Large scale audiovisual conservation and digitalisation schema gets full funding in the Netherlands
::Largest AV digitalisation project ever in Europe to get funded by the government::
Hilversum, The Netherlands – The Netherlands Government announced in its annual budget proposal the support for the project ”Images for the Future”. Images for the Future is a large-scale conservation and digitalisation operation comprising 285,000 hours of film, television and radio recordings, and 2.9 million photos. The investment of 173 million euro, is spread over a period of seven years. On 13 June 2006, Edwin van Huis (General Director of the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision) submitted this project plan in the name of a the consortium to members of the Dutch parliament Annette Nijs (VVD), Martijn van Dam (PvdA) and Nicolien van Vroonhoven (CDA).
The history of the past hundred years is stored in the Netherlands film and television archives. The last century is the first century that has fully been recorded in audiovisual material, in the form of films, documentaries and radio and television programmes totalling over 700,000 hours of material. The educational, cultural and economic value of these sources is unprecedented. The provision of the government financing has removed the immediate threat of the decay and loss of fragile films and video and audio tapes. It will enable this audiovisual heritage to be conserved and made available to the community in digital form.
The project plan Images for the Future is a large-scale conservation and digitalisation operation comprising 285,000 hours of film, video and audio recordings, and 2.9 million photos. It is unprecedented in its scale and ambition. All these films, programmes and photos will be made available for educational and creative purposes. An infrastructure for digital distribution will also be developed. A basic collection will be made available without copyright or under a Creative Commons licence. Making this heritage digitally available will lead to innovative applications in the area of new media and the development of valuable services for the public. The income/expense analysis included in the project plan shows that on balance the project will produce a positive social effect in the Dutch economy to the value of 20 to 60 million euros.
Images for the Future is a joint project by six organisations: the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, the Film Museum, Nederland Kennisland, the National Archives, the Centrale Discotheek Rotterdam and the Netherlands Association of Public Libraries. This consortium unites the large collection management organisations and brings together specific expertise in the area of innovative digital technology, methods of release focused on particular target groups, and copyright issues. This collaboration aims to reinforce the knowledge infrastructure through digitalising audiovisual sources and making them available to the public.
Note for the press:
For more information, please contact:
Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision:
Johan Oomen + 31 35 677 5189, joomen@beeldengeluid.nl
Alette Ahsmann, + 31 35 – 677 4720, 06 – 53 186707, aahsmann@beeldengeluid.nl
Film Museum
Rien Hagen, + 31 20 – 5891414, rhagen@filmmuseum.nl
Nederland Kennisland
Hans Westerhof,+ 31 20 – 575 6720, hwesterhof@kennisland.nl
See also www.beeldenvoordetoekomst.nl for more information:
· fact sheet Images for the Future (including the petition ‘save the audiovisual heritage’, September 2005 and the ‘delta plan for the conservation of film’ from the Dutch Council for Culture, August 2005)
· project plan Images for the Future
· income/expense analysis Images for the Future