CIRCO'DATA - circus arts portal (project)

The CNAC’s Resources and Research Centre to develop an interoperable and harvestable portal (deadline 2024)

The Circo’Data portal is a project based on observing current needs and follows detailed analysis of documentary resources for the circus arts. It will bring together a group of already existing tools (databases, directories, CNAC.TV…) with future tools, such as digital libraries for all collections held at the CNAC, as well as a virtual museum.

The tool will:
- bring the various databases together in one place and offer access to external resources;
- offer new methods of consulting information with innovative opportunities for accessing information, adapted to meet the varying needs of all users, schoolchildren, teachers, professionals, researchers, etc.

Assembled and produced in the same ecosystem, these tools will support all users in the circus sector.

Circo’Data: strategic axes

- Anchoring the circus arts in their locations, first and foremost in the Châlons region:
- By emphasising the advisory role played by CNAC archivists;
- By initiating new methodologies with other institutions holding collections of circus documents;
- By preserving and future-proofing the pioneering role of the CNAC in terms of documentary resources, on a national, European and global level.

- Showcasing and increasing accessibility to the resources held by the CNAC and regional and international bodies for circus heritage as a whole, past and future;

- Constructing new resources in collaboration with prestigious French and international partners: BnF, Stockholm University of the Arts, Ecole de cirque in Montreal, Circuscentrum in Ghent, SirkusInfo in Finland, etc, and pooling resources of use to the entire sector in one digital point of reference;

- Stimulating knowledge and research into circus arts: the portal aims to allow the sector as a whole to explore online resources according to their specific needs (schoolchildren, teachers, professionals, researchers);

- Consolidating and strengthening documentary collections and archives by making them more appealing to artists, companies and private collectors.