Documenting Australian Society – Performing Arts Community of Practice

  • Jenny Fewster Australian Research Data Commons
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37683/asa.v51.10945
Keywords: Communities of practice, Performing arts, AusStage, Documentation strategy

Abstract

While the performing arts are a vitally important dimension of the cultural life of Australia, the performances themselves are often ephemeral and difficult to document in an enduring form. This article describes a successful, collaborative, community of practice-based model for ensuring the creation and curation of performing arts documentation in Australia. The collaboration involves key national professional and industry organisations and peak bodies, working together to ensure that important documentation is identified, preserved, and made available via the AusStage research and discovery platform.

Author Biography

Jenny Fewster, Australian Research Data Commons

Jenny Fewster is the Humanities Arts and Social Sciences and Indigenous Research Data Commons Director at the Australian Research Data Commons in Adelaide. She began working on performing arts databases in the early 1990s in her role as Research Assistant at the Performing Arts Collection of South Australia. She joined AusStage, the Australian national online resource for live performance research, when the project began in 2000 and was appointed Project Manager in 2003. During her time with AusStage the project was successful in gaining over $4 million (AUD) in funding from the Australian Research Council, Australian National Data Service, National eResearch Architecture Taskforce, eResearch South Australia and the Australian Access Federation.

Published
2023-12-01
How to Cite
Fewster J. (2023) “Documenting Australian Society – Performing Arts Community of Practice”, Archives & Manuscripts, 51(1), pp. 29-31. doi: 10.37683/asa.v51.10945.
Issue
Vol 51 No 1 (2023): Documenting Australian Society Redux
Section
Reflection articles

Copyright (c) 2023 Jenny Fewster

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