Press release issued today:

NATIONAL PROJECT TO WIDEN THE REACH OF FOLK MUSIC & DANCE GIVEN GO AHEAD

Learning programmes and world's biggest online portal of English folk music and dance gets Heritage Lottery Funding

A programme to create the world's biggest online portal of English folk music, song and dance manuscripts has been given the go ahead, following a funding award announced today.

The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) has secured a grant of £585,400 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to archive, conserve and digitise materials from six archives containing some of the country's most important folk music collections and allow free public access to 58,400 digitised collection items through a new web portal.


The Full English project will bring together the collections of Harry Albino, Lucy Broadwood, Clive Carey, Percy Grainger, Maud Karpeles, Frank Kidson, Thomas Fairman Ordish, Cecil Sharp, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Alfred Williams for the first time, to create the most comprehensive searchable database of British folk songs, tunes, dances and customs in the world.


The Full English will also be EFDSS's biggest learning and participation programme to date, and in each of the nine regions of England will:

•Work in partnership with education organisations, to increase awareness and knowledge of folk in education by training music educators and teachers, provide educational resources, regional learning events, and creative projects in primary and secondary schools and the wider community
•Partner local cultural organisations to deliver community projects comprising of participatory events and concerts, archive and history projects
•Carry out essential conservation work to the collections, preserving them for generations to come, and training volunteers in archive and conservation work
•Provide training and volunteering opportunities to up to 223 individuals and involve around 20,000 people in activities, performances and events
Katy Spicer, Chief Executive of EFDSS, said: "The Full English is the single most important development for these collections that together make up a unique reflection of a major aspect of the cultural heritage of England.


"This is a far reaching project that will enable people from across the world to access English folk music, songs and dances via the internet, and the conservation work will preserve the original collections for generations to come.

"Working in partnership with cultural and education organisations will allow us to deliver a range of community and school activities, introducing folk music to a new audience."


Katy added: "We are very grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the funding which will safeguard the future of these important collections and bring folk music to a generation that may otherwise never had heard of it."

The cultural partnership organisations are: Cecil Sharp House, London, where EFDSS is based; Sound Connections in London; SoundLINCS and Lincoln Drill Hall in Lincolnshire; Cambridge City Council/Cambridge Folk Festival; Folkworks/The Sage Gateshead; The Met in Bury; The Stables in Milton Keynes; Colston Hall/Bristol Music Trust in Bristol; mac (the Midlands Arts Centre) in Birmingham and Opera North in Leeds.

EFDSS will be digitising its collections held within the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) at Cecil Sharp House, and significant folk collections from the archives of project partners: the British Library in London, Clare College in Cambridge, The Mitchell Library in Glasgow, The Folklore Society Library and Archive at University College London, and the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre.

Now funding has been agreed a programme of conservation, digitisation and cataloguing will start. The project is also being supported by the National Folk Music Fund.

ENDS

For more information or images please contact press@efdss.org or Sophia Linehan (Director of Marketing and Communications) E: sophia@efdss.org / T: 020 7485 2206 ext.39

NOTES TO EDITORS

1.    About the Heritage Lottery FundUsing money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported over 30,000 projects, allocating £4.7billion across the UK. Website: www.hlf.org.uk
2.    For over 100 years the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), and its parent organisations, have been preserving, protecting, disseminating and promoting the English folk arts. EFDSS is the national folk arts development organisation for England, aiming to place the indigenous folk arts of England at the heart of our cultural life. Through programmes of performance, outreach and education at its headquarters, Cecil Sharp House in north London, and around the country, EFDSS seeks to support folk artists' and practitioners' development. EFDSS aims to promote the best of folk arts through a range of mediums including dance, music, song, film, exhibitions, and publications. Cecil Sharp House is also home to the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library – the national folk music library and archive – which contains a vast collection of books, manuscripts, films and audio-visual materials, serving as a touchstone for anybody working in the folk arts.

In March 2011 EFDSS received confirmation of Arts Council England National portfolio funding. Additional support for the Vaughan Williams Library is provided by the RVW Trust and, for EFDSS' Education programme, by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. EFDSS is a charity registered in England and Wales, no. 305999. For more information, visit www.efdss.org