The Actors Fund has announced the launch of the Performing Arts Legacy Project, a new online platform that invites veteran performers to create and share their own pages, documenting their careers in the performing arts.
The website, PerformingArtsLegacy.org, launched May 7 with contributions from 10 veteran performers including Tony Award winner Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music), three-time Tony nominee André De Shields (Hadestown, The Wiz), Michael David Arian, George Bartenieff (I Will Bear Witness: The Holocaust Diaries), Vinie Burrows (Green Pastures, The Skin of Our Teeth), Susan Lehman (I Can Get It For You Wholesale, Fiddler on the Roof), Agosto Machado, Richard Masur (Lucky Guy), Gilda Mirós, and Virginia Wing.
Their pages serve as models for other performers who wish to create their own legacy pages. Individuals are able to build and customize their own pages, which can include various components such as personal biographies, oral histories, a curated life review video, photo galleries, and more.
A Community Engagement Guide has also been created to assist individuals who are not comfortable working on a computer.
“The Performing Arts Legacy Project provides an important addition to existing archives by digging deeper into the histories and memories of those workers on whom the industry was built,” said Joan Jeffri, Director of The Research Center for Arts and Culture, in a statement. “It recognizes these performers’ lives and careers with dignity. And, it helps identify, empathize with and celebrate aging.”
“There is now an online space where performers can present their lifetime careers holistically and under their control,” added Traci DiGesu, Manager of Activities and Volunteer Programs at The Actors Fund. “We’re thrilled to add this website to the suite of social services we provide to seniors who have devoted their lives to entertainment and the performing arts.”
The project was created in partnership with the Research Center for Arts and Culture, an online resource of the Actors Fund.
