In the Theatre Documentation Department in the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute, several databases are being created:
- Personal Database includes information about 75,000 people (actors, dancers, singers, directors, choreographers, set designers, composers etc.) connected with Polish drama, puppet, musical and alternative theatre: http://www.e-teatr.pl/pl/osoby/lista.html
- Performance Database contains information about stagings of all kinds of plays on all theatre stages in Poland, mainly after 1944. It consists of over 50,000 records. Each record contains detailed data: the date and venue of the premiere, the names of all the creators (from directors to assistants) and the full cast. The base is still being expanded and completed with digitalised documentation materials, such as a poster and/or playbill in the form of an image, scans of photographs, fragments of films, a theatre programme in PDF format, and reviews transformed into a text file: http://www.e-teatr.pl/pl/realizacje/lista.html
- Multimedia Database catalogue includes over 2,000 recordings of performances and other film materials connected with the theatre that are in the collection of the Multimedia Library of the Institute: http://www.e-teatr.pl/pl/multimedia/lista.html
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.
A regularly updated directory of theatres, festivals, theatre institutions, schools, periodicals and organisations is available at: http://www.theatre.cz/czech-theatre-directory.
Tanka – the Finnish Dance Database contains information about Finnish dance works, artists and companies.
The database was published in 2000. It is updated regularly and contains thousands of entries.
http://www.danceinfo.fi/tanka-en-US/
The VTi performing arts database contains data on professional stage productions which involved producers in Flanders or Brussels. It is actively maintained by VTi.
What productions were put on by professional artists? Which artists and organisations deserve the credits for these? What documents remain about these productions?
Each production is represented as a record in the database containing the following information: production (title, date of première, season), international touring dates, cast, producers and co-producers and genre. For every organisation, producer or co-producer, there is additional information about festivals, government grants, venues & working spaces, etc. Every person is also represented as a record with information about e.g. training, and also pointing to their productions. Moreover, our specialized library and archival collections are presented and linked to the many records about people, organisations and productions: photo and video, press cuttings, books and periodicals, archival documents and ephemera.
The database is publicly available at http://data.vti.be
Welcome to the new TIN catalog which provides an overview of what TIN have in the media library, library, and museum.
Link to TIN catalogus
Sceneweb is a Norwegian performing arts database with registers of some of what is now performing and an historical archive. The aim of Sceneweb is to document and convey Norwegian cultural heritage, past and present, and to increase the knowledge to Norwegian performing arts.
Link to Sceneweb
