Declaring a "Show"/«Spectacle» class in Artsdata

[fjjulien]

Background

CAPACOA commissioned a report Enhancing and Connecting Performing Arts Information Systems. This report found that four Canadian industry platforms have a similar concept designating "works intended to be performed on stage". This concept (or "class" in ontology terminology) is commonly named "show" in the industry. In the performing arts value chain, there is a "touring market", in which instances of shows are offered by creators/producers (or their representative) to presenting organizations who purchase the right of presenting one or several performances of the show. This business process is supported in various ways in each of these industry platforms:

• Scènes francophones (concept label: « spectacle »)
• Scène Pro (concept label : « offre de spectacle »)
• I Want To Showcase (concept label: "show" - note: no longer used)
• Arts Touring Connector (concept label: "show")

Similar classes also exists in two conceptual models developed in Canada.

Datascene – Référentiel des métadonnées descriptives du spectacle:

Spectacle : la classe centrale du référentiel. Elle permet de documenter ce qui relève du spectacle au sens d'œuvre mise en scène. Par contraste, cela exclut donc les éléments descriptifs des représentations.

Mid-Level Ontology for the Performing Arts:

Class: performance_work
Synonym: production_work, production
Definition: The PERFORMANCE_WORK is the conceptual plan for how elements (such as CREATIVE_MATERIAL, TANGIBLE_REALIZATION_ELEMENTs and/or INTANGIBLE_REALIZATION_ELEMENTs) will be executed in front of an audience.
The PERFORMANCE_WORK can exist whether or not it is ever realized for an audience. In the case of pure improvisation, it may also be concurrently created with a PERFORMANCE_REALIZATION. Generation and execution can happen concurrently.

Authors of the report Enhancing and Connecting Performing Arts Information Systems performed an ontology alignment exercise and concluded that the above classes (except MiLOPA:Performance_Work, which was out of scope for the project) were exact matches. Authors however found a relatively small number of common attributes for the class:

• Title
• Description
• Target audience
• And a relationship to one or more "Artist" type entities, whose contributor role can be either that of a main performer and/or of a creator.

Specific use case

The Arts Touring Connector (ATC) is a platform designed to facilitate the planning of Show tours. This process, known as "block programming", is carried out by presenting organizations and the networks that support them. Two key classes closely associated with the Tour concept in the ATC data model are: Artist and Show. ATC would like their users to be able to autocomplete Artist and Show names against Artsdata entities and, when a match is found by the user, to import the matching data record.

Artsdata does currently not have a dedicated class for the Show concept. The closest class in Artsdata is schema:CreativeWork, which could be deemed superclass to the Show concept.

Solution

Artsdata should either integrate an existing class or else declare a new class. Then, this class should be tested with entities from Wikidata or from one of the industry platforms.

[fjjulien]

Candidate classes for integration

There are relatively few specialized classes matching the "Show" concept in RDF ontologies.

Mid-Level Ontology for the Performing Arts

milopa:PERFORMANCE_WORK
Definition: See above.

This class is a close (if not exact) match to the concepts used in Canadian industry platforms. However, I can think of several reasons that make it an ill-suited candidate for integration into Artsdata:

• The ontology has never been implemented or tested. There's no URI for the class.
• The ontology is not aligned to any other ontology.
• The class has many properties that we would not know how to use in Artsdata.
• Il n'y a pas de libellé ou de description en français.

Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records object oriented (FRBRoo) / Library Reference Material (LRMoo)

FRBRoo is an extension of FRBR and is built on the same core Work-Expression-Manifestation-Item (WEMI) stack. FRBRoo was notably designed to represent endeavours of the performing arts and included three specialized classes. However, two classes that could have otherwise been useful to Artsdata have been deprecated by LRMoo, the latest harmonization effort led by IFLA (version 1.0 was released in May 2024).

• frbroo:F20 Performance Work (deprecated by LRMoo)
• frbroo:F25 Performance Plan (deprecated by LRMoo)
• frbroo:F31 Performance

One of FRBRoo's valuable contribution is the description of the relationships between performing arts works and other works that are 'incorporated' in them (see this paper), which is particularly relevant in the performing arts (any new performance work of Michel Tremblay's Les belles soeurs incorporates the dramatic work by the same name). FRBRoo is however criticized because "the distinction between Works and Expressions is ... unclear in many cases" (Librarianship studies (2017)). Indeed, the industry platforms examined above do not bother making this distinction: they have a single class that subsumes both concepts.

The deprecation of these class is both a challenge and an opportunity: we have the leisure of defining our own class subsuming F20 Performance Work and F25 Performance Plan, while representing this new class formally in relationship to FRBRoo and CIDOC-CRM classes and properties (in a similar fashion as the DOREMUS ontology).

Wikidata

wd:Q43099500 (performing arts production / production des arts de la scène)
Definition: production of the performing arts, consisting of a run of quasi-identical performances of the same performance work
Définition: production des arts de la scène, fondée sur une représentation tirée d'une série représentative de l'œuvre scénique sur laquelle elle repose
Number of instances: 14415 (query)

wd:Q17538722 (performance work / œuvre scénique)
Definition: creative work in the field of the performing arts (not to be confused with performance artwork)
Définition: ensemble des éléments intangibles et tangibles (direction, conception, etc.) présidant à l'exécution d'une œuvre musicale, d'une œuvre dramatique (ex., une pièce de théâtre) ou d'une œuvre musico-dramatique (ex., un ballet)
Number of instances: 71 (query)

wd:Q43099500 was initially declared in the Swiss Model for the Performing Arts (SPA-E9 Performing Arts Production) and later implemented in Wikidata. This concept is ideally suited at describing works in the context of archives. However, since it conflates aspects of performances, we could run into issues if we integrated it into Artsdata.

wd:Q17538722 was created as an exact match to F20 Performance Work. It could be a good short term solution, while a more formal representation is defined.

There are no equivalent Wikidata classes to F25 Performance Plan or F2 Expression.

Music Ontology

mo:Show
Definition: A show - a musical event lasting several days, in a particular venue. Examples can be "The Magic Flute" at the Opera Bastille, August 2005, or a musical in the west end...

While the label suggests a "Show" concept, the class is defined and modeled as an event series: it is a subclass of event:Event, not a subclass of a work-related concept.

[fjjulien]

Attributes of the "Show" class

"Show" attributes in Arts Touring Connector

Attribute	Description
Title
Artists	One or more artist entity
Bridge Identifiers	A group of identifiers for named entities in the performing arts sector, les identifiants possibles sont:Identifiant Artsdata (field_briedgeid_artsdata)Identifiant Wikidata (field_bridgeid_wikidata)ISNI (field_bridgeid_isni)Official URL (field_bridgeid_official_url)
Categories	Vocabulaire "category", les valeurs possibles sont : 2SLGBTQIA+, Artists of colour, Deaf artists and artists with disabilities, Francophone, Indigenous
Description
Genres	Vocabulaire "genre" à deux niveaux, les valeurs possibles sont : Adult Audience, Circus, Comedy/Humour, Dance (Classical, Contemporary, Cultural, Educational), Film, Indigenous, Interdisciplinary/Performance, Music Classical Country Folk/Roots/Traditional Jazz/Blues New Music Popular Tribute World), Spoken Word, Theatre ( Musical Theatre Opera), Variety, Young Audience/Family
Marketing Materials	Add here a link to marketing materials (e.g. a link to Dropbox, Google Drive, etc).
Website

"Show" attribute-value pairs that could be inherited to Event entities

One of the anticipated benefits of integrating Show data into Artsdata is ability to infer a lot of triples to Event entities. Here are common attributes of the "Show" class along with a proposed inheritance schema in Schema:

• title/name
  • name
• description
  • description
• artists (ATC) / artiste principal (Scène Pro)
  • performer
• discipline / genre
  • Not an accepted property for Events in Schema; could be inferred as an additionalType or as a keyword
• language
  • inLanguage
• duration
  • duration
  • enddate

Other key attributes

Here are some other fundamental attributes of the "Show" class in different data models (along with notes and sources):

• lrmoo:R75 incorporates (formerly crm:P165 incorporates)
  • The model should describe the direct relationship between a Show and the dramatic work or musico-dramatic work that is staged in the Show. crm:P165 has long been a good candidate for this relationship (and it remains a good candidate even though frbroo:F25 Performance Plan is deprecated). This does however not express this relationship at the Work level but rather at the Expression level. Would it be appropriate to use it for a class that subsumes the F1 Work and F2 Expression concepts?
• lrmoo:R74 uses expression of (has expression used in)
  • This is a new property introduced by LRMoo. It expresses a similar relationship as R75 , but at the Work level. If the proposed class is deemed a subclass of F1 Work (rather than a class subsuming F1 Work and F2 Expression), this property would be the right candidate to denote a relationship between a Show and the dramatic work or musico-dramatic work that is staged in the Show. If the proposed class is deemed to F1 Work and F2 Expression, then we could use either R74 or R75.
• lrmoo:R80 performed (is performed in) (formerly frbroo:R25 performed (was performed in)) > equivalent property to schema:workPerformed
  • The model also needs a formal relationship between the Show entity and performances of it.
  • lrmoo:R80 and and schema:workPerformed are both good candidates for this relationship. Whichever is chosen as the preferred property, the model should formally map them as equivalent properties.
• contribution/contributor
  • The model must also identify all contributing parties associated with a work, notably persons responsible for stage direction, choreography, designs and other contribution roles (voir le modèle Datascène).

[Liverace]

L'Association québécoise des marionnettistes (Quebec's Puppetry Association) is the province's section of
UNIMA-Canada | https://aqm.ca/
We have developped an archival portal for puppet theatre | https://aqm.ca/portail-marionnette/

• La liste des attributs œuvres-spectacles site web et portail AQM est extraite de l'ontologie créée par cette association et qui inclut d'autres classes d'objets
• Notamment, il est à souligner que le nom des artistes interprètes n'est pas indiqué sous cette classe mais sous la classe "représentation" et ces noms sont liés à son attribut "personnages" 
• Voir l'ontologie AQM | https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Wo2C0ggmZRvnxnhokzTeTV9XD2jL0O65fcC8fe0-f6A/edit?usp=drive_link

Here are the attributes for our œuvre-spectacle concept (in french)

Titre français
Titre anglais
Sous-titre français
Sous-titre anglais
Date de création
Première représentation (Lieu)
Première représentation ID	(projeté)
Langue d'expression
Auteur Nom
Auteur ID (ISNI)
Type de spectacle	Voir vocabulaire contrôlé
Résumé du spectacle en français (maximum de 600 caractères)
Résumé du spectacle en anglais (maximum de 600 caractères)
Description courte en français (maximum de 255 caractères)
Description courte en anglais (maximum de 255 caractères)
Description longue (décrit à l’URL)
Organisation (producteur) Nom
Organisation (producteur) ID
Nom du producteur (personne physique)
Nom du producteur (personne physique) ID
Personnage Nom	Les interprètes/artistes sont associés et liés aux personnages en vertu de la classe Représentation
Personnage ID
D’après une œuvre de (Nom auteur)
D’après une œuvre de (Nom auteur) ID
Texte source (Titre de l’œuvre sous-jacente)
Texte source (Titre de l’œuvre sous-jacente) ID (ISBN)
Éditeur du texte source (Nom)
Éditeur du texte source (ID)
Traducteur (Nom)
Traducteur ID
Thème principal
Basé sur
Inspiré de
L’univers
Organisme subvention Nom
Organisme subvention (ID)
Audience cible	Voir vocabulaire contrôlé
Metteur en scène Nom
Metteur en scène ID
Scénographe Nom
Scénographe ID
Chef décorateur Nom
Chef décorateur ID
Concepteur des marionnettes Nom
Concepteur des marionnettes ID
Concepteur des éclairages Nom
Concepteur des éclairages ID
Concepteur sonore Nom
Concepteur sonore ID
Costumier Nom
Costumier ID
Compositeur Nom
Compositeur ID
Vidéaste Nom
Vidéaste ID
Collaboration artistique autre Nom
Collaboration artistique autre ID
Collaboration artistique autre Type de collaboration	Voir vocabulaire contrôlé
Note générale
Site Web officiel (URL)
Distinction Nom du prix
Distinction Année
Nomination Nom du prix
Nomination Année
Identifiant Wikidata
Numéro de catalogue
Catalogue
Notes

[fjjulien]

Merci beaucoup !

[fjjulien]

Afin de faire avancer la discussion, voici des définitions proposées inspirées de LRMoo et de MiLOPA :

Français

Spectacle (ou Œuvre spectacle) : Œuvre composée d'un ensemble d'éléments créatifs, de conceptions (intangibles et tangibles) et de plans destinée à être exécutée pour un public.

English

Show (or Performance work): Work comprised of an ensemble of creative elements, design elements (intangible and tangible), and plans intended to be performed in front of an audience.

[dlh28]

In the English version, I would advise against using "comprised". Comprise can either mean "is composed of" (ex: Canada is comprised of ten provinces) or "is a part of" (ex: Ten provinces comprise Canada), and there's a lot of debate among linguists about whether both or only one of these definitions are correct.

To avoid confusion, I would suggest using "containing", "including" or "consisting of" instead.