Theatre Museum brings Performance Alive on the Web
December 2nd, 2003
The Theatre Museum, the National Museum of the Performing Arts launches its exciting new website, www·peopleplayuk·org·uk on 1 December, 2003. This major new on-line resource, based on the Theatre Museum's unrivalled collections, aims to stimulate interest in and enjoyment of the performing arts, and the development of life-long learning amongst families, community groups and young people outside the formal education sector.
PeoplePlayUK forms a central part of the Museum's strategy to widen public access to its collections for the non-specialist. This initiative, now part of the EnrichUK portal, has been funded with the support of a £330,000 grant from the New Opportunities Fund, the biggest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, through the Fund's nof-digitise programme. The site is multi-layered combining:
- Collections : digitised images of 1500 artefacts from the Museum's collections, such as costumes, photographs, programmes and props. Each object tells a story which you can read, save in a personal folder and download the page and images. You can use a Simple Search page with three browsable lists:
- object type
- genre
- Popular Searches
- Guided Tours: structured learning resources telling the history of performance on the British stage from circus, pantomime, dance, music hall, musicals, drama and opera. Musicians have recreated original theatre music, some of which has not been heard for over 200 years.
Actors' voices bring to life reviews and articles, recreating famous characters
from the past such as:
- Tom Barry who journeyed down the Thames in a barrel pulled by four geese
- Patsy Chinery shot from a giant crossbow in a breathtaking high wire act
- pantomime dames and principal boys (click through to the section on Victorian pantomime)
- Timelines: a short trip through theatre history. Meet performers and learn about the secrets of puppetry, and the history of black performance, and find out how a night out has changed since medieval times!
- Into the Attic: explains the types of object you might find in your attic - posters and programmes, music sheet covers, and how to date them by analysing design aspects of the period. There are also images charting the early years of Rock and Roll.
- Activities: for children and young people
- Toy Circus and Toy Theatre to download and build at home. The toy theatre has all the scenery, characters for Cinderella and an original Pollock’s theatre script.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The New Opportunities Fund is the biggest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, providing Lottery funding for health, education and environment projects across the UK, with a particular focus on disadvantage and improving quality of life. The Fund supports sustainable projects that will:
- Improve the quality of life of people throughout the UK
- Address the needs of those who are most disadvantaged in society
- Encourage community participation
- Complement relevant local and national strategies and programmes
Funding for programmes is divided between England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales on the basis of population weighted to reflect levels of deprivation.
The New Opportunities Fund £50 MILLION UK-WIDE NOF-DIGITISE PROGRAMME is designed to bring the learning material and resources currently contained in galleries, libraries, museums and universities directly into homes and communities. The Fund awarded grants to 150 projects, large and small, across the UK to convert a huge variety of material into digital format. The range of material digitised includes archaeology, maritime, architecture, fine art, social and oral history. In Scotland, £6 million is being used to create a 'virtual communities bank' of internet learning.
The programme has been developed and monitored in collaboration with UKOLN, a centre of expertise in digital information management, which provides advice and services to the library, information, education and cultural heritage communities.
New Opportunities Fund and www·EnrichUK·net
www·EnrichUK·net is a gateway to the collection of websites such as www·BritishPathe·com supported with National Lottery money by the New Opportunities Fund through its digitisation programme. It provides access to contents ranging across the very best in culture, history, art, science, and social and economic development of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, making a major contribution to lifelong learning.
Press Contact: Sue Rolfe/Caroline Malbon 0207 943 4743
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