The Virtual Study (ViS), which is operated by the Arts and Theatre Institute, is a comprehensive interface for accessing all of the Institute’s information databases. The study’s objective is to facilitate research, increase the informational value of database materials through their joint and interlinked publication, to provide access to materials that would otherwise be inaccessible or accessible only to a limited extent (negatives and slides from the photographic and scenographic archives), and, last but not least, to protect original materials that would be damaged by regular use.
Theatre Photographs
The ATI’s collection of theatre photographs is accessible in digitised format. The collection was digitised as part of the project ‘Preserving and Presenting the Cultural Heritage of Czech and World Theatre’, which was partly funded by a grant from Norway through the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. The database provides access to scans of positives and negatives. The collection, which also includes digital photographs, contains more than 200,000 items.
Database administrators: Michal Šanda, michal.sanda(at)divadlo.cz and Denisa Šťastná, denisa.stastna(at)divadlo.cz.
Scenography
The ATI’s scenographic collection of objects and archival documents related primarily to theatre in the Czech Republic is accessible in digitised format. The database contains information on the scenographic collection and on the digitised collection of scenographic documents. The scenography database contains more than 21,000 items.
Database administrator: Denisa Šťastná, denisa.stastna(at)divadlo.cz.
Productions
This systematically compiled database contains records on Czech theatre productions going back to 1945. The database also serves as a catalogue of the ATI’s documents collection, which includes invitations, promotional materials, programmes, and clippings of newspaper articles and reviews. The productions database contains over 40,000 items.
Database administrator: Zuzana Jindrová, zuzana.jindrova(at)divadlo.cz
Theatre Events
The Theatre Events database contains basic information on theatre festivals, theatre companies’ tours abroad, visits to the Czech Republic by foreign theatre companies, exhibitions and permanent exhibits on theatre, theatre awards, and other theatre-related events (e.g. lectures, talks, workshops). The database of events contains approximately 8,000 items.
Database administrator: Radka Petrmichlová, radka.petrmichlova(at)divadlo.cz.
All catalogues can be accessed via Virtual Study (http://vis.idu.cz)
Library
This is the catalogue of the Theatre Institute’s library, whose mission is to collect, process, store and provide access to all Czech (and select foreign) theatre literature and periodicals. Online access also includes reader account administration with the option of extending loans or reserving available documents. Digitised documents are available through the Kramerius digital library (publications published before 1900 are available online).
Database administrator: Alena Součková, alena.souckova(at)divadlo.cz
Audio Library
The catalogue of the Theatre Institute’s audio library containing audio recordings of spoken word, operas, operettas, musical melodramas, musicals, stage music, and ballet. Researchers may access the actual recordings at the Institute’s offices.
Database administrator: Milan Černý, milan.cerny(at)divadlo.cz
Video Library
The catalogue of the Theatre Institute’s video library contains audiovisual recordings of drama, opera, ballet and alternative productions, as well as documents and portraits of key people in the field of theatre. Recordings are stored on DVD and are being gradually converted into compressed mpeg4 format. Researchers may access the recordings at the Institute’s offices. The video library’s collection contains almost 10,000 entries.
Database administrator: Andrea Landovská, andrea.landovska(at)divadlo.cz.
Bibliography
The theatre bibliography contains articles on theatre in the Czech Republic and abroad published in newspapers, magazines, anthologies, and online magazines and websites in the Czech Republic. The bibliography also includes all Czech-related articles and selected articles on theatre abroad printed in selected magazines published outside the Czech Republic. The database, which is the successor to the earlier theatre bibliography card catalogue, has been systematically compiled since 1995 and contains more than 270,000 bibliographic records. Theatre journals are retroactively processed to their full extent.
Database administrator: Vladimír Hajšman, vladimir.hajsman(at)divadlo.cz
There is also a historical card catalogue bibliography for 1851-1989. The catalogue was digitised and is operated by a specialised division of the Institute for Czech Literature at the Czech Academy of Sciences.
A regularly updated directory of theatres, festivals, theatre institutions, schools, periodicals and organisations is available at: http://www.theatre.cz/czech-theatre-directory.
The Arts and Theatre Institute maintains a regularly updated database of theatre festivals in the Czech Republic (http://www.theatre.cz/festivals-in-czech-republic). Via Virtual Study it provides access to information on festivals in the Czech Republic since 1945 (http://vis.idu.cz/Events.aspx).
Theatre Architecture in Central Europe (TACE) was a three years long project, co-financed by European Union under the Culture 2000 program. The main aim of the project was to present existing knowledge and information about the development of theatre architecture as a specific phenomenon of the European cultural heritage. Within the project, several types of activities had been implemented in such a manner, that the outputs would address a broad target group and would appeal to scholars and the general public alike. The project was prepared by the Art and Theatre Institute (ATI) and was led by The National Theatre Prague (Národní divadlo Praha) with partner institutions as Theatre Institute Bratislava, Hungarian Theatre Institute and Museum, Theatre Museum in Ljubljana and Theatre Institute in Warsaw. The project was launched in 2008 and continued until January of 2011. After its termination, the project was transferred under management of IDU for the phase of sustainability. In this period, the project became opened and cooperation was offered to other European institutions with an ambition to cover as large area as possible. In this regard, the project has been renamed and further on is promoted under the name EUROPEAN THEATRE ARCHITECTURE – EUTA.
Czech Cultural and Creative Industries Mapping (2011-2015)
In March 2011, Arts Institute launched a follow-up project – Czech Cultural and Creative Industries Mapping (2011-2015). The aim of the project was to collect robust data on conditions and economic performance of CCI in the Czech Republic, and subsequently carry out a detailed analysis of the acquired data. The project included a comparative study of the situation in the Czech Republic with those of other EU member states already engaged in a similar research. The principal output of the project will be a CCI mapping document presenting all findings of this five-year project (March 2011- December 2015). On the basis of the mapping document the project will formulate a set of policy recommendations of strategic importance. These are expected to contribute to a better organization and more effective distribution of public support for the arts and culture on the national, regional and local levels, and to a more efficient exploitation of the social and economic potential of CCI in the country.
Creativity and Innovation in Cities and Regions of the Czech Republic (2011)
British Council hosted (with a number of partners, including Arts Institute) the conference Creativity and Innovation in Cities and Regions of the Czech Republic. The conference offered a unique opportunity to national, regional and local decision makers to explore how they can drive economic prosperity and social inclusion in their cities and regions by providing conditions and support to the CCI sector. Through presentations by leading Czech and international experts, the conference drew on case studies and good practice examples from creative and successful cities in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe.
Conference proceedings can be accessed here
Forum for Creative Europe (2009)
Arts Institute significantly contributed to the preparation of a conference Forum for Creative Europe, organized by the Czech Ministry of Culture within the Czech EU Presidency. The main objective of the conference, which took place on 26 and 27 March 2009 in the Municipal Library in Prague, was to prove that arts and culture contribute significantly to social and economic prosperity.
Conference proceedings can be accessed here
Virtual Study represents the culmination of the Theatre Institute’s prior work in the area of digitising and establishing databases of its collections. Virtual Study is founded on two large databases—the Verbis database by the KP-SYS company (used by the Library and Bibliography Department) and the Divadlo database developed for the Information and Documents Department (theatre productions, video library, theatre events, key figures, stage plays). The related databases (photographs, scenography) provide direct access to digitised items.
The electronic processing of our collections received significant support from several grant projects. The most significant achievement in this area was the complete inclusion of information on Czech theatre productions since 1945 and the digitisation of nearly 180,000 images from our documentary collection, performed in 2008-2011 as part of the project ‘Preserving and Presenting the Cultural Heritage of Czech and World Theatre’, which was made possible by a grant from Norway through the Norwegian Financial Mechanism.
Virtual Study provides comprehensive access to information and the digitised resources in our databases. These include a library catalogue with a research module and user account administration tool, an extensive bibliographic database of articles linked to the full texts of articles (accessible only via the Institute’s internal network), a video library, a database of Czech theatre productions since 1945, a database of theatre photographs containing 198,202 digitised images, and a database of scenographic items and documentation containing copies of 21,367 stage and costume designs.
In the process of digitising our collections and making them publicly accessible, we made sure to observe the provisions of Act No. 121/2000 on copyright protection. For this reason, some digitised materials cannot be made available via the internet, but are available to registered researchers for study purposes at the offices of the Arts and Theatre Institute. This mainly concerns digitised items published after 1900, some designs in the scenographic collection, and photographs for which we were unable to obtain publishing permission from the copyright holders. These items are labelled accordingly on the internet. Anyone interested in studying these materials may do so in the study rooms of the ATI.
Resources accessible via Virtual Study:
- Library
- Audio Library
- Video Library
- Bibliography
- Theatre Productions
- Scenography
- Theatre Photographs
- Theatre Events
Other electronic resources of the Theatre Institute
- EUTA – European Theatre Architecture – Online multilingual encyclopaedia of theatres
- Historical Theatre Bibliography 1851-1989 – digitised card catalogue
- Česká divadelní encyklopedie – German theatre in the Czech lands, biographic entries
- PQ Archive – Digitised archive of every edition of the Prague Quadrennial
- Czech Theatre Premieres
- Festivals in the Czech Republic
- Directory of Theatres and Theatre Institutions
Project coordinator: Ondřej Svoboda, ondrej.svoboda(at)divadlo.cz, +420 224 809 164
Arts and Theatre Institute
Our mission is to provide the Czech and international public with comprehensive services in the field of theatre and individual services relating to the arts (music, literature, dance, and the visual arts). We collect, process, and provide access to collectable materials relating to the theatre. We provide a wide range of services (a library and video library, web portals and databases, bibliographic and documentation services). We organise and participate in international projects, engage in research, documentation work, collecting activities, and organising exhibitions, and we also publish scholarly and specialised literature on the theatre. We are also home to the Creative Europe Desk Czech Republic – Culture Programme.
Contact
Arts and Theatre Institute (ATI)
Celetná 17, 110 00 Prague 1, Czech Republic
Ondřej Svoboda, Deputy director, head of the Theatre Institute
E-Mail: ondrej.svoboda@idu.cz
Website
