The British Records Association Annual Conference 2024 is being held in partnership with the Association of Performing Arts Collections (APAC), a network for all museums, libraries and archives holding performance arts materials in the UK and Ireland.
This is an opportunity to share the work of the performing arts archive world with the wider sector and consider the transferability of particular methods and experiences of performing arts information professionals.
The conference theme is active archiving, with, through, and for practitioners. We will explore how archives can be developed in collaboration with the record creators, the practitioners themselves, to create more representative collections of performance for use by practitioners, academics, the general public, and beyond. We will also address current concerns regarding long term preservation of performance archives and the interventions available to save endangered works and collections.
PROGRAMME:
10.15 Welcome from the BRA and from APAC
Widening Access to Collections
10.30 Robyn Greenwood, Collections Manager, and Rachel Sharpe, Head of Co-Curation, Royal Shakespeare Company: Royal Shakespeare Company: Creating Transformation; Co-Curating Collections with Artists, People and Places
10.55 Georgina Donohue, Heritage Officer, Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall Nottingham: Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall Nottingham – Heritage Mural Commission with Handmade Theatre
11.20 Maggie Gray, Senior Lecturer in Critical and Historical Studies, and Caoimhe Mader McGuinness, Senior Lecturer in Drama, Kingston University: Engaging Engaged Archives: Revisiting Cartoon Theatre
11.45-12.00 – comfort break
Records at Risk Panel
12.00-12.05 Introduction from the Chair
Philip Gale, Head of Collections and Cultural Property, and James Hodgson, Head of Archive Sector Funding, The National Archives: Rescuing Performance Arts Archives
Dr Toni Sant, Digital Curation Lab, University of Salford: Questioning Permanence in the Archive: Reflections on the Malta Music Memory Project
12.20 Panel Discussion
12.45-14.00 – Lunch and BRA AGM 13.30-14.00
Collaborative Curation
14.00 Erin Lee, National Theatre and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama: Active Archiving at the National Theatre: Creating a Collection Collaboratively
14.20 Jane Pritchard, Curator of Dance, Victoria & Albert Museum: Collections of Dance and Dancers in the Victoria and Albert Museum
14.40 Dr Barry Houlihan, University of Galway: ‘A Fine Bit of Talk’: A New Digital Oral History Archive of Contemporary Irish Drama
15.00-15.30 Afternoon refreshments
15.30 Sarah C Jane, Archivist (Development Lead), Falmouth University and University of Exeter Penryn Campus: This is Kneehigh: Archive, Legacy, Spirit
15:50 Julian Warren, Head of the Theatre Collection and Sian Williams, Keeper, University of Bristol Theatre Collection: Beyond the Object Entry Form: Some Archival Reflections on Working with Record Creators
16.10 Conference conclusions and close.
Book your tickets on our Eventbrite page. Conference fees include full catering for the day. For any accessibility requirements please email: secretary@britishrecordsassociation.org.uk
Apply for a free place
- Why you are interested in attending,
- Why the subject of the conference is important to you, and
- How the event might contribute to your professional development.
