Jacob's Pillow Announces Online Access to the Archives and Festival 2016 Success

Following the record-breaking success of Festival 2016 and the increased demand for its resources, Jacob's Pillow Dance announces year-round online access to its impressive Archives through a robust new website. Beginning this year, digitized content and a large amount of information is available to the public, offering an unprecedented resource to the global dance community.

"We are thrilled to share the success of Festival 2016, and are now working on programming and community engagement for 2017," says Jacob's Pillow Director Pamela Tatge. "Now, more than ever before, we see a thirst for increased access across Jacob's Pillow programming, both on our physical site and beyond."

Festival 2016 Attendance
Festival 2016 was one of the most successful seasons on record for Jacob's Pillow, a National Historic Landmark, National Medal of Arts recipient, and home to America's longest-running dance festival. The Pillow hosted a record-breaking 108,000 visitor experiences throughout the summer, including ticketed performances, free performances, free talks, tours, dance classes, film screenings, exhibits, and various other community events. In addition to landmark attendance at these events, the Pillow exceeded the highest budget goal total to date totaling more than $2.3 million in ticket revenue.

Attendance at the Pillow's newly-expanded community programming increased 35% with more than 3,400 community members participating in the Pillow's annual Community Day and ongoing Community Classes throughout the summer. The recently renovated Blake's Barn, home to the Pillow's extensive dance Archives, also experienced unprecedented levels of popularity, hosting more than 23,000 visitor experiences-a 55% increase from Festival 2015's record-breaking season-through visits to the exhibits and the Norton Owen Reading Room, as well as the free PillowTalk series.

Online Access to the Jacob's Pillow Archives
In wake of the record-breaking surge in visits to the Archives and its programs during Festival 2016, Jacob's Pillow announces dramatically-expanded online access to one of the most eminent collections of archival material within the dance field. After 20 years of public access solely during the Festival (and by appointment throughout the year), the Archives are now available through a new user-friendly site, offering an ever-growing portion of this important collection to the public at archives.jacobspillow.org.

Among the features of the new site is a complete set of digitized programs from throughout the Pillow's 84-season history. These documents include everything from the first performance in the Ted Shawn Theatre (a 1942 premiere by Agnes deMille) to this past season's programs including commissioned essays from Pillow Scholars-in-Residence. Thousands of digitized photos are now available including 1930s snapshots of Ted Shawn's Men Dancers, many previously-unseen portraits of Pillow artists, and recent performance shots by Festival Photographer Christopher Duggan. The site includes catalog records for nearly 7000 videos in the Archives, hundreds of which are linked to online highlights that are instantly viewable through Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive. In addition to these features, any dancer who has ever performed at Jacob's Pillow, including thousands of former students, may also be searched by name.

The new site utilizes the same open-source CollectiveAccess software widely used by prominent arts organizations including the Brooklyn Academy Of Music, The New Museum, and National Public Radio. The project has been made possible through a two-year Archives Advancement Initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and also incorporates digitization work supported by Save America's Treasures and the Leir Charitable Foundations in memory of Henry J. Leir and the Leir Charitable Trusts, in memory of Henry J. and Erna D. Leir.

ABOUT JACOB'S PILLOW: Jacob's Pillow, celebrating its 85th Festival in 2017, is a National Historic Landmark, recipient of the National Medal of Arts, and home to America's longest-running international dance festival. Each Festival includes more than 50 national and international dance companies and 350 free and ticketed performances, talks, tours, classes, exhibits, and events. The School at Jacob's Pillow, one of the most prestigious professional dance training centers in the U.S., encompasses the diverse disciplines of Ballet, Cultural Traditions, Contemporary, and Musical Theatre Dance, as well as an Intern Program in various disciplines of arts administration, design, video, and production. The Pillow's extensive Archives, open year-round to the public, chronicle more than a century of dance in photographs, programs, books, costumes, audiotapes, and videos. Year-round Community Programs enrich the lives of children and adults through public classes, residencies in area schools, and an extensive schedule of free public events. Through Jacob's Pillow Curriculum in Motion®, a nationally recognized program, Artist Educators work with Berkshire County teachers and students grades K-12, transforming curricula such as biology, literature, and history into kinesthetic and creative learning experiences. Creative Development Residencies, in which dance companies are invited to live and work at the Pillow and enjoy unlimited studio time; choreography commissions; and the annual $25,000 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award all support visionary dance artists and choreographers. During Creative Development Residencies, artists are invited to spend one to three weeks at the Pillow creating or rehearsing new work, with free housing for the company, unlimited use of studio space, and access to the Pillow's rare and extensive Archives and other Pillow resources.

In the beautiful, retreat-like atmosphere of the Pillow, the Creative Development Residencies are rare opportunities for artists to focus on the creative process without distraction. Notable artists who have created or premiered dances at the Pillow include choreographers Antony Tudor, Agnes De Mille, Alvin Ailey, Donald McKayle, Kevin McKenzie, Twyla Tharp, Ralph Lemon, Susan Marshall, Trisha Brown, Ronald K. Brown, Wally Cardona, Andrea Miller, and Trey McIntyre; performed by artists such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Carmen De Lavallade, Mark Morris, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Edward Villella, Rasta Thomas, and hundreds of others. The Pillow's digital initiatives are aimed at expanding global audiences for dance and offers the opportunity to experience dance and Jacob's Pillow from anywhere in the world via online interactive exhibits, global video networks, and social media. An important part of the Pillow's digital presence, Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive is a curated online video collection of dance highlights from 1933 to today.

On March 2, 2011, President Obama honored Jacob's Pillow with a National Medal of Arts, the highest arts award given by the United States Government, making the Pillow the first dance presenting organization to receive this prestigious award. For more information, visit www.jacobspillow.org.