Project Scope & Initial Video Conversions

The ClancyWorks Archive Project began as a brainstorming session in December of 2020. With partial COVID funding, we were able to hire our first consulting partner, Evolving Communications (EC). With the aid of EC in the spring of 2021, we completed a collection assessment and developed our initial preservation plan: listing of assets, total requirement digital conversions, equipment, needed storage, and approximate labor and cost.

Digitization of Analog Video & Initial Plan to Make the Archive Public

In July of 2021, Evolving Communications was contracted to begin the analog to digital conversion our video archive. Through the end of January 2022, EC had processed 47% of our critical recordings. The process of converting the old analog tapes (BetaCam, VHS, VHS-C, 8mm, DVCAM, and MiniDV) was time consuming. Due to oxidation and wear, old deck heads required constant cleaning between conversions to minimize further wear and static electricity that could consume the tapes during the recording transfers. After viewing some of our older conversions, we discovered something we failed to address, damage in the recordings due to noise caused by age and wear. At the time little could be done to improve quality. But, this clarity issue can now be resolved using AI.

Although, a larger portion of the collection had yet to be processed, in the spring of 2022 Evolving Communications gather ClancyWorks staff to provide appropriate training for future cataloging and preservation procedures for the digitized collection.

At the beginning of our next fiscal year, ’22-’23, we were unsuccessful in locating funding to finish the remaining digital conversion and image quality repairs; nonetheless, ClancyWorks staff worked through the fall and early winter of 2022 to implement cataloging procedures provided by EC, and located an additional 57 missing videos and further identified paper documents to be added to the archive.

Focus on Online Archive Publication

In January of 2023, following the recommendations of outside evaluators, we looked for an additional partner to help us appropriate and design an online portal, and process and manage the data utilizing a Digital Asset Management System (DAMS). Through industry recommendations we found Chroma Diverse, a nonprofit archival consultant specializing in helping performing arts organizations preserve, protect and present their archival materials. In April of 2023, we were awarded funding by the Maryland XXXX Department and hired Chroma Diverse to begin the next stage of our project.

Starting the fiscal year ’23-’24 in July, Chroma Diverse procured our 10Tb digital vault, and help us establish procedures to define and attribute, and then index and aggregate our document metadata. To facilitate the process, Chroma applied their newly acquired Smart Capture tool to scan and sort the data to create a searchable catalog. Due to software updates and a waiting client base, the scanning procedure took longer than expected. In the meantime, the ClancyWorks staff continued the hands-on curation and attribution video and photography into the spring of 2024.

As the Archive progress progressed into the next fiscal year ’24-’25, we were again able to pool funding, contract Chroma Diverse, and proceed to implement the preliminary design and build the vault’s user interface. With all paper, raster and PDF documents finally processed, all that was now left was to finish the video and photography curation, and then proceed to the final step of testing before the vault was to go live.