background
The Need for Legacy Foundation is formed by a young generation of theater makers of color who strive for an inclusive Dutch theater history. The foundation is committed to a different way of archiving performing arts and aims to change how this knowledge is made accessible, for instance, in theater schools.
With its own online platform, ‘thehouseoflegacies.nl’, The Need for Legacy can provide relevant content and unlock its archive containing materials and data on performing arts by artists of color.
assignment
The assignment for us. was to develop an accessible, flexible, and scalable platform in close collaboration with the foundation and its partner LFMC, where all types of website visitors can quickly and easily find the information relevant to them.
The platform’s goal is to bring the stories of forgotten performing artists to life and connect them with a broad audience, from theater professionals to new and young generations of dramaturgs.
approach
For this project, us. developed a website showcasing the stories of performing artists of color, along with a data platform (database, API, search UI, and data entry tool). Where relevant, these are interconnected. For users searching for specific information, there is a direct entry into the database, but implicit content-based entry points are also available, such as related content linked to an article.
The portal enables users to acquire and share knowledge. In this way, the history of performing artists of color becomes not only a source of inspiration but also a tool for empowerment.
technology
NestJS
The technical implementation of the data platform includes a NestJS application with a Neo4j graph database, ideal for high-speed performance in AI prompts and research tasks. While SQL databases excel at handling structured data, Neo4j is particularly strong at efficiently querying connected data and complex relationships.
GCP
Hosted on Google Cloud with Cloud Run, the solution offers scalability, built-in security, and high availability. In the future, we aim to further leverage the AI capabilities of this database, such as advanced search and analytical functionalities, which could be valuable for data-driven AI applications and research.
Wordpress
WordPress serves as the foundation for the CMS, but we have extensively modified, optimized, and secured the platform to make it cloud-ready