World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame, Film Preservation Project Options

[IFS Photos]

World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame Announces Film Preservation Project

Dick Button Kick Starts the Project with a Donation of $10,000

Colorado Springs, Colo. - The World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame announced today that two-time Olympic gold medalist and Emmy award-winning commentator Dick Button has donated $10,000 towards the Museum's Film Preservation Project. The Preservation Project is a new initiative targeting the rare and important footage in the Museum's film archives, including some from the earliest Olympic Winter Games coverage as well as irreplaceable performances by the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating team shortly before a plane crash claimed their collective lives.

Button joins the Kerr Foundation of Tulsa, Okla., Kristi Yamaguchi and the National Film Preservation Foundation in this preservation effort. "It is very encouraging that organizations such as the Kerr Foundation and the National Film Preservation Foundation recognize the need to preserve this valuable footage from the 20's and 30's to ensure that these pivotal skating performances remain with us for years to come," Button said. The first phase of the project will preserve four films beginning with the 1928 Winter Olympics, which feature performances by skating legends Sonja Henie and Gillis Grafstrom. These original films are highly significant because they reveal the foundations of modern figure skating, but they are deteriorating and soon will be unusable for screening.

The project budget for the first phase is $30,000. Work will begin on the project this year and is expected to be completed in 2007. An additional $8,000 is needed to complete the first phase of the project. Preserving the films will allow wider public access to these historical moments in figure skating through a special film series, use of the films in the permanent gallery exhibitions and increased usage by archival patrons.

The World Figure Skating Museum archives include over 3,500 films and videos that capture national and international skating competitions, ice shows, and movies dating back to the 1920s. Each year the museum receives hundreds of requests for film footage from television and film producers and thousands of museum visitors re-live powerful skating moments through the historic films shown in the Museum's galleries.

Established in 1965, the World Figure Skating Museum celebrates the power of figure skating to "stir the imagination, lift the spirit, and realize human potential." It is the only institution of its kind devoted exclusively to the preservation, exhibition and interpretation of the sport of figure skating.

To learn more about the National Film Preservation Award or the Museum's Historic Film Preservation Project or TO MAKE A DONATION, contact Development Officer Audrey Porsche at 719-488-5654 OR EMAIL: info@worldskatingmuseum.org.