Performing arts subject resources

Key journal collections

• Box of Broadcasts is an on demand TV and radio service for education. The academically-focused system enables you to record programmes from over 65 free-to-air channels, and search an extensive archive. Box of Broadcasts is intuitive and easy to use, so you may find you can start straight away.
• Cambridge Core consists of 180 multidisciplinary journals from 1997. Includes music and performance studies journals on subjects such as dance, theatre and music technology.
• Communication and Mass Media Complete includes subjects such as history of film and film criticism, dance and drama. Contains full-text articles for over 500 journals, many peer reviewed. There is also an integrated communication thesaurus to help with related terms.
• Critical Studies and Performance Practice is a part of Drama Online and contains 400 textbooks from Methuen Drama and Arden Shakespeare, as well as 60 actor training videos.
• Drama Online Core Collection contains over 1875 playtexts, published by Faber and Faber and the Bloomsbury imprints, Methuen Drama and The Arden Shakespeare.
• Film and Television Literature Index with Full Text Use as a source of information in the area of script writing. Find full text journal articles. Covers the entire spectrum of film and television theory, preservation and restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical, aspects and reviews.
• International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance with Full Text Subject coverage includes: theatre, dance, drama, performance theory, Shakespeare and contemporary world theatre.
• JSTOR  An extensive archive of journals, but as it is an archive the most recently published issues (past 3-5 years) are not available. Use it to find older journal articles. It is extremely relevant for the study of dance and drama.
• Literary Reference Center Plus Useful for information on literary authors and playwrights from a wide variety of genres such as poetry, drama, fiction and non fiction.
• Nick Hern Books Modern Plays is a part of Drama Online and contains 600 plays from many of the major playwrights from the UK and Ireland.
• Project MUSE full-text versions of scholarly journals from many of the world’s leading university presses and scholarly societies, with over 120 publishers currently participating. Top quality book-length scholarship is fully integrated with MUSE’s scholarly journal content.
• SAGE Research Methods is a database which supports research at all levels by providing material to guide users through every step of the research process. Resources include a methods map, case studies, datasets, books, reference works, journal articles and instructional videos from world-leading academics.

Newspapers can be a useful way of keeping up to date with current affairs or recent events. Newspaper archives usually contain issues which are less recent and which are useful for finding articles of a more historical interest.

• Daily Mail Historical Archive 1896-204 contains news stories and images that capture 20^th century culture and society. Offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue.
• Gale OneFile: News contains articles from over 2300 newspapers from around the world. These include major British newspapers, as well as US and Australian titles. It also has thousands of images, radio and TV broadcasts and transcripts.
• Lexis+ contains over 650 regional and national UK newspapers from 1982 to the present. It is possible to limit your search to either national or regional titles, or you can search the whole of the newspaper database. Enter Lexis and click content and select Newspapers.
• Times Digital Archive contains every issue of The Times from 1785 to 2019. You can search by keyword or for a particular issue and each story appears as it looks in the original copy of the newspaper.

Professional bodies

Professional Bodies are the societies and associations that promote the profession and the people working within them. Many provide some documentation free on their site along with regular news updates. Often individual student membership is offered at a low annual membership.

• The British Association of Dramatherapists Professional body for dramatherapists in the UK.
• Equity Union Represents not only performers but also designers and directors.
• National Drama Professional association for drama teachers and theatre educators.
• One Dance UK Central organisation for the dance profession. Provides information, guidance and encourages career development.
• People Dancing Professional dance organisation promoting dance across the sector.
• The Society of British Theatre Designers is a professional association that supports the theatre design profession.

Government departments and regulatory bodies

• Arts Council England Supports activities in the arts.
• The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is responsible for government policy for culture and media. Includes broadcasting, film, the music industry, the press and licensing.

Interesting websites

• British Council Arts Promotes UK dance of all forms from contemporary dance and live art to more classical forms.
• Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive View dance clips from the 1930s to today.
• Victoria and Albert Museum In the V&A there are collections that cover the arts including dance, fashion and theatre.

With Box of Broadcasts all students and staff have access to 2 million broadcasts from last night all the way back to the 1990’s. You can record from over 65 free-to-air channels including BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, ITV, Channel 4, Film4 and more

Available on all devices you can watch live, request and record and create your own  playlists. It has an easy to search format that even helps with academic referencing.

Log-in using your Edge Hill University username and password.

Kanopy film and documentaries. Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video platform that offers over 30,000 Documentaries, Classic and Indie Films.