The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has announced details of the latest funding awards under Archiving Scheme 2, a BAI Broadcasting Funding Scheme initiative.
Archiving Scheme 2 is a support scheme, funded through the television licence fee, to encourage and promote the development of an archiving culture in the Irish broadcasting sector, contributing to the safeguarding of Irish heritage.
The focus for this round of Archiving Scheme 2 concerned the archiving of programme material with the specific objective of the preservation of a historic record of Irish culture, heritage and experience and in particular, that which safeguards historic material that is threatened by fragile physical condition or soon to be obsolete formats. Thirteen applications were received in total, from which six projects were awarded €1.89 million.
The six projects are as follows:
• IFI/Ballymun Communications – Community-created video material, captured in the community of Ballymun from the early 1980s to the present day.
• Northern Ireland Screen/PRONI (Northern Ireland Archive) – Digitisation of UTV cine film dating from 1959 – 1972.
• TG4/NUIG/GAA – Digitisation of Irish language children’s and entertainment programmes, Irish language drama, and Irish language sports programmes from 1996 – 2006.
• Northern Visions Limited/Raidió Fáilte – Collection of Irish language radio and TV programmes from community services from the 1970s – 2010.
• RTÉ/DCU – Digitisation of Irish Language radio recordings from 1950 – 2009.
• RTÉ – Digitisation of news film from the 1970s.
Commenting on the announcement, Chief Executive of the BAI, Michael O’Keeffe said:
“We are very pleased to announce the latest funding recipients under Archiving Scheme 2. Each of the projects has demonstrated the important cultural value of the archive material, which will now be preserved for future generations. The BAI particularly welcomes the partnership approaches taken with the majority of successful applications, which are encouraged by the Scheme, and meet with one of the main Scheme objectives, that of developing an integrated approach to archiving.”
“Archiving Scheme 2 supports the BAI’s key strategic objective of increasing the availability of culturally relevant audio-visual content for Irish audiences. Since the inception of the first Archiving Scheme in 2012, the BAI has awarded over €6.8m to 28 archiving projects across both radio and television.”
The BAI will now commence contract negotiations with all successful applicants.
More information on the Archiving Scheme 2 and the projects being offered funding is available here.