Archiving the new, now, for future users yet unknown

Associate Professor Cat Hope, along with colleague and collaborator Tos Mahoney, is one of Western Australia’s leading proponents of New Music, and the instigator of the development of the Western Australian New Music Archive (WANMA), that was launched on 20 May 2015, at the State Library of Western Australia. As co - curator of WANMA, alongside Mahoney, Hope is a key determinant of its contents. Consequently, Hope’s working definitions of new music and of the role and function of an archive are critical areas of interest and key to realising the communicative vision of this project which is also sponsored by Tura New Music, the State Library of Western Australia, the National Library of Australia and ABC Classic FM. Using guided reflection, this paper interrogates the principles and purpose of constructing a digital archive and the ways in which it is designed with future users in mind. It considers the challenges posed by an archive that captures and contains an art form which is often site - specific or ephemeral.