Australian education in drama and theatre has blossomed since the foundation of Drama Australia almost forty years ago, to be a world leader in the field, with our Young People’s Theatre and Youth Theatre work also highly regarded for its quality and innovation. This has gone largely undocumented, and until now Australia has no comprehensive archive.

The DADA Project (Drama Australia’s Data Archives) aims to identify what archival documentation, records, artefacts do exist in the field of education, youth theatre and theatre for young audiences: e.g. books, journals, classroom resources, videos, collections of scripts, private resources, recordings… in university departments, schools, private collections, lecturers’ and directors’ filing cabinets, theatre company records, performing arts museums etc. The DADA Project is gathering this information, to prepare an inventory of all documentation that can be available for all.
The complementary MAMA Project (Memories And Memorials Archive) involves a program of interviews with drama and theatre educators of distinction and wisdom – our ‘legends’ – especially those who have retired. Those who have already left us will be remembered through interviews with those who remember them and whom they influenced.
The immediate aim of DADA and MAMA is to build up a bank of these resources that can be available and accessible to all Drama Australia members and interested parties. The project is also working towards the long-term vision of a home, storage base and appropriate staffing.
Each State/Territory Drama Education Association is managing its own DADA collection and MAMA interviews through a local team of experienced volunteers under the aegis of Drama Australia’s Liaison Officer (DALO).

                       

WE NEED YOU!!!

 

DADA: IF YOU HAVE SOME OF THE ARTICLES MENTIONED ABOVE THAT EVEN MIGHT BE OF HISTORICAL OR ARCHIVAL INTEREST – we’d like to hear, and all you’ll have to do is fill in a simple form that you will be sent by your State Team
 
MAMA:
A.)   IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO NOMINATE SOMEBODY FOR AN INTERVIEW WHO YOU BELIEVE HAS DRAMA WISDOM AND EXPERIENCE TO IMPART THAT IS WORTHY OF THE ARCHIVE – we’d like to hear that too, so that we can make the appropriate arrangements.
B.)   IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TAKE PART AS AN INTERVIEWER IN THIS PROJECT, AND HELP TO GARNER OUR RICH HISTORY, WHILE SHARING THE ELDERS’ WISDOM FACE-TO-FACE WITH THEM – we’d like to hear that too, and get you on board as a prospective interviewer