DRI Community Archive Scheme 2022

About the DRI Community Archive Scheme

Community archives give visibility to the stories and histories of specific cultures and communities that are often underrepresented in national or regional archives. These archives are typically created by individuals or groups working on a voluntary basis or with little funding. 

As a publicly funded repository for Ireland’s social and cultural data, the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) believes it is important to make long-term preservation of digital materials open to a wide range of organisations, including those operating on a non-funded, voluntary basis. We value the publication of a diversity of datasets and collections and are committed to supporting community-based archival initiatives through sharing our digital preservation skills and profession-based knowledge. We, therefore, offer free DRI membership, and all the related benefits, as part of our DRI Community Archive Scheme. 

DRI Membership under the DRI Community Archive Scheme is initially offered for one calendar year. You can learn more about the benefits of DRI Membership on our DRI Membership page. Please see the benefits aligned with ‘Associate’ level membership. Lean more about our current members on our Membership page:

Previous Winners

This is the fourth edition of the Scheme. Cork LGBT Archive was the inaugural winner of the DRI Community Archive Scheme Award in 2019. Their collection aims to preserve and share information in relation to the rich history of Cork's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. The 2020 winner was Asylum Archive. This collection includes almost 6,000 photographs, academic essays, audio interviews, and publications that document life under Direct Provision, collected by artist, activist, and scholar Vukašin Nedeljković, a former resident of a Direct Provision Centre. Three community-based archive initiatives were chosen as the winners of the 2021 DRI Community Archive Scheme: The Elephant Collective, Dublin Ghost Signs, and Dublin-based Community Films by Joe Lee. The decision to award three 2021 DRI Community Archive Scheme recipients was in recognition of the exceptional standard of the winning applications and the significance of the collection material, which promises to enrich the digital cultural memory of Ireland. Find out more about previous winners of the Scheme on our dedicated DRI Community Archive Scheme webpage: https://dri.ie/dri-community-archive-scheme 

Application Process 

We welcome and encourage applications from low or no-income organisations that meet the eligibility criteria described in our DRI Community Archive Scheme Application Form. To apply for the DRI Community Archive Scheme, simply download the short application form and return it to dri@ria.ie by the deadline of 12 noon, Friday, 29 October 2021. Please address your application to Áine Madden, Communications and Engagement Coordinator at DRI.

Please find the application form here: 

DRI Community Archive Scheme Application Form Template.docx

The winner will be announced on World Digital Preservation Day on Thursday, 4 November 2021, subject to meeting eligibility requirements.