NUI Galway has revealed that it will be partnering with the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in order to create a digital archive of the famed theatre.
The Gate Theatre Digital Archive will be exclusively available at NUI Galway’s James Hardiman Library, where it will provide access to hundreds of scripts, videos, and audio files dating back as far as 1980.
The digitisation period will take 18 months as the project will encompass 200,000 pages, 20,000 images, 750 hours of video, and 150 hours of audio.
It will include information about the Gate’s successes both at home and abroad, with material relating to Orson Welles, Stephen Rea, and Liam Neeson among many other famous faces which have graced the stage of the renowned performance hall.
“The Gate Theatre is full of admiration for NUI Galway, and we congratulate them for having the vision and courage to provide this extraordinary resource for generations to come,” said Michael Colgan, the Gate’s director, at the official announcement of the project.
The digital archive project came in tandem with the announcement of a new MA course in Irish theatre history and archives at the university.
In September 2016, a purpose-built centre for drama, theatre and performance will open to students which will go to supplement the already lively performing arts scene in Galway.
NUI Galway is home to the digital archive of the Abbey Theatre, as well as the papers of Thomas Kilroy and the Druid Theatre.
Students at the university will now have unbridled access to a host of archival material which will provide exciting and unique avenues to explore the history of Irish theatre and archive-based internships on information which is not available anywhere else.
