Press release on audiovisual project TAPE

["Ecpa" <Ecpa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

With apologies for cross-posting
*****

PRESS RELEASE

Amsterdam, 21 December 2004

EC gives grant to audiovisual project TAPE

The European Commission on Preservation and Access (ECPA) has received one of
the subsidies granted to multiannual projects in the framework of the Call
2003 of the Culture 2000 programme of the European Commission in Brussels for
its project 'Training for Audiovisual Preservation in Europe' (TAPE).

The TAPE project deals with audiovisual collections, of sound and moving
images, which are an essential part of the European cultural heritage. It is
aimed at cultural and research institutions that (also) hold audiovisual
collections that do not, however, constitute the core of their holdings. The
project's aim is (1) to promote awareness of the need to preserve audiovisual
collections, (2) to provide training for professionals involved in
preservation and digitisation of audiovisual materials and (3) to develop
supporting training materials.

Activities
Activities of the TAPE project will include workshops to train those working
with audiovisual collections. An introduction on preservation and digitization
of audiovisual collections will be published. It will include a survey of
audiovisual collections, specifically aimed at locating 'hidden' collections
in a variety of institutions, to bring out the richness of the audiovisual
heritage. A technology working groups will study technical aspects of existing
solutions for preservation and digitization. Other groups will focus on user
requirements and on content delivery, in terms of presentation, usability,
information design, and target groups. The activities of the working groups
are practically oriented and will feed directly into the training programme.

TAPE partners
The ECPA will coordinate the TAPE project. Its co-organizers are:
Finnish Jazz & Pop Archive - Helsinki
The Head Office of State Archives in Poland - Warsaw
Phonogrammarchiv, Austrian Academy of Sciences - Vienna
Reproduction, Binding and Restoration Centre for the State Archives of Italy -
Rome

TAPE site now online
For more information see the project's website at
http://www.tape-online.net

Culture 2000
The Culture 2000 programme aims to encourage creativity and mobility of
artists, public access to culture, the dissemination of art and culture,
inter-cultural dialogue and knowledge of the history and cultural heritage of
the peoples of Europe. Its general objective is to create a shared cultural
area bringing people together while preserving their national and regional
diversity.
For more information on Culture 2000, see:
<http://europa.eu.int/comm/culture/eac/culture2000/cult_2000_en.html>


For more information please contact:
Yola de Lusenet, Executive Secretary
European Commission on Preservation and Access (ECPA)
P.O. Box 19121
1000 GC Amsterdam
The Netherlands
tel. ++31-20-551 08 39
fax ++31-20-620 49 41
e-mail: ECPA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
URL: http://www.knaw.nl/ecpa