The Best Live Arts Sites
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Best Live Arts Sites
Where to go for your online culture fix
A specialist streaming site (think YouTube for live events) that is mostly rubbish, and hard to search, but still holds many nuggets of the unexpected – as well as a few mainstream music gigs.
secondlife.com
All of human life is here, and that includes a thriving arts scene covering everything you can think of. Anyone with an interest in experimental theatre or conceptual art should try it.
tendu.tv
With one proviso, this is the place to go for dance. The proviso is that you have to go to America first, because the content is not yet viewable abroad. That will soon change, they say, but in the meantime the footage on sadlerswells.com, rambert.org.uk and article19.co.uk (plus YouTube) is as good as it gets.
Ubu.com/film
In a crowded field, ubu stands out for its broad selection of avant-garde films. More mainstream pleasures can be found on topdocumentaryfilms.com, or on YouTube.
metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast
The home of everything produced by one of the world's great opera houses. Besides the MetPlayer, there are details of regular radio broadcasts and its many live cinema screenings.
operalive.org
The Royal Opera of Liège may not be world-famous, but that could change if its experiment with live webcasting catches on. Last season, the pioneering Belgians streamed their Rigoletto, Rita and Il Campanello free to the world.
vimeo.com
What YouTube is to football-clip compilers, Vimeo is to people who actually like making films. Liking something is not the same as being good at it, but if you want to see what humanity can come up with when it puts in the effort, this is a good place to try.
digitaltheatre.com
Launched late last year, this looks very promising. For £8.99 a time, you can watch specially filmed productions from the Almeida, Young Vic, RSC, Royal Court or English Touring Theatre – with new partners to be added. LB
Leo Benedictus
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 25 July 2010
A specialist streaming site (think YouTube for live events) that is mostly rubbish, and hard to search, but still holds many nuggets of the unexpected – as well as a few mainstream music gigs.
secondlife.com
All of human life is here, and that includes a thriving arts scene covering everything you can think of. Anyone with an interest in experimental theatre or conceptual art should try it.
tendu.tv
With one proviso, this is the place to go for dance. The proviso is that you have to go to America first, because the content is not yet viewable abroad. That will soon change, they say, but in the meantime the footage on sadlerswells.com, rambert.org.uk and article19.co.uk (plus YouTube) is as good as it gets.
Ubu.com/film
In a crowded field, ubu stands out for its broad selection of avant-garde films. More mainstream pleasures can be found on topdocumentaryfilms.com, or on YouTube.
metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast
The home of everything produced by one of the world's great opera houses. Besides the MetPlayer, there are details of regular radio broadcasts and its many live cinema screenings.
operalive.org
The Royal Opera of Liège may not be world-famous, but that could change if its experiment with live webcasting catches on. Last season, the pioneering Belgians streamed their Rigoletto, Rita and Il Campanello free to the world.
vimeo.com
What YouTube is to football-clip compilers, Vimeo is to people who actually like making films. Liking something is not the same as being good at it, but if you want to see what humanity can come up with when it puts in the effort, this is a good place to try.
digitaltheatre.com
Launched late last year, this looks very promising. For £8.99 a time, you can watch specially filmed productions from the Almeida, Young Vic, RSC, Royal Court or English Touring Theatre – with new partners to be added. LB
