00 per annum to maintain the resource, so additional donations by university libraries and individual donors were being sought.[12]