Monte-Carlo, Monaco – The Fédération Mondiale du Cirque today joined the World Digital Library as an official Partner. The World Digital Library (WDL) was conceived by the United States Library of Congress as an Internet-based, easily-accessible collection of the world’s cultural riches that would tell the stories and highlight the achievements of all countries and cultures to promote cross-cultural awareness and understanding. Launched in April 2009, the WDL today features high quality, selected images reflecting the cultural heritage of UNESCO member states. The Federation, together with a group of leading libraries, museums and archives, is ensuring that Circus is included among the digital images of world treasures displayed on the site.
“We are excited to partner with the Federation and other great institutions to provide access to rare circus content,” said Michelle Rago, WDL Product Manager. “One of the benefits of the WDL is that users can access content from partners around the world on one site. Leading institutions have worked together to identify top treasures related to the history of the circus and users everywhere will be able to access the content, in multiple languages, for free.”
Collaborating with the Federation and also accepted as new WDL Partners are the Barnum Museum, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA; Centro Educativo di Documentazione delle Arti Circensi (CEDAC), Verona, Italy; Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin, USA; Illinois State University, Milner Library, Normal, Illinois, USA; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, USA; the Musée du Cirque Alain Frère, Tourrette-Levens, France; St. Petersburg Bolshoi Circus Museum of Circus Art, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation; and Somers Historical Society, Somers, New York.
“The WDL partnership provides an unprecedented opportunity to highlight Circus as part of world cultural heritage,” according to Laura van der Meer, Executive Director of the Federation. “But it has also provided a fantastic opportunity for close collaboration among experts from some of the most prestigious museums and archives holding Circus collections in Europe and the United States, a first-ever achievement. We look forward to expanding the initiative to other continents.”
Each institution will be submitting three to four images from their collections for this initial posting of Circus content. The images will show the historical roots of the modern Circus and its formative events, its Golden Age grandeur, and its continuing vitality as part of contemporary culture. Final selection and submission of the Circus content to the WDL will be completed this month in a collective celebration of the Third World Circus Day on 21 April 2012.
The WDL partnership is part of the Federation’s ongoing Preservation Project aimed at preserving circus artifacts, history and memory. Circus images will be available at www.wdl.org in the coming months in multilingual formats.
The Fédération Mondiale du Cirque was founded in 2008 under the patronage of H.S.H. Princess Stephanie of Monaco and is headquartered in Monte-Carlo. The Federation is a non-profit organization created to promote Circus arts and culture worldwide, to serve as a voice for the Circus community, and to represent Circus interests at the international level.