An Updated Name for the Emperor Norton Trust's Digital Arts Archive Signals a Broader Approach

Since launching the Emperor Norton Trust's digital arts collection in 2016, we have called it the “ARchive of Emperor Norton in Art, Music & Film (ARENA).”

This name has served us well to highlight what remains the core focus of the Archive: fully produced works in the visual arts, music, and film.

But, the name also is a little limiting.

The truth is: There are numerous produced and unproduced examples of Norton-inspired storytelling across all media — including screenplays, teleplays, operas, musicals, ballets, video, multimedia, pop-up installations, and more — that would be appropriate to document via the Archive — giving fuller voice to the breadth of artistic and literary enterprise that has been inspired by the original Emperor Norton story.

Indeed, our public event launching the Archive in 2016 was a panel discussion, titled "My Emperor, My Muse," that included a Los Angeles-based writer with an unproduced Norton screenplay.

With all of this in mind, we have updated the name of our Archive to

ARchive of Emperor Norton in the Arts (ARENA)

Our hope is that the broader framing reflected in this revised name opens a window that lets in more light and air.

The ARENA includes works dating from c.1861 to the present. We always are on the lookout for new works to add — and we want to carve out a space for experimental and unproduced works. Please send them our way!

In the meantime, check out what’s in the ARENA today!

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