On this page, you will find out more about the goals for our project, and provide you resources we have found helpful in our own research.  We search for the documents left behind whenever performance happens, and we talk with the people who have made and remember performance, all in our efforts to recover, and preserve, something that only exists in the moment.  'Performance' is the most ephemeral of art forms, and the most pervasive in all that we do.  Finding what remains of it afterwards...is complicated.  We hope what follows helps you in your own work.

The information you find here is complemented by our two Galleries.  The Archival Research Gallery includes examples of the use of documents and archives in researching performance, drawn from a broad range of archives.   The Oral Histories Gallery serves the same purpose for the use of the interview, of individuals and groups, of artists and audiences.  We draw from as broad a range of archives, artefacts, individuals and relationships as we can, to provide you with the models we need.  

Just below, you will find links to a statement of purpose for our project, and to resources that we hope will benefit you as you pursue your research, as they have benefitted us, including consent forms we have used for work in archives and in interviews, archives we have made use of in our own work, and other useful information, complemented by our Galleries.  

If you do not find what you want here, or elsewhere on the website, don't hesitate to contact us at performancegatherings@gmail.com with any questions, and we will try to help.

Who We Are and What We Intend

We are interested in developing an infrastructure, archive, publication, and online presence that promotes the interests of documenting the history of performance in Canada.  For a full statement of our intentions, see our About page.  

Ownership and the Documents of Performance

Most documents related to performance provide a 'special case' in archival practice, because of the way in which they are created, and what they portray.  Depending on their sources, permissions may have to be researched for the owner of the document, the archive that holds the document, the creator of the work of art, each performer in an image, and so on.  It is entirely possible to do 'due diligence,' but we all need advice, from time to time.  Please link here to examine the kinds of permission documents we use when researching, copying, preserving, and publishing imagery of documents.  Examine our Gallery for examples of the use of these documents in practice.  

Ownership and the Oral Histories of Performance

Please link here for a full outline of our own practice in the collection of oral histories and interviews, along with sample permission documents, and a statement of archival policy.  This work is ongoing, and will be updated periodically, as we make use of it in our own practice.  The Oral Histories Gallery exhibits interviews with artists and audience members from across the full spectrum of performance in this country with the goal of building an archival resource for the better understanding of performance in Canada. As we add to our list of Interviews, we hope to provide a positive and ethical model for others to follow. 

Some Useful Archives

There are many, many archives, in this country and internationally, that house some materials related to the history of performance pertinent to our project. Because performance is not only an ephemeral art, but one with so many inextricably intertwined relationships, so many connections with the day-to-day activities of life-as-lived, documents related to performance rest in a great many archival repositories, and seldom in one devoted to performance. Significant repositories might be anywhere, in the archive of the organization that created the performance, or that culturally defined that performance, or that was simply next-door to that performance--and it might be in our own closets and drawers and attics and basements and garages....  We cannot list such archives comprehensively—but we can at least be all-embracing in our efforts.  Please link here for a Map of Archives we have used, that may be useful to you.  This list will grow as the project continues, and we invite you to contribute as well.  

We encourage you to send us questions and concerns about your own work with documents, archives and interviews, at performancegatherings@gmail.com