AusStage

AusStage, has always prided itself on its collaborative excellence: the original Management Committee consisted of scholars from eight universities and representatives from the Australia Council, the Performing Arts Special Interest Group (PASIG) and Playbox Theatre. Together these scholars, archivists and arts administrators designed a schema for a relational database to capture information on performing arts events in Australia, and on performances by Australian artists overseas.

Founding Partners included:

Professor Julie Holledge (Flinders University)
Professor Chris Marlin (Flinders University)
Mr Kim Hanna (Australia Council)
Professor Adrian Kiernander (University of New England)
Mr John McCallum (University of New South Wales)
Mr Geoffrey Milne (La Trobe University)
Ms Jill Smith (Playbox)
Mr Richard Stone (Performing Arts Heritage Network of Museums Australia)
Professor Joanne Tompkins (University of Queensland)
Professor Rod Wissler (Queensland University of Technology)

In 2000, AusStage received its first LIEF (Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities) scheme funding from the ARC and the database was launched as an open access online resource in 2002. It has been further developed with seven LIEF grants ($2 726 523), a significant NeAT (National eResearch Architecture Taskforce) grant ($500 000, 2009-2011), small national grants (2010) and partner contributions from eighteen universities. It holds over 432,000 records of Events, Contributors, Venues, Organisations, and Resources (2022). AusStage brings together many existing resources from within the participating universities and other theatre research organisations and caters for future data collection and collaborative research. The project delivers both hardware and software to curate an extensive dataset on live performance in Australia and can handle complex relational queries across three strands of research: Australian theatre history; the cultural and commercial analysis of the production and consumption of performances; and audience analysis. It also has created a directory of research resources on the performing arts. In recent years, AusStage has integrated a suite of tools to create data visualisations and has pioneered the use of VR technology for performance research on its platform. In the current development phase, a system is being designed to link financial data to artists and companies.

Further detail on each of the phases of development is tabled below. From 2024 AusStage has taken new partnership directions working with the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) on the Australian Creative Histories and Futures project.

Phase 1: A National Distributed Database of Australian Theatre Practice (2000-2002)

The Australian Research Council supported the establishment of AusStage, through the Research Infrastructure and Equipment Fund. This grant was augmented by additional contributions from eight participating universities: Flinders, La Trobe, Queensland, UNSW, UWA, UNE, Newcastle and the QUT. Work began in January 2000 and was completed by the end of 2002. The outcome was a prototype data model with enough data to ensure its efficacy and provide a sound basis for future developments.

In this phase the project received Australian Research Council RIEF funding of $140,000. Project partners: Associate Professor Julie Hollege (Flinders University), Dr Joanne Tompkins (University of Queensland), Professor Adrian Kiernander (University of New England), Mr Geoffrey Milne (La Trobe University), Associate Professor Rod Wissler (Queensland University of Technology), Mr John McCallum (University of New South Wales), Ms Jill Smith (Playbox), Mr Richard Stone (Performing Arts Special Interest Group of Museums Australia).

Phase 2: AusStage: Australian Performing Arts Gateway – Enhancement and Information Retrieval (2003-2005)

The university partners continued their collaboration with a second round of ARC funding in 2003. In early 2004, the partnership was extended with the inclusion of Curtin University. Focusing on issues of storage, retrieval and sustainability, Phase 2 substantially re-organised the database and improved the online interfaces. Data entry was the main focus of activity in phase 2 - the number of event records increased from 7,000 to 35,000.

In this phase the project received Australian Research Council LIEF funding of $280,000. Project partners: Professor Julie Holledge (Flinders University), Mr Joh Hartog (Flinders University), Dr Joanne Tompkins (University of Queensland), Professor Adrian Kiernander (University of New England), Mr Geoffrey Milne (La Trobe University), Professor Rodney Wissler (Queensland University of Technology), Mr John McCallum (University of New South Wales), Dr Stephen Chinna (University of Western Australia), Professor John Roddick (Flinders University), Dr David Watt (University of Newcastle), Ms Jill Smith (Playbox), Mr Kim Hanna (Australia Council for the Arts), Mr Richard Stone (Performing Arts Special Interest Group of Museums Australia).

Phase 3: AusStage: Gateway to Australian Live Performance – Enhancing Collaborative Research Methodologies through Digital Networking Technologies (2006-2008)

In 2006 AusStage expanded its partnership to twenty-two organisations with the involvement of a further eleven universities: Edith Cowan, Murdoch, Ballarat, Sydney, Melbourne, Western Sydney, Monash, Wollongong, Adelaide, Macquarie and Deakin. In 2007 the consortium received a third round of funding through the ARC's Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) scheme. Phase 3 set out to transform the AusStage database into a platform for collaborative research across three programs:

Building resource links: AusStage developers implemented the technical capacity to construct persistent links between Event records in AusStage and digitised resources in institutional digital repositories. These links streamlined research pathways between AusStage and online collections, leading to new methods and efficiencies in performing arts e-research. They also implemented the new resource and work tables; migrated data from article table and resource directory into the resource table; and implemented new interfaces for creating, editing, searching and browsing resource records.
Sustaining data entry: AusStage stakeholders developed a sustainable strategy for prospective data entry across the country by drawing on a national network of data sources, targeting key organisations including companies, government agencies, collections and publishers. They also reviewed and improved protocols for genre classification and attribution of content indicators to Event records; redesigned the public search interface, improved record display and enhanced mechanisms for user feedback.
Cultivating e-research capacity: Partner research projects cultivated e-research capacity in the performing arts by developing the interactive potential of AusStage for researchers and postgraduates, and pioneering new e-research methodologies. Three e-research clusters were formed within AusStage: Mapping regional clusters of live performance activity; Visualising networks of collaboration between artists over time; and integrating publications and performance as research.

At this stage the AusStage database held records on 46,000 performance Events, 77,000 Contributors, 8,600 Organisations, 5,600 Venues and 40,000 articles, books, programs, images, videos and archival items (Resources) relating to those Events.

In this phase the project received Australian Research Council LIEF funding of $300,000. Project partners: Professor Julie Holledge (Flinders University), Dr Jonathan Bollen (Flinders University), Associate Professor Joanne Tompkins (University of Queensland), Mr Ray Choate (University of Adelaide), Dr Helena Grehan (Murdoch University), Professor Peter Fitzpatrick (Monash University), Dr Paul Makeham (Queensland University of Technology), Dr Glen McGillivray (University of Western Sydney), Dr Ian Maxwell (University of Sydney), Mr Geoffrey Milne (La Trobe University), Mr Richard Murphet (University of Melbourne), Mr John McCallum (University of New South Wales), Professor Adrian Kiernander (University of New England), Dr Jacqueline Lo (Australian National University), Dr Glenn D'Cruz (Deakin University), Ms Kim Durban (Ballarat University), Ms Nanette Hassall (Edith Cowan University), Dr David Watt (University of Newcastle), Mr Tim Maddock (University of Wollongong), Ms Cate Fowler (Windmill Theatre Company), Mr Kim Hanna (Australia Council for the Arts), Mr Richard Stone (Performing Arts Special Interest Group of Museums Australia).

AusStage Phase 4: Harnessing Collective Intelligence and Pioneering New Visual Methodologies for Innovative Research into Australian Live Performance (2009-2013)

AusStage continued its program of collaborative research and development with a fourth round of ARC LIEF funding for 2010. Researchers worked with AusStage across six projects:

Harnessing Expertise: New infrastructure was developed to harness the collective intelligence of the research network, and an editorial board was established to provide authoritative verification of data.
Visual Searching: A portable digitisation laboratory was created, providing researchers with the technical equipment and expertise to digitise all resource documentation integral to contextualisation of live performance. Researchers archived items in institutional repositories and created linked records within the AusStage database.
Mapping Events: Geographic coordinates were recorded, where possible, for all Australian venues in the database and geo-coding was used as a basis for interrogating the cartography of theatre production across Australia.
Navigating Networks: Network analysis was drawn upon and a new network interface developed to enhance the representation of artists and their relationships in the AusStage user interface.
Researching Audiences: The mobile audience research service was piloted by designing, testing and refining a robust and reliable audience research method using an automated content analysis system to aggregate audience response data and visualise results.
Modelling Knowledge: AusStage information architecture was further developed for evolution from a customized relational database to a standards-based ontology and the database was re-engineered to take advantage of advances in open source software for information management.

In this phase the project received Australian Research Council LIEF funding of $650,000. LIEF project partners included: Professor Julie Holledge (Flinders University), Professor Chris Marlin (Flinders University), Dr Jonathan Bollen (Flinders University), Dr David Carlin (RMIT), Professor Veronica Kelly (University of Queensland), Professor Joanne Tompkins (University of Queensland), Associate Professor Thomas Burvill (Macquarie University), Dr Glenn D'Cruz (Deakin University), Dr Shona Erskine (Edith Cowan University), Ms Nanette Hassall (Edith Cowan University), Mr Geoffrey Milne (La Trobe University), Professor Peta Tait (La Trobe University), Dr Maryrose Casey (Monash University), Dr Helena Grehan (Murdoch University), Associate Professor Paul Makeham (Queensland University of Technology), Assistant Professor Kim Durban (Ballarat University), Dr Gillian Arrighi (University of Newcastle), Associate Professor David Watt (University of Newcastle), Professor Adrian Kiernander (University of New England), Mr John McCallum (University of New South Wales), Associate Professor Ian Maxwell (University of Sydney), Dr Helen Trenos (University of Tasmania), Dr Glen McGillivray (University of Western Sydney), Mr Russell Mitchell (National Institute of Dramatic Art), Mr Richard Stone (Performing Arts Special Interest Group of Museums Australia), Ms Kathryn Gilbey (Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Teritary Education), Ms Mary-Anne O'Leary (Adelaide Festival Centre), Ms Antonietta Morgillo (Australia Council for the Arts), Ms Rosemary Myers (Windmill Theatre Company).

Further to the ARC LIEF Phase 4 funding, AusStage also received funding from additional sources during this active phase of development. These included:

(1) Aus-e-Stage Project (NeAT)

The Aus-e-Stage project ran from mid-2009 to mid-2011 with funding from the National eResearch Architecture Taskforce (NeAT) under the Australian Government’s Platforms for Collaboration initiative. Aus-e-Stage set out to provide researchers with new platform-independent, remotely accessible and visually interactive interfaces to the AusStage database. Three new services were designed, tested and deployed to operate alongside our conventional text-based search-and-retrieval service.

The Mapping Events service produced an interactive, map-based interface with which to search, manage and display AusStage data. Users were able to generate geographic displays of venues and associated events, zoom from global-scale to street-level, control and animate time-ranges, and trajectory-track organisations, productions and artists on tour.
The Navigating Networks service provided an interactive interface for exploring the network of artistic collaborations embedded in the AusStage dataset. Node-link network graphs depicted artists and their collaborations, using existing data to ‘humanise’ the collaborative ethic of the performing arts.
The Researching Audiences service was a mobile interface which allowed AusStage to collate location-based input from users, providing AusStage with immediate, on-location, experience-near data relating to Australian performing arts.

(2) Seeding the Commons (ANDS)

In 2010, AusStage was funded through the Australian National Data Service to increase discovery and re-use of the AusStage dataset by improving data storage; reformatting the dataset as RDF/OWL to support re-use; making policy and project documentation and code available online; and exposing the dataset to re-use through an open access web-based application-programming interface (API).

Additional project management and software development for the Aus-e-Stage (NeAT) and Seeding the Commons (ANDS) project phases was provided by Liz Milford (Larkin), Corey Wallis, Paul Gardner-Stephen and Brad Williams in conjunction with AusStage ARC LIEF Phase 4 Flinders University leads Jonathan Bollen and Jenny Fewster.

(3) Australian Access Federation (AAF)

The Federating Access to AusStage project commenced in early 2010. With funding from the Australian Access Federation (AAF), the project significantly advanced researcher involvement in AusStage by; increasing personnel, expanding the dataset and providing researchers with federated access to the ‘back end’ administration and editorial areas of AusStage. Further work was done to integrate AusStage’s migration to an open source content management system (OpenCMS) with the AAF.

(4) HuNI - Humanities Networked Infrastructure (NeCTAR)

AusStage was a partner in the two-year virtual laboratory project by National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources (NeCTAR). The Humanities Networked Infrastructure (HuNI) virtual laboratory provides Australian and international arts and humanities researchers access to the combined resources of Australia’s foremost cultural datasets. The virtual laboratory was conceived by the Cultural Dataset Consortium (CDC) – curators, managers and researchers – and facilitates improved data-sharing between researchers and greater interoperation between Australia’s most important cultural datasets. The project aimed to open up new forms of humanities and arts research and enhance Australian cultural understanding across time.

AusStage Phase 5: Australian Live Performance and the World – Global Networks, National Culture, Aesthetic Transmission (2014-2016)

AusStage was conceived at a time when artists and researchers were concerned with national imaginaries, and with the implications of multiculturalism within Australian culture. But cultural production in the performing arts has always extended beyond national borders. Although the initial impulse in creating AusStage was to record a national culture, collaborative research into the history, making and consumption of live performance is increasingly international; it cannot be contained within static constructions and national boundaries.

In Phase 5 AusStage Partners set about internationalising AusStage, by opening the flow of information between our Australian data set on live performance and equivalent holdings in international collections. Aims were to:

internationalise AusStage by working with partners in other countries to share data and software, and expand the coverage of international performances by Australian artists;
develop new quantitative methodologies for analysing aesthetic transmission through global artistic networks;
extend the data set to support international research into the interaction between global markets and national arts subsidies; and
support research workflows with infrastructure developments to integrate digital content and improve user experience.

These initiatives helped researchers understand how Australian artists impact on the world stage. Reaching beyond national borders opened up new opportunities for pure and applied research with international partners. The initiative to internationalise AusStage aligned with the focus in Digital Humanities on solving the problems that academic, industry and government researchers face when attempting to conduct global investigations across databases and digital repositories that are artificially isolated by national boundaries and poor interoperability.

In this phase the project received Australian Research Council LIEF funding of $325,000. Project partners: Professor Julian Meyrick (Flinders University), Professor John Roddick (Flinders University), Professor Julie Holledge (Flinders University / University of Oslo), Dr Jonathan Bollen (Flinders University), Professor Joanne Tompkins (University of Queensland), Professor Veronica Kelly (University of Queensland), Associate Professor Maryrose Casey (Monash University), Ms Nanette Hassall (Edith Cowan University), Dr Shona Erksine (Edith Cowan University), Professor Rachel Fensham (University of Melbourne), Associate Professor Denise Varney (University of Melbourne), Dr Glenn D'Cruz (Deakin University), Associate Professor Helena Grehan (Murdoch University), Dr Gillian Arrighi (Newcastle University), Associate Professor David Watt (Newcastle University), Dr Sandra Gattenhoff (Queensland University of Technology), Dr Bree Hadley (Queensland University of Technology), Dr Margaret Hamilton (University of Wollongong), Dr Meg Mumford (University of New South Wales), Dr Bryoni Tresize (University of New South Wales), Professor Peta Tait (La Trobe University), Dr Delyse Ryan (Australian Catholic University), Ms Antonietta Morgillo (Australia Council for the Arts), Professor Frode Helland (University of Oslo), Mr Christopher Smith (Performing Arts Special Interest Group of Museums Australia), Mr Rob Brookman (State Theatre Company of South Australia).

AusStage Phase 6: Visualising Venues in Australian Live Performance Research (2017-2018)

AusStage Phase 6 aimed to build an innovative visual interface with a venue focus, enhancing its infrastructure with new visualisation and curatorial technologies. Mapping AusStage data onto the venue landscape enabled: digital access to significant numbers of buildings coded into the national geography; analysis of synergies between artists, sites of performance, and audience development; investigation of national touring patterns from the nineteenth century to the present day; and assessment of the impact of transnational performance events. Individual projects were clustered under four headings: 1. city venues and cultural legacy; 2. audiences and spatiality; 3. lost venues and sites of performance; 4. digital interfaces and data integration.

In this phase the project received Australian Research Council LIEF funding of $465,000. Project partners: Professor Julian Meyrick (Flinders University), Professor Joanne Tompkins (University of Queensland), Professor Rachel Fensham (University of Melbourne), Associate Professor Maryrose Casey (Monash University), Dr Glenn D'Cruz (Deakin University), Dr Gillian Arrighi (University of Newcastle), Dr Jonathan Marshall (Edith Cowan University), Professor John O'Toole (Griffith University), Dr Bree Hadley (Queensland University of Technology), Associate Professor Ian Maxwell (University of Sydney), Dr Caroline Wake (University of New South Wales), Professor Peta Tait (La Trobe University), Dr Margaret Hamilton (University of Wollongong), Ms Janine Barrand (Victorian Arts Centre Trust), The State Theatre Company of South Australia, The Performing Arts Heritage Network of Museums Australia, The Association of Performing Arts Collections (UK).

AusStage Phase 7: The International Breakthrough (2021-2023)

AusStage LIEF 7 further enhances the world's oldest and most extensive national dataset on live performance. This project maximises research arising from the global flow of data now accessible following the adoption of the AusStage schema by Norway, the UK, and potentially, China. Outcomes include improvements to the AusStage user interface; adaptation of the AusStage schema to support longitudinal studies of the impact of government policies; and development of AusStage immersive virtual reality theatres to popularise delivery of performing arts research. These innovations benefit Australia by reinforcing AusStage’s position as an international leader in the provision of digital research infrastructure.

Key objectives of AusStage LIEF 7 include:

Adaption of the AusStage data schema to store and provide additional information to support longitudinal studies on the impact of government policy on the Australian performing arts sector; share schema with international partners to develop correlational studies of international trends of government intervention in the development and international dissemination of performance culture.
Improvement of the communication of research by integrating access to the latest software for researchers to generate visualisations of datasets in a range of display formats. Enhancements to the user interface provide researchers with tools to identify, explore and manipulate discrete datasets drawn from AusStage and international partner databases.
Acoustic enhancement of AusStage’s VR lost theatres (modelled through LIEF 6) to create performance research laboratories for the study of global transmission of lost performances and create immersive exhibition spaces for dissemination of research findings. Auralisation allows users to experience the acoustics of the theatre from different positions; and providea greater sense of spatial immersion through a holistic approach mixing visual and acoustic data.
Enhancement of the user interface in compliance with international WCAG 2.0 standards to ensure the AusStage database is even more accessible to researchers and the public.

For this phase the project received Australian Research Council LIEF funding of $566,523. Financial and in kind project partners were drawn from twenty institutions including: Emeritus Professor Julie Holledge and Professor Maryrose Casey (Flinders University), Associate Professor Gillian Arrighi (The University of Newcastle), Associate Professor Jonathan Bollen (The University of New South Wales), Emeritus Professor Joanne Tompkins, Dr Bernadette Cochrane (The University of Queensland), Associate Professor Rea Dennis (Deakin University), Professor Rachel Fensham, Dr Kirsten Stevens (The University of Melbourne), Associate Professor Laura Ginters (The University of Sydney), Associate Professor Bree Hadley (Queensland University of Technology), Dr Margaret Hamilton (University of Wollongong), Professor Stacy Holman Jones (Monash University), Dr Jonathan Marshall (Edith Cowan University), Professor Julian Meyrick (Griffith University), Professor Peta Tait (La Trobe University), Dr Jane Woollard (University of Tasmania), Australia Council for the Arts, Australian Dance Theatre, Performing Arts Heritage Network of AMaGA, Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, The University of Oslo and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Statistical outcomes of LIEF 7 are shown in the LIEF 7 Statistics Summary Report.

Australian Creative Histories and Futures Project (2024-2028)

In 2024 the AusStage live performance database with CHASS team members Professor Chris Hay, Liz Larkin, Dr Benjamin Laird, Associate Professor Tully Barnett and Dr Christopher Hurrell joined a major research infrastructure initiative aimed at bringing together data on Australia’s rich cultural history and making it more accessible to researchers, policymakers, arts organisations and artists. The Australian Creative Histories and Futures project (ACHF) supports a $2.9 million investment over four years for AusStage to join others from across Australia to create a national data infrastructure for Australia’s creative history. This is an investment by the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) through its HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons, enabled by the Australian Government National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), and boosted by co-investment from the project partners, bringing the total investment to $5.8 million. Led by UNSW, with partners Creative Australia, Design and Art Australia Online (DAAO) and ACMI, the ACHF project aims to examine cultural data across several arts disciplines including the performing arts and visual arts as well as a unique Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM) sector perspective.