Preserving the Past at the Civic Theatre, Allentown

by Eric Colleary Comment Closed
Many thanks to Beth Massa of the Civic Theatre, Allentown, Pennsylvania for this guest post about their efforts to preserve their theatre's history. Do you have a story to tell about your theatre? We'd love to hear from you! First handbill for the Civic Little Theatre, 1927 The Civic Theatre was founded in 1927 by two local newspaper reporters in response to the then-current national Little Theatre movement. Located in Allentown, PA, the Civic Little Theatre (CLT), as it was then called, found success from its very first production. Over the years the organization struggled to find a permanent home, moving from shared attic space to an unheated building on the city’s fairgrounds to a vacated movie theater to a local high school auditorium to a local college stage. Finally, in 1957, CLT moved into its current home at the Nineteenth Street Theatre, a 1928 Art Deco movie palace in Allentown’s West End. In the last decade, capital improvements to the theatre...
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ATAP Graduate Student Administrator

by Eric Colleary Comment Closed
The American Theater Archive Project (ATAP) is currently seeking a graduate student with a strong interest in performance archives to serve as a paid graduate administrator for the organization. ATAP is an initiative of the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) that assists theatre companies and artists in preserving the records of their theatrical process. In coordination with a designated ATAP Steering Committee member, the Administrator facilitates communication for the project; manages the website and social media; coordinates regional team membership; organizes quarterly meetings of the Steering Committee and regional team leaders; and maintains an income and expense spreadsheet to track budget. May perform additional duties as needed.  JOB DUTIES Communications • Field and direct inquiries received through ATAP Gmail account • Check in with designated Steering Committee supervisor monthly to review activities, budget and timesheet • Create and distribute monthly newsletter to ATAP constituents Website, Social Media, and Google Drive• Update pages in WordPress based on changes in membership and instructions from Steering Committee • Maintain ATAP Twitter and...
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Job Posting: Asst. Archivist at Winthrop Group

by Eric Colleary Comment Closed
ASSISTANT ARCHIVIST – New York, NY The Winthrop Group’s Information & Archival Services Division is seeking to hire an archivist in New York City.  This full-time Assistant Archivist position offers an opportunity to assist in the establishment of a unique performing arts archive and contribute to the organization’s centennial commemorations in 2019. RESPONSIBILITIES Under the general supervision of a Winthrop Group Lead Archivist, the Assistant Archivist will: survey 600+ boxes of archival records in an off-site storage facility actively participate in content appraisal, arrangement, and description of archival materials to ensure long-term preservation and access to collections track and receive cartons shipped to/from an off-site storage facility routinely collaborate with the client’s Archives Committee and Events Committee draft collection and access policies assist, as requested, in exhibit development, outreach, and training of volunteers implement digitization projects and manage files in a records management system in collaboration with Information Technology staff respond to reference inquiries from client’s staff and external stakeholders collaborate with other members...
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Job Posting: Asst. Archivist at LA Philharmonic

by Eric Colleary Comment Closed
The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association is currently seeking an: Assistant Archivist Founded in 1919, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association's mission is to perform, present, and promote music in its varied forms at the highest level of excellence to a diverse and large audience, both at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.  The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association is dedicated to continuing its pre-eminent status in the music world of the 21st century. Position Summary: The Assistant Archivist performs archival duties that require working knowledge of archival management principles to organize, describe and promote access to historical materials, specifically those to be used for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s upcoming centennial celebrations. The Assistant Archivist reports to the Digital Archives Manager. Position Elements: Following national standards and best practices, develop local guidelines, procedures, and workflows to ensure consistent, secure, and long-term access to archive collections. Review and revise the documents on a regular basis. Identify priorities and determine appropriate approaches to processing collections and preparing them...
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ATAP New York’s Preserving Performance Workshop Now Online

by Eric Colleary Comment Closed
ATAP New York's Claudia Wilsch Case, Tanya Elder, and Noreen Whysel organized an incredibly helpful workshop on Preserving Performance for the Preludes 2016 conference at CUNY. Joined by Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble (actor David Elyha and tech director Richard Keyser), The Living Theater (artistic director Brad Burgess) and HERE Arts Center (producing director Kim Whitener), this workshop aims to introduce basic strategies for theatre companies interested in preserving their records and why it's never too late to start. Watch the recording online here, and check out other video resources ATAP offers here....
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Fellowship: Manuscripts Archival Fellowship, Princeton

by Eric Colleary Comment Closed
The Manuscripts Division, a unit of Princeton University Library’s Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, is proud to offer the inaugural Manuscripts Division Archival Fellowship to one graduate student or recent graduate this year. This fellowship provides a summer of work experience for a current or recent graduate student interested in pursuing an archival career. For more information about the Manuscripts Division visit: http://rbsc.princeton.edu/divisions/manuscripts-division Fellowship Description: The 2017 Fellow will gain experience in technical services, with a focus this year on description and management of born-digital and audiovisual materials. The Fellow will work under the guidance of the of the Manuscripts Division processing team, which includes the Lead Processing Archivist, Latin America Processing Archivist, and General Manuscripts Processor. Projects for 2017 may include: Processing one or more paper-based or hybrid format manuscript collections; Conducting a survey of legacy audiovisual materials and assisting in the writing of a grant proposal for an audio digitization project; Assisting with processing and analysis of...
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Conference: Festival of Original Theatre, 2017

by Eric Colleary Comment Closed
The 2017 Festival of Original Theatre: Sounding the Inner of Performance February 2-5, 2017 The Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies (University of Toronto) You’re invited to attend four dynamic and chock-full days of sonic celebration and inquiry at the 2017 Festival of Original Theatre (FOOT)! FOOT is both an annual academic conference and performance festival that brings together scholars and artists alike for cross-disciplinary exploration and exchange. This year FOOT celebrates both its 25th anniversary as a festival, and the 50th anniversary of the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies (CDTPS). This year’s theme — Sounding The Inner Ear of Performance — offers an interdisciplinary investigation into the history and evolution of sound and aural experience in theatrical and performative cultures. Festival events will include lecture ­presentations, panel discussions, audio essays, ‘collage concerts’, interactive installations, a blindfolded walking tour and mask workshop. We invite all theatre enthusiasts, artists, educators, students and scholars to join us for a fascinating and diverse exploration of...
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Call for Proposals: American Society for Theatre Research, 2017 – Atlanta

by Eric Colleary Comment Closed
November 16-19, 2017 Proposal Deadline for Plenary Papers, Working Sessions, and Curated Panels – February 1, 2017 Grand Hyatt Atlanta Buckhead 3300 Peachtree Rd NE Atlanta, GA 30305 Extra/Ordinary Bodies: Interrogating the Performance and Aesthetics of “Difference” Historically, bodies have been divided into categories that separate the normal from the abnormal, the natural from the monstrous. In Generatione Animalium, Aristotle describes terata (monsters) as defective beings because they disrupt the order of nature. Subsequent approaches to defining our world, and by extension the human body, continued throughout the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Enlightenment, and into our present understanding of scientific, racial, and moral difference. These “extraordinary bodies,” as Rosemarie Garland-Thomson calls them, have persistently been understood as aberrations that produce either fear or marvel. She says, “Because such bodies are rare, unique, material, and confounding of cultural categories, they function as magnets to which culture secures its anxieties, questions, and needs at any given moment.” A focus on extraordinary bodies also provides an entryway into a discussion of...
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Job Posting: Audio Preservation Engineer at NEDCC

by Eric Colleary Comment Closed
The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) seeks an experienced audio preservation professional to serve on its expanded Audio Preservation Services team. NEDCC’s expanded audio preservation service builds upon the Center’s successful implementation of “IRENE,” the IMLS-funded optical scanning technology developed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Library of Congress for digitizing grooved audio carriers.  NEDCC is investing in the additional facilities, equipment, and staffing to offer reformatting of audio content on magnetic and other obsolete media using more traditional approaches. NEDCC acknowledges the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the expanded audio services.  NEDCC’s service will help fill a much-needed niche of providing 1:1 transfers with 100% quality control, particularly for those highly significant collections that deserve a specialized (rather than high-throughput) workflow.  In addition to digitization, NEDCC will offer collection- and item-level surveys, cleaning, treatment, and re-housing using vetted and transparent (i.e., non-proprietary) approaches. FOR COMPLETE POSITION DESCRIPTION, qualifications, and application information, visit: https://www.nedcc.org/about/employment-opportunities   LEARN MORE about NEDCC's Audio...
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Call for Proposals: Digital Public Library of America, 2017

by Eric Colleary Comment Closed
DPLA is seeking session proposals for DPLAfest 2017, an annual conference that brings together librarians, archivists, and museum professionals, developers and technologists, publishers and authors, educators, and many others to celebrate DPLA and its community of creative professionals. Proposals should be related to digital libraries, broadly defined. This year, we are particularly interested in proposals at the intersection of digital libraries and: Social justice Copyright and rights management Public engagement Analytics, assessment, and impact Metadata/data quality Collaboration across types of institutions and sectors Training, professional development, and technical literacy Open educational resources Open access content, including use and reuse Technical infrastructure of interoperability including International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) integration ResourceSync Linked Open Data Repository systems Aggregation technologies Search and discovery We also encourage proposals that highlight digital library work being done in and/or focusing on our host city – Chicago! The deadline to submit a session proposal is Tuesday, January 17, 2017. You will be notified by early February whether or not...
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