Permissions

A major research outcome from the PDG phase is the development of our research methods and ethics protocols. Gatherings has consulted widely to create an ethics protocol that respects its culturally diverse stakeholders, namely with the Centre for Oral History and Tradition (COHT), the First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC), the National Inuit Strategy on Research (ITK), The Government of Canada (GC), Oral History in the Digital Age (OHDA), and the Oral History Association (OHA). Our Ethics Protocol documents clarifies that Gatherings research interviewees are the owners of the interview material. You can find resource documents concerning our ethics protocols on this PDG phase website.

A Message to All Participants in the Gatherings Research Project

From: Stephen Johnson, Principal Investigator

On Behalf of all of us working on the Gatherings Project, thank you for agreeing to participate in this Oral History. By doing so, you will help to preserve the histories of performance. This document is meant to give you information you need to better understand why we have approached you about being involved in our project.

Who We Are: Gatherings: Archival and Oral Histories of Performance is a partnership of scholars, curators, archivists, historians, and practitioners, all interested in identifying, collecting, preserving, and disseminating the raw materials of performance history in the territories commonly referred to as Canada ('Canada' in the rest of these documents). This is no small task, and we understand that many people are involved in this good work--pouring through local archives, creating performance calendars, preserving and cataloguing the documents and recording the memories that will allow histories to be written. We all have this passion, and our own work in all of these areas will be a part of this project. But our interest, first and foremost, is in providing a service that will support and extend this 'good work' for everyone interested, through a number of initiatives. We want to identify projects and archives, making them more visible and accessible. We want to support people who have archives to find the repository best suited for preservation and access, providing advice and a public profile that will put those interested in the history of performance in touch with those who have the materials necessary to write that history. We want to support all those who are involved in these goals, to collect history in an ethical manner, and in a way that will preserve the past in an appropriately accessible manner. Finally, we want to provide an infrastructure that allows for the accumulation of documents and oral histories, and the writing of histories, that have tended to be silenced and neglected. We hope to provide a place where those interested can find advice, support, contacts, and models of archival and oral histories in all their diversity. The Project is funded in part through a Partnership Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, with the support of the institutions and organizations listed at the bottom of this page.

Our Ethical Standards: In establishing the ethical practices and permissions we use for our project, Gatherings has consulted widely. We have worked to create an ethical standard that respects the culturally diverse performers and audiences we serve. As such, we acknowledge that the individuals interviewed in this process are the owners of anything produced, and we are here to help to collect, organize, edit, and archive this material. Please take a tour of this website for a more complete understanding of our sources and influences.

If you have any concerns or inquiries, contact the Principal Investigator, Stephen Johnson, at performancegatherings@gmail.com

The Benefits of Participation: We believe that there are great benefits to your contribution to this project--to all participants, to the craft, to the greater community. We leave behind us a history that can benefit future generations. Taking the opportunity to reflection on one’s life, craft, and experience (past and present) can be a healthy, healing and necessary exercise. Your experience will be given a platform, and your voice will be preserved for future generations.

Respect for Your Participation: Any interview can sometimes touch on sensitive issues, and in the moment of exchange we may say things that we later decide not to make public. This is entirely understandable, and we have made it clear in the Consent Statement below, that we will go over all material with you, allowing you to edit what we have created together. Rest assured, you can speak freely in the interview, and return for review.

The Principal Investigator: Any questions at all concerning this process, or with these information and consent forms, may be directed to the Principal Investigator for the project, Stephen Johnson, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto. He can be contacted at sjohnson.research@gmail.com. Should you have any questions concerning your rights as research participants, please direct them to him, and he will put you in touch with anyone else you may wish to speak with at the university. Should you have any questions concerning your rights as research participants, you may contact the Office of Research ethics (ethics.review@utoronto.ca, 416-946-3273). Please note that the research ethics program at the university may have confidential access to data, to help ensure that the participant protection procedures outlined in the permissions agreement are followed.

We look forward to working with you.

Stephen Johnson, Principal Investigator, on behalf of all the Project Participants

Statement on Consent

We will be providing you with a statement requesting consent for our interview with you. Though the specific agreement is something we can work out, in general we like to proceed on the assumption that you are the owner of what we are about to record, and you give us permission to use it to specific purpose. By providing your consent, you are agreeing to the following, though we will talk about all of this prior to finalizing any agreement:

The interview process will be recorded for research purposes in some combination of video, audio, and written documentation.
We will review the recording with you, so that you can determine if there are any specific sections you wish edited or deleted.
Based on that review, we would like to publish excerpts of the recorded interview, and related material, in a web publication, and make use of quotations from the interview as part of a print publication.
You will receive a copy of the recording, and anything else we generate.
We will keep an interim copy, while we discuss with you where else you may wish to deposit this interview--in an appropriate
archive or library, for example. Once a appropriate repository has been established, we will only keep a copy of the interview for our own archive with your permission. We will remain in contact with you at least once a month until this is all finalized.

Statement on Consultation Regarding Ethics for all participants in Gatherings Projects

In establishing the ethical practices and permissions documents we use for our project, Gatherings has consulted widely. We have worked to create an ethics protocol that respects the culturally diverse performers and audiences we serve. Following is a list of the most significant influences on our work:

The policies of the First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC). You can read more at https://fnigc.ca/ocapr.html . See in particular the OCAP strategy—Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession.
The policies of the National Inuit Strategy on Research. You can read more at https://www.itk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/ITK_NISR-Report_English_low_res.pdf
The policies of the Federal Government's Tri-Council Policy Statement Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. You can read more at http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/policy- politique/initiatives/tcps2-eptc2/Default/
The policies and practices of our Project Partners, the Canadian Theatre Museum, Dance Collection Danse, and Playwrights Canada Press, and of all the universities participating in our study: University of Victoria; University of Lethbridge; MacEwan University; Trent University; Memorial University of Newfoundland.
The Ethics protocols for the Partnership located at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Tradition & Transition: Tradition and Transition Among the Labrador Inuit. See https://www.traditionandtransition.com
The Centre for Oral History and Traditions (COHT) at the University of Lethbridge. See http://www.uleth.ca/research/centres-institutes/centre-oral-history-and-tradition
Material accessed through the website Oral History in the Digital Age http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/
Material and individuals accessed through the Oral History Association http://www.oralhistory.org/web-guides-to-doing-oral-history/

Email performancegatherings@gmail.com or sjohnson.research@gmail.com with any questions or comments.

Information on Ownership and Permissions for 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. We are preparing sample permissions documents that we use when researching, copying, preserving, and pubishing imagery of documents, and will post them here in July (and update them regularly afterwards).

In the meantime, we include below a general documentary permissions form that we use in our work. We also include a link to our general archival policy, which is based on lengthy consultation with everyone in Gatherings. You may also be interested in the information available to read related to our Oral History research, which is related closely to the ethics of archival research.

We encourage you to send us questions and concerns about archives--including your own. We will help in any way we can.

Here is the link to our general archival policy.

See below for a sample letter of consent we use:

GATHERINGS: ARCHIVAL & ORAL HISTORIES OF PERFORMANCE DOCUMENT RELEASE FORM

Please provide a new form for each individual from whom you are obtaining permissions. You can generate multiple forms and send them via email to these individuals by using the copy and paste functions in MS Word. Note that for most materials, permissions may be necessary from the individual owner of the document, from the original creator of the document, and from each subject recorded by or in that document, all depending on the provenance. Advice from the Gatherings Executive, appropriate Task Force, and the PI should be sought if there are any questions or complications. Be sure to include a clear statement from the creator or owner or subject of the document—either a signature or an email pasted into the form below.

NAME OF CREATOR/OWNER OF COPYRIGHT:

ADDRESS:

DESCRIPTION OF DOCUMENT(S) [Note: This may include photographs of productions, personnel or designs, creative artistic works related to productions, aural or visual recordings of artistic works, individuals, or physical objects related to the subject of the interview.]

CREATOR URL:

The Creator (that is, the photographer, recorder, or other artist or manufacturer) hereby grants to Gatherings (the Publisher) a worldwide, nonexclusive permission to publish/post copies of any material described above as an integral part of the work of Gatherings, in print, electronic or any other form and in any media now known or hereafter devised, subject to the conditions below:

1. The customary credit will be given to the Creator.

2. The Publisher will not, without a further granting of permission, publish or distribute the Image(s) except as an integral part of the publication/posting in which the Article appears. .

3. The Creator’s name will appear in any caption for reproduced items. If you would like the Creator’s website to be featured with the caption, please provide it in the appropriate box above.

4. This permission covers only material in which the Creator holds copyright (i.e., it does not cover any material with an independent copyright).

5. This permission covers the use of documentary material in any promotional content for Gatherings, including print and online supplementary materials. The Creator will always be given customary credit.

Please email a copy the above section to each Creator and ask her/him to send an email consenting to the terms explained above. This email permission should be pasted in the box provided below, and it MUST show: 1) the email address from which this permission was sent; and 2) the date of the email correspondence.