The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Awarded $1 Million Grant by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Two-Year Grant Supports Documentation and Preservation of Jazz, Contemporary Dance, and Theater Performances, with Related Oral Histories, and Preservation of Martha Graham Archival Materials
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has awarded a two-year, $1 million grant to The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts to support the preservation of performing arts works and related oral histories through the audio and visual documentation of jazz, contemporary dance, and theater performances by artists or organizations previously funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; the creation of aural and video histories involving Foundation-supported artists and organizations; and the preservation of recently acquired, fragile, and deteriorating archival material related to the life and work of Martha Graham.
The grant, which commences on February 1, 2008 and continues until January 31, 2010, will enable the Library to record approximately 25 live jazz, contemporary dance, and theater performances by artists or organizations, and conduct and record approximately 45 oral histories with notable performing arts personalities responsible for or related to those performances. Additionally, the Library will preserve 70 hours of oral histories related to the life and work of dancer/choreographer Martha Graham. These tapes, which are already housed at the Library, are in extremely fragile and deteriorating condition. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center is on the Lincoln Center campus at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza.
Jacqueline Z. Davis, the Barbara G. and Lawrence A. Fleischman Executive Director of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, said "We are extremely grateful to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for this generous grant. It enables us to protect and preserve a unique and dynamic performing arts legacy by recording innovative and inspiring live performances and capturing individual and institutional oral histories that would otherwise be lost to future generations of artists, scholars, researchers, and arts professionals. All of the artists and organizations supported by the Foundation are already represented in the Library's collections. But this project will give greater depth to our materials and offer more profound insight into the artists' work."
"This year, we celebrated the foundation's tenth anniversary and the impressive work of our grantees over the last decade, which includes thousands of performing arts projects all across the country," said Joan E. Spero, president of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. "In recognition of our anniversary and the library's unique role as a national resource that documents performances in all three of our core fields of contemporary dance, jazz and theatre, we are pleased to be able to award a special grant to the library to preserve for future generations some of the most significant works we have funded, and the stories behind their creation."
Jazz
During the two years of the grant, the Music Division will present 8 live performances by jazz ensembles recognized by Chamber Music America's Encore program, which is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Each live performance will be recorded in both video and audio formats and added to the Division's archive, as will a subsequently created oral history of key musicians, composers, and other influential figures related to each recorded live performance. In addition to discussing their careers and accomplishments, individual composers and musicians will also examine the commissioning process and the efforts involved in the collaborative creation and performance of the commissioned works, an area not often documented in oral history recordings.
The Music Division will also complete 4 additional oral histories with jazz musicians who have been recognized as Grammy Award nominees, as well as approximately 10 oral histories with musicians who will be performing in the 2007-2008 Jazz at Lincoln Center season.
Theater
The Theatre on Film and Tape Archive (TOFT) of the Library's Billy Rose Theatre Division will record live theater productions performed by independent theater companies previously supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation based in both New York City and in regional theaters across America. In addition, TOFT will create an oral history with one significant individual related to each production with the intent of providing a substantial history and background for each recorded performance.
Contemporary Dance
The Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the Library will record 8 live, full-evening performances by dance companies that have received funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and are well represented in the Division's archive. These companies are characterized by a commitment to visually stunning, creative, and challenging contemporary dance forms, as well as choreographers who have sought to embrace innovative partnerships, using spoken word or site-specific architecture to enhance choreographic choices. In addition, the Division will conduct 16 oral histories, representing 2 individuals related to each production. In this manner, the Division will capture not only the distinctive style of each company during a live performance, but also commentary on each project and the artistic intentions associated with each endeavor.
Preservation of Martha Graham Audio Cassettes
The Library recently acquired 70 hours of oral histories on audiocassette related to the life and work of Martha Graham. Interviews with Graham and more than 40 notable figures were recorded between 1968 and 1995 in connection with Don McDonagh's biography of the dancer/choreographer. These recordings are in fragile condition, and are not available to users. Preservation will allow users to access these unique materials. The recordings will be transferred to digital format so that they will be accessible and available to the public. Consistent with the Library's mission to preserve and maintain an archive that reflects a lasting national arts legacy, preservation and maintenance of existing and deteriorating materials is as essential as seeking out new live performances and creating original documentation.
About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people's lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and the prevention of child maltreatment, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke's properties.
About The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts houses the world's most extensive combination of circulating, reference, and rare archival collections in its field. Its divisions are the Circulating Collections, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, Music Division, Billy Rose Theatre Division, and the Rodgers & Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound. The materials in its collections are available free of charge, along with a wide range of special programs, including exhibitions, seminars, and performances. An essential resource for everyone with an interest in the arts - whether professional or amateur - the Library is known particularly for its prodigious collections of non-book materials such as historic recordings, videotapes, autograph manuscripts, correspondence, sheet music, stage designs, press clippings, programs, posters, and photographs.
About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to its services. It comprises four research centers - the Humanities and Social Sciences Library; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and the Science, Industry and Business Library - and 87 Branch Libraries in Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Research and circulating collections combined total more than 50 million items. In addition, each year the Library presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include classes in technology, literacy, and English as a second language. The New York Public Library serves over 16 million patrons who come through its doors annually and another 25 million users internationally, who access collections and services through its website, www.nypl.org.
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Contact: Rima Corben at 212.592.7700 or rcorben@nypl.org
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