The Australian Government is providing $41.9 million over four years, with $6.5 million per annum ongoing, to safeguard at-risk audio-visual collection material held across eight National Collecting Institutions.
This funding will allow the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) to digitise and preserve around 240,000 known at-risk audio-visual collection items held by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Australian National Maritime Museum, Australian War Memorial, NFSA, National Gallery of Australia, National Library of Australia (NLA), National Museum of Australia and Questacon. This will resolve a long-standing issue where much of this material, particularly recordings held on magnetic tape, is at risk of permanent loss by 2025 due to material deterioration.
The NFSA will manage this large scale digitisation process, including the digital storage of the preserved material on behalf of all the institutions, and most importantly allow this significant cultural heritage to be protected for generations to come.
The Government is also providing the NLA with $5.7 million over two years to support Trove operations to 30 June 2023 and allow for technical enhancements to be made to guarantee the security and reliability of the website, so it can remain a reliable and secure platform for Australians everywhere to access the over 6 billion collection items of the NLA and those of hundreds of partnering organisations. Trove is one of Australia's most significant pieces of cultural infrastructure that attracts approximately 30 million visits each year.
