AMIA 2024

Archival materials are increasingly being perceived for what they are: tools for inclusion, education, accessibility, and social justice. However, collecting and maintaining archives falls outside the current capacity of most performing arts organizations and individuals. Available means for documenting performance are degrading and in danger of being lost. Most performing artists are concerned with providing access to their works for future generations, but the migration process and both using and maintaining digitization equipment is complex and not financially sustainable. Currently, individuals and small- to mid-sized companies have no option but to address these problems independently. Dance documentarians Jenai Cutcher and Stephanie Neel are forming the Creative Archives Group to centralize and consolidate resources, technologies, and services through a community-based digital archiving hub. This hub will bridge connections between AV archivists and performing arts groups to create high-quality materials and empower artists to actively create, maintain, and engage with their archives.