National Recording Project for Indigenous
Performance in Australia

Vision

The primary aim of this project is to systematically record and document the unique and endangered performance traditions of Indigenous Australia.

Through this process, it will assist in the development of local knowledge centres and other digital archives as primary repositories for locally recorded and documented materials, and a secure national repository in which copies of all data generated can be archived.

Approach

The mounting simplicity and accessibility of digital recording and archiving technologies are changing relationships between performers, scholars and archivists in ways that empower Indigenous communities to take a new lead in determining how their unique performance traditions are to be recorded, documented and made accessible in light of international best practice.

Rather than being driven by conventional academic agendas, all localised recording and documentation operations will be directed by local elders and driven by local priorities.

Primary responsibility for the management of archived data will reside in local knowledge centres and other digital archives with assistance from project partner organisations.

Charles Darwin University and the Northern Territory Library and Information Service will initially work with Indigenous communities to develop training programs that will enable elders to lead localised recording, documentation and archiving operations.

Initial field testing of proposed project protocols is being undertaken through two pilot studies and affiliated projects in Arnhem Land, the Daly River District, the Tanami Desert and the Victoria River District.

History

This project was conceived at a meeting of Indigenous elders and their academic colleagues at the Garma Festival of Traditional Culture in August 2002.

The meeting resolved that community, academic and industry partners should collaborate to ensure that as many discreet performance repertoires as possible are recorded and held for future generations, that knowledge centres and other digital archives be established to support local access to all data generated, and that appropriate collected materials be made available for integration to community health, education, governance and business initiatives.

For more information, go to Garma Statement on Indigenous Performance in Australia

The Myer Foundation is generously funding the Yothu Yindi Foundation's integral involvement in and co-ordination of this project in 2006. We very much appreciate their generosity and support.