Since 1954, SIBMAS (L’Association internationale des bibliothèques et musées des arts de la scène / The International Association of Libraries and Museums of Performing Arts) has been an international network promoting the preservation of cultural heritage in the performing arts. In 35 countries around the world, we gather individuals and institutions documenting circus, dance, film, opera, theatre and puppetry.

The Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute joined the network in 2006. Over the years, we have presented ongoing research projects in Vienna in 2006, Glasgow in 2008, Munich in 2010, London in 2012, New York in 2014 and Paris in 2016. In 2022, the SIBMAS conference was held in Warsaw.

What does SIBMAS do?

The network promotes research in the performing arts, facilitates networking among its members, and enables the sharing of knowledge and experience on documenting the expanding field of the performing arts. It organises biennial international conferences focusing on challenges of long-term care of archival collections and presenting current methods of researching theatrical documentation and the relevance of this research to contemporary theatre. These have practical implications for the activities of its members. It encourages genuine cooperation and invests in spreading best practices. It distributes a quarterly newsletter, providing up-to-date news and information about the activities of SIBMAS and its members. It also maintains the International Directory of Performing Arts database, containing information about performing arts collections, searchable by organisation name or by country. It provides print editions of the conference papers of its conferences.

More information: https://www.sibmas.org/