About us
Activities:
The principal activity of the Foundation is the multimedia documentation of Classical Indian and Tibetan Knowledge Resources and the development of regional and international access to these resources.
Formation:
Between 1976 and 1979, three of the founding trustees of the Foundation worked together to produce the internationally acclaimed four hour, feature documentary, Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy, co-financed by the Arts Council of Great Britain. www.tibetantrilogy.org.uk
The Foundation was incorporated and registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales in 1983. Since the Foundation’s formation, revenues from the worldwide distribution in cinemas and from DVD and TV sales of Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy have been dedicated in support of the Foundation’s documentation programmes. Revenues from its publications also support the Foundation’s programmes.
Development and Conservation of Multimedia Documentary Resources:
In 1988, the Foundation received its first major grant from the Ford Foundation. In 1992, following eight years of research, the Foundation published the Tibetan Cultural Resources Database, which was distributed to libraries internationally. This database catalogues more than 36,000 hours of audio recordings of oral commentarial discourse given by Tibet’s leading lineage holders, held in the collections of over 250 universities, institutes and cultural organisations in North America, Europe and Asia. The directory and glossary sections of this database were published by Random House in 1993, under the title A Handbook of Tibetan Culture. (See below)
Also in 1993, with support from the Ford Foundation, the Foundation established twenty-four fully equipped multimedia documentation centres and libraries in the major Tibetan educational centres of India and Nepal. The project’s archive and administrative hub is housed at the Foundation’s New Media Centre in the library building of the Central University for Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, U.P. To date this multimedia documentation programme has resulted in the live recording of a further 14,500 hours of oral commentary to the key classical texts of Indo-Tibetan culture by the greatest masters, scholars, doctors and artists of the 20th century. In addition, a still image archive of over 18,000 illustrative photographs has been created and over 600 hours of digital video documentation of the classical arts traditions has been completed. This documentation programme was supported by a series of grants from the Ford Foundation, and also by the Directorate General for Development of the European Commission and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.
Throughout the project each partner library has received master and distribution copies of the documentary records created in their educational institution and each partner library has provided continuous access to the documentary materials to their institution’s scholars and students.
In 2007, the Foundation completed the digitization of the entire archival collection and distributed digital master and service copies to the partner libraries. In January 2010, the Foundation completed the compression of the digital archive into MP3 format (for audio material), MP4 format (for video material) and JPEG format (for photographic material). In March 2010, the entire archival collection was distributed to the network of partner libraries.
Throughout the development of the multimedia resource materials the Foundation has followed the technical guidelines as set out by the National Sound Archive of the UK, the National Film and Television Archive of the UK, and UNESCO.
In 2005, the Foundation co-founded the Tibetan Knowledge Consortium with the Institute of Tibetan Classics and the Asian Classics Input Project. The Tibetan Knowledge Consortium brings together three of the world’s major Tibetan cultural conservancy organisations into a joint technical development and fundraising initiative and sets in place the platform for the integration of each partner’s resource collections. For an introduction to the Tibetan Knowledge Consortium please see: www.tibetanknowledge.org.
In April 2010, the process of creating the multimedia platform for the worldwide distribution of the Foundation’s archival resources began. This multimedia digital library is due to go online in March 2012.
In 2000, in a parallel component to the Foundation’s documentation programme in India and Nepal, the Foundation assisted in the formation of the Academy of Classical Arts in Chengdu, southwest China, in partnership with the Ford Foundation (Beijing). Since 2000, the academy has been using digital multimedia technologies to document the endangered knowledge and skills of Tibet’s greatest classical painters and sculptors. This programme has resulted in the creation of the world’s first online multimedia training resource for apprentice classical artists. (See www.aca-learning.org)
Training:
In 1997, the Foundation managed an All India initiative to introduce the benefits of networked, multilingual, multimedia Information Technologies to the Vice Chancellors of India’s leading universities and the heads of India’s major archives, libraries and museums, co-funded by the European Commission and the Ford Foundation.
Since 1997, the Foundation has conducted regular workshops at the Central University for Tibetan Studies for its network of partner libraries. These workshops have focused on providing training in multimedia documentation, archival preservation and library distribution methods.
Information Technology Development:
From 2000 to 2004, the Foundation managed a partnership between the Royal Government of Bhutan and Microsoft Corporation to develop technical tools for the integration of support for Tibetan script computing in the Microsoft Windows operating system and Windows applications, based on the Unicode standard. These technical tools have since been adapted to support Tibetan script computing in the Linux and Apple Mac operating systems.
Film Production & Distribution:
The Foundation has managed the distribution of the feature documentary Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy in cinemas throughout North America, Europe and Australasia since 1983. In 2005, the Trilogy was digitally re-mastered from its 16mm original and re-released in cinemas in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy is the highest grossing documentary feature on Tibet to be produced to date. The Trilogy was also released on DVD in North America and the UK in 2005.
Publications:
In 1996, as a component of its training programmes, the Foundation published its survey of New Media approaches to multimedia documentation, conservation and education Strategies for the Creation of Multimedia Archival Libraries, funded by the Ford Foundation. Contributors to the survey included: The British Library, the National Sound Archive of the UK, the National Film and Television Archive of the UK, the BBC, UNESCO, The Joint Technical Symposium, the University of Southampton, Graz University of Technology, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Kodak, SONY, and IBM.
In 1993, components of the Tibetan Cultural Resources Database were published by Random House under the title A Handbook of Tibetan Culture. This volume includes: a worldwide directory of over 600 Tibetan-related university department and other institutions (including monasteries, libraries, museums, and cultural centres); biographies of contemporary lamas and scholars; a map of monastic sites in Tibet; and a glossary of key Tibetan, Buddhist and Sanskrit terms.
In 2005 Penguin UK, and in 2006 Penguin US, published the first complete translation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, edited by Graham Coleman with Thupten Jinpa and translated by Gyurme Dorje. This volume has been translated into five languages.
In 2008 Penguin UK, and in 2009 Penguin US, published Meditations on Living, Dying and Loss, edited and introduced by Graham Coleman.
Change of Name:
In August 2010, the Foundation changed its name from ‘The Orient Foundation’ to ‘Orient Foundation for Arts and Culture’ in order to differentiate our foundation from others with a similar name incorporated in countries other than the UK.