Pippa Taylor shares her online favourites.
The professional networking website equivalent of Facebook is growing and growing. You can connect with old work colleagues, find new contacts and also ask experts for advice. Its going to be big, so sign up now.
I use Spotlight when researching biographical information on actors and directors to use in press releases and brochures. The website is also great to tap into when you hear on the grapevine that someone is being auditioned for forthcoming in-house productions. Spotlight celebrated its 80th birthday this year and it really is a great website to use for up-to-date reliable information on theatre professionals.
3. http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk
This daily online news magazine is great. It keeps me in touch with everything that is happening in London including arts news, launches, politics, events, people, openings, and gossip as well as opinion and main news from around the globe. Michael Coveney writes the theatre page and, although London-centric, there is an excellent Worth the Detour column each Friday, which highlights a play in the regions.
This is the official site for Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008. In the last three years leading up to Capital of Culture, and with Liverpool celebrating its 800th birthday this year, arts events and festivals around the city have sky-rocketed. You can find out details for all kinds of events including community, sport, history, maritime, theatre and music in the online news service and events diary, or just pop onto the homepage for Today in Liverpool.
Since the newly revamped website was launched it has become a fantastic online facility for anyone working or interested in the performing arts. Reviews go online the next day which is a great thing especially for regional theatres where other national reviews will tend to take a bit longer to come out.