91Èȱ¬

• Tate Britain is the first gallery to exhibit archived Henry Moore programmes, following new partnership between the 91Èȱ¬ and The Henry Moore Foundation
• Henry Moore gets the 21st century treatment as 21 newly-digitised documentaries are released online for the first time

The 91Èȱ¬ and The Henry Moore Foundation today announce a new partnership that sees the 91Èȱ¬'s complete collection of television documentaries on Henry Moore digitised and released online to coincide with a major new retrospective of the UK's most celebrated 20th century sculptor.

Tate Britain, which collaborated on the project, will be the first gallery to use the newly-digitised material, alongside its Henry Moore exhibition, allowing the public to get a deeper insight into this iconic British artist.

Henry Moore At The 91Èȱ¬ encompasses documentaries, interviews and reports spanning nearly five decades, including all six classic programmes made by pioneering producer John Read.

Read's first film portrait of Moore for the 91Èȱ¬ was broadcast in 1951 to coincide with a Tate Gallery exhibition, and is considered to be the UK's first television arts documentary.

Roly Keating, 91Èȱ¬ Director of Archive Content, said: "The 91Èȱ¬ archive is full of riches and these remarkable programmes are among the most precious.

"They comprise a treasure-trove of unique footage of a great artist, most of which has been unseen by the public for decades.

"We're very grateful that, thanks to the support and enlightened partnership of The Henry Moore Foundation, working with Tate Britain, these programmes can be re-discovered and freely enjoyed by audiences across the UK, now and in the future."

Richard Calvocoressi, Director of The Henry Moore Foundation, said: "This exciting partnership between the 91Èȱ¬ Archive and The Henry Moore Foundation, with the support of Mary Moore and the artist's family, sees the release of important archive footage on the artist.

"We are delighted that it will be accessible to a wide audience, and look forward to making it available to other arts organisations nationwide after its screening at Tate Britain."

Jane Burton, Creative Director of Tate Media, said: "Tate is delighted to have played its part in making these wonderful archive programmes available to the public.

"Visitors to Tate Britain's Henry Moore exhibition will be able to watch clips of Moore, including footage of him in his studio with some of the works featured in the show. We'll also be showing highlights on Tate's website."

The Tate Britain Henry Moore exhibition runs from 24 February until 8 August 2010.

A new online collection featuring the recently-digitised programmes will also be released on 24 February and will form part of a permanent resource which the 91Èȱ¬ has made available to UK audiences.

This can be seen by visiting bbc.co.uk/archive and will also be available from The Henry Moore Foundation website at www.henry-moore.org.

The partnership between the 91Èȱ¬ and The Henry Moore Foundation is part of the 91Èȱ¬'s commitment to supporting and enabling the cultural life of Britain, particularly through access to archive content and investment in arts and music programming.

Other 91Èȱ¬ partnerships include the British Library, the BFI, The Arts Council and The National Archives.

It also builds on the 2008 partnership between The 91Èȱ¬ and Tate, which enabled the public to access unseen archive footage of Francis Bacon to coincide with Tate Britain's Francis Bacon exhibition.

In celebration of the partnership, Alan Yentob will present a special edition of The Culture Show on 91Èȱ¬ Two on 18 March which will take a unique approach to Henry Moore, by looking at his life on film and the man behind the media image.

91Èȱ¬ Four will also screen a two-part documentary from the archive collection, Henry Moore: Carving A Reputation, on Saturday 20 March.

Notes to Editors

About 91Èȱ¬ Archive

The 91Èȱ¬ Archive is one of the largest multimedia archives in the world, held in 27 locations across the UK. As well as close to a million hours of TV and radio programmes it also holds six million still photographs, over four million items of sheet music and over half-a-million documents and records. Explore over 80 years of UK and 91Èȱ¬ history with the 91Èȱ¬ Archive website. Programmes, documents and images bring the past to life and reveal forgotten stories, available to UK audiences. For more information, visit: bbc.co.uk/archive.

About The Henry Moore Foundation

The Henry Moore Foundation, established by Henry Moore in 1977, is one of the UK's leading arts charities. It looks after a major collection of the artist's work and loans it for exhibitions, as well as running the Henry Moore Institute in central Leeds, a leading centre for the study of sculpture. It also awards grants to arts organisations. From 30 March to 30 August 2010, the public can visit the artist's former home, studios and sculpture grounds in Hertfordshire, visit www.henry-moore.org/pg.

About Tate Britain

Tate Britain is the national gallery of British art and works actively to promote interest in British art both in the UK and internationally. It tells the story of British art from 1500 to the present day through exhibitions, displays and events, and its research and learning programmes.

The Henry Moore exhibition (24 February-8 August 2010) will re-assert the artist's position at the forefront of progressive 20th century sculpture, bringing together the most comprehensive selection of his works for a generation. It will present over 150 significant works including stone sculptures, wood carvings, bronzes and drawings, revealing the range and quality of Moore's art in new ways – sometimes uncovering a dark and erotically charged dimension that challenges the familiar image of the artist and his work. This exhibition will emphasise the impact on Moore's work of its historical and intellectual contexts: the trauma of war, the advent of psychoanalysis and new ideas of sexuality, and the influence of primitive art and surrealism. For more information visit www.tate.org.uk/britain or call 020 7887 8888.

About the 91Èȱ¬'s Commitment to the Arts

The 91Èȱ¬ is the nation's favourite for music and arts. It's also the nation's biggest producer of arts programming. More than 90% of the arts programming found on all public service channels is broadcast by the 91Èȱ¬. The 91Èȱ¬'s commitment to arts is deeper than content. The 91Èȱ¬ funds orchestras, nurtures talent, works with partners and has an active outreach programme all aiming to support and strengthen cultural life. Last year the 91Èȱ¬ created an Arts Board and appointed a new Arts Editor for news. The licence fee is integral to this country's investment in the arts, culture, creative industries and content creation with the 91Èȱ¬ investing £1.1bn in the UK's creative economy each year.

DM