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Information Technology Initiative Statement of Intent “We aim not only to provide St.Annes and the Fylde borough with a physical arts & community centre, but to create an influential information resource for the local community of the future. A global window in a virtual sense"
There is a fast growing art exhibition space developing on the Internet An Art Gallery in the virtual sense never closes and never takes down an exhibition. It never runs out of walls and quickly builds an exhibition archive. This becomes dynamic with the inclusion of multi-media and directory type resources, linking users to other websites of interest. The saart IT initiative is designed to be in collaboration with artists, in not only the display of their work, but also the use of the medium to create new experiences for art The saart virtual art gallery would be the ideal home for the borough councils collection of paintings. The whole collection could be on display to not only the local community but the whole world, 24 hours a day. We would help promote and display exhibitions that visit the physical gallery, or at least link to their official web sites The virtual gallery would in no way limit itself to the constraints of the physical Gallery, in that it could continually feature many exhibitions and artists, that have not seen space in the physical gallery.
saart community arts will become an important local focus as the keeper of the information We will create an online directory of all local arts related groups, and help with communication and message boards etc.. We will create a directory of links to websites of interest to all areas of the local community. With of course ‘art’ as its initial strand. Almost a local portal.
saart local history will be a home for the digitisation and dissemination of all local historical information. saart will be the archive where all can be seen. There are many enthusiastic local history groups, who have archives of information. This important information can be made available to all on the Internet
Often the problem with a performance is that you miss it We aim to transmit (webcast) performances live via the internet, and also to archive them for later viewing. Again like the virtual gallery, once a performance has happened, it can stay in the archive for ever A webcast would enable a disabled person, unable to travel, to see the performance, in the same way as someone who was ‘, or even an ‘ex pat’ in New Zealand. A performance becomes ‘totally available’ locally. As well a global experience. saart says, let there be community TV, maybe even a community council. Community values are important. Where they don’t exist we need to create them in people StaffingThe running of an IT facility such as this would require at least one experienced IT manager. It is anticipated that a core group of helpers could be found locally and that the Internet offering as a whole could be manned and administered by local people, on a working / learning experience The library has shown interest in extending itself into the centre and a proposal is made to connect the two buildings. The physical saart would be a good home for the library’s research devices and Internet terminals. The library also has significant interests in community IT education and activity RevenueA busy Internet web site can earn significant revenue through advertising and sponsorship, from both local, national and international sources. Furthermore, an endeavour such as this would become a beacon internationally for Lytham St.Annes and the Fylde Coast. A reasonable tourism effort.
By John Bentham - December 2000
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