Now the Alumni hope to conduct children's classes and drum and dance camps, first steps in revitalizing Omo Ife, the children's company that provided talent to the Junior Company, which in turn, back in the day, fed trained dancers, drummers, and singers into the senior Afro American Dance Ensemble.
In March, 2010, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission approved the Alumni application for an historical marker honoring Arthur to be placed at the old Ile Ife Center on Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia. Please see the proposed text.
Here in Maine, I have digitized hundreds, if not thousands, of slides, negatives, prints, and documents to create CD-R copies which are kept here and in the Arthur Hall Alumni archives in Philadelphia. These materials are listed as recent additions to the Arthur Hall Collection.
The State of Maine has certified that we are an incorporated nonprofit historical society. We are working on a project to digitize and preserve over 250 hours of aging videotapes, some of which are over thirty years old. These tapes are in several obsolete formats, mostly S-VHS camera originals, but also 1" broadcast masters, 3/4" Umatic, Hi-8, and 1/2" open reel helical scan. Please see the Log of Videotapes in the Arthur Hall Collection.
It is urgent that these tapes be copied to digital before they are lost forever.
The videotapes are the most fragile and the most apt to be lost, but we also need to digitize many hours of audiotapes, some full track, which we can digitize in-house, and some quarter track, which will have to be sent to a laboratory. We have two reels of Super-8 film (about one hour of screen time) documenting Arthur's choreography of Orpheus and five reels of Super-8 (about two and a half hours) documenting the Dance Ensemble's historic 1974 trip to West Africa. The projected budget for needed preservation work is $56,800. Cash donations to the Arthur Hall Collection this year total $4,960 as of July 26, 2010.
With the funds already received, we have spent over $3,600 to purchased the equipment we need to begin the digitalization of the Arthur Hall Collection. Specifically, we now have an iMac with a Final Cut editing program, a high quality analog to digital converter, and a four terabyte archival hard drive.
We now need your support to carry forward this preservation project in a timely and efficient way. Again, it is vital that this work be done as soon as possible.
Please help carry Arthur's legacy onward by making a tax-deductible contribution
You may make a contribution right now via PayPal:
in any amount
to the Arthur Hall Collection.
The Arthur Hall Collection
754 Mount Ephraim Road
Searsport, Maine 04974
In the past few months, we have received the support of Lawrence Bender, the producer of Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Bastards, and Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, among many other fine works. Mr. Bender says that Arthur inspired him to pursue a career in the arts. We have also received contributions from two very generous Swedish connoisseurs of New Orleans jazz, from alumni of the Arthur Hall Afro American Dance Ensemble, and from Arthur's friends and admirers like you.
It is we who knew Arthur, who were inspired by him, who appreciate his inspirational work as an artist and as a teacher, as an institution builder, culture-maker, and healer, it is we who shall ensure that Arthur's work remains available for years to come.
Please contact me directly, either by our online form or by email, if you want more information or have any questions.
Thank you for your interest and support,
Bruce B. Williams, President
The Arthur Hall Collection
Contact Information
Nana Korantema and the
Arthur Hall Afro American
Dance Ensemble Alumni
Recent additions to the Arthur Hall Collection
Index of subdirectories @ ileife.org
