Establishing and maintaining successful theatre archives takes a certain amount of archival knowledge and skill, but it also requires an equal amount of political savvy and institutional advocacy. Building archival support is both a top-down and a bottom-up process. (If you participate in the ATAP Initiation Program, the Orientation session will address the items in this chapter.)

The first step is to identify specific stakeholders who might benefit from or utilize your theatre’s archives, for example: executives, board members (past and present), staff, artists, audiences, patrons, researchers, and students. It’s also vital to enlist in your archival cause the record creators: artists, photographers, videographers, journalists, and technical and administrative staff who help create, support, and document your productions.

For many theatre workers, “preserving the historical record” may at first not sound like a goal that serves a theatre company’s immediate needs. However, your company likely has a written (and oral) history that is used in connection with mission statements, publicity materials, on websites, and in furthering its place in theatre history. Even the youngest company will have a “history”—the vision of the founder/artistic director and the reasons behind the genres to be performed—that can help define an archival collection and ultimately set policies for retaining materials. The history should include the most complete chronology of the company and factor in major changes in management, locations, board activity, mission, etc. (If your company does not have a written history, you can work on it as part of your archival program). It is essential to articulate how an archives program relates to your company’s mission and history and how the archives will support day-to-day operations. Executive staff and interested board members should be enlisted to help draft a mission statement for your archives program. The archives mission should tie into the theatre’s mission with a clear and specific purpose. With company leaders engaged in the initiation of your archival program, channeling resources to the archives in the future will be much easier to achieve.

After an archives mission statement is drafted, all stakeholders should be asked to contribute to the design of the project, since your archives should reflect all of the activities of your institution. It is critical to communicate how an archives project will serve each stakeholder’s interest. Board members and the managing director may be most interested in how an archives project will help increase labor and economic efficiency. A founding artistic director may be more concerned with the legacy of the work and the people who created it. The facilities manager may want to clean out a closet full of old boxes.

“Top-down” success strategies may include reporting archival activity directly to an executive director/producer, attending board meetings, and forming a board committee, which help guarantee that your archival program remains in line with the company mission. It is also important to consider where the archives will appear in the annual operating budget (e.g., costs of a closet, room, or shelf for physical archives and a portion of someone’s salary) as well as each production budget (e.g., archival folders and boxes for scripts, photos, and programs). No matter the scale of your archives, it is easier to attract outside funding and support when archives are incorporated into institutional planning. A tiny budget line item for a small, sustainable archives program is often a better measure of long-term viability than a fat capital project that loses momentum after its establishment.

You may need to employ different, “bottom-up” strategies to build support among the archives stakeholders who carry out the day-to-day work of the theatre. Archives can serve marketing and development staff by offering easy access to historical information, language, and products (e.g., DVDs) that support institutional narratives. A vital institutional archives will provide high-level research services for all users within the organization, making materials available with the least amount of hassle. Staff should be shown how contributing to an archives project can streamline workflow, increase efficiency, document work processes, and preserve the historical record.

Besides executives, board members, and regular staff, companies often employ temporary or seasonal workers to produce theatre. Artists—whether company members or contractors—will often be very interested in preserving the legacy of their work and should be involved wherever possible in designing an archival program. As these creative personnel are in the center of the theatrical historical record, they should be consulted about how to document creation and performance.

After establishing institutional support with company stakeholders, you should engage audiences and the general public your theatre’s archives by way of visual demonstration. Photographs, posters, costumes, and other items from past productions can be exhibited in the lobby and other spaces in the theatre where audience members gather. For both first-time theatregoers and long-time subscribers, these items provide a sense of the history of the theatre and their place in it as they reminisce about past shows and identify actors whom they recognize from other stage, film, and television productions. [Illustrations to come: photographs with captions of the Yale Repertory Theatre’s audience lounge, with multi-screen slide show of previous seasons’ production; the display of costumes in public spaces at Arena Stage, Washington, D.C.; the Signature Theatre’s audience lounges with interactive screens in New York; etc.] Many other audience-engagement activities can increase awareness of the archives and provide fundraising opportunities. For example:

  • Place an essay (or a regular series of essays) about the company’s history in production programs and/or theatre newsletters.
  • Having difficulty identifying some of the people in archival photographs? Place copies in a lobby display and ask audience members to help put a name to a face.
  • The numerous duplicate programs, posters, and heralds that consume valuable real estate in company offices and storerooms can be sold at a lobby kiosk with a brochure describing the company’s efforts in establishing an archives.
  • Combine all of the above activities and invite the public to a weekend company fair where they can enjoy interactive exhibits, buy theatre memorabilia, meet actors in current productions, etc.
  • After communicating your archives mission to subscribers, develop an archives volunteer group whose members can help with routine sorting of archival material.
  • To provide funding for the archives, include a line on renewal forms for a special contribution to the archives and/or add a small “legacy” fee to ticket prices.
  • Consider including your archival program in grant applications for infrastructure/operating support and emphasize how orderly, accessible archives will enhance your theatre’s day-to-day efficiency and effectiveness as well as preserve its place in your community’s cultural history.

No matter what shape your archival program takes, make sure to enlist the input of all possible stakeholders at its inception in order to build a foundation for long-term success.

BUILDING SUPPORT

  1. Identify and engage key stakeholders in your archival program by addressing their unique concerns.
  2. Enlist record creators to your cause and get their advice on how best to document their artistic process.
  3. Draft an archives mission statement that supports your theatre’s mission.
  4. Secure the support of company leadership.
  5. Form an archives committee from a cross-section of stakeholders.
  6. Engage your audiences with visual displays of archival materials.

 

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