Tweet to the beat

Twitter. A dumping ground for narcissists, fantasists and coverage-hungry celebs, right? Well, only partially. Marcus Romer of Pilot Theatre, Susi O’Neill of Digital Consultant and Dave Moutrey of Manchester’s Cornerhouse all pitched in (AP214) to explain the benefits of the site to the creative sector. Consider it a weapon of mass collaboration they said, a chance to assemble connections that simultaneously shrink the world and increase our collective contacts books.
But plenty of arts organisations understandably find it difficult to see the point of social media and networking, the very mention of either is enough to make many more recoil; why jump the bandwagon on tricky digital trends? Why not just concentrate on producing good work and marketing it through traditional means? As one prolific artistic director said to me recently “we want bums on seats, not debates in space”. But, as the many arts people we follow on Twitter would yell, the two are far from mutually exclusive. The latter breeds the former: word of mouth (if you just take findings from the last SOLT report on audiences (AP215) alone) has never been more valuable for theatres and, we’d wager, arts organisations as a whole.

The digitally savvy, as William Shaw from the RSA’s Arts and Ecology Centre put it (AP200), embrace new social networks with a spirit of generosity: “the point about networks”, he emphasises, “is that when they are effective; when they share things of value, they are strong”. But it isn’t all about forming communities and self-promotion: Twitter can be, whisper it, fun. Sceptics can easily skip the banalities and inane chatter; follow only the most interesting people/organisations and you’re rewarded with a constant stream of relevant news, pithy critiques of plays and
performances, educative links to essays and ideas, banter, debate and a cultural window on the wider world.
If you don’t believe us, have a look at the names on our crowd-sourced list below. It’s by no means definitive (lists of more folks to follow will be added to our @artspro account and we will ask for your nominations and suggestions), but more an introduction. We’ve sifted through endless accounts to find the users who are using the site in the most creative ways. Yes, it’s a useful modern day mailing list – great for promoting ticket offers, shows and generate buzz around your work – but it is also a great space to show off interesting ideas and share information.

Dance:
@theballetbag Ballet-dedicated blog and network – funny, irreverent and always useful
@Londondance An online guide to dance in the capital – where to see it and where to do it
@wperrondancemag Editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine, with highlights from the New York mag
@gwdancewriter What to see, watch, read and explore in dance from Graham Watts

Visual Arts:
@lindsaypollock Journalist for The Art Newspaper and others, great insider knowledge on art market, moves and news
@ARTnewsmag People, places and trends shaping the art world from its largest mag
@Museummodernart Great example of an art institution (MoMa) getting the tone right on Twitter
@artrabbit Useful listings info, insider gossip and previews on international contemporary art shows
@artsblog ArtsAdmin’s home on Twitter, great resource from an organisation ‘making art happen’

Theatre:
@thestage Source of constant news and updates from theatre (and tv/radio) land
@shentonstage News and views (and birthdays!) from one of the most Twitter-active professional theatre critics in the UK
@theatremania Broadway-heavy, but plenty of updates on cast/show news across the States
@theatreinscot Does what it says on the tin: all things theatre from Scotland
@theRSC The Royal Shakespeare Company shows some imagination in the way it uses Twitter

Literature:
@yalepress Ideas, essays and interesting reports and reviews cherrypicked by one of the oldest American university presses
@PD_Smith Great sharing of blogs, obscure news and big ideas from an author
@Penguinbooks Good example of a publishing house engaging with readers on Twitter
@thebookseller Trade news from the publishing industry
@booksquare Popular blogger “thinking too much about books, technology and people”

Music:
@soundandmusic Recording updates on sonic art and music
@LondonSymphony Thoroughly modern messaging from classical music masters
@barbicancentre Venue making good use of mailing list principle without irritating followers

General culture:
@culturecriticCC Handy reviews barometer across the arts
@alexneedham74 Culture editor of Guardian online and great guide to the newspaper’s culture output
@newyorker High brow stuff to think about from the weekly magazine
@culturelearning Arts and education updates from the Cultural Learning Alliance

The ArtsProfessional Team:
@ArtsPro All the news, views, commissioning updates and ways to get involved with AP
@NnnIqbal Follow the AP Editor for snark, culture and current affairs
@EleanorTurney our Editorial Co-ordinator muses on poetry, politics and pugs, among other things
@KatieAtkinson Our Web Manager tweets digital stuff and culinary genius
@ArtsPro_Events All the latest events