Local Arts Info Goes Mobile

Sections

Neighborhoods

Features

NHI Newsletter

Legal Notices

Some Favorite Sites

Government/ Community Links

by Joshua Mamis | Sep 12, 2011 12:02 pm

(5) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Arts, Media/ Books

ANDI knows who’s playing Toad’s, what’s at the Shubert, where to get scorching barbecue ribs on Whalley Avenue—and you can keep him in your pocket to tell you.

ANDI, the brainchild of the Greater New Haven Arts Council, is a new iPhone app hitting the market Monday. The name is an acronym standing for “Arts, Nightlife & Dining Information.” It puts the local arts and culinary scene in your pocket.

ANDI features extensive listings for music, theater, art exhibitions and special events, compiled by the Arts Council. Dining listings come from the traveler-serving organization Visit New Haven. The app can be downloaded for free from Apple’s App Store here. (The Independent is the project’s media sponsor.)

Cindy Clair, executive director of the Greater New Haven Arts Council, developed ANDI as part of the Council’s mission to help find new and bigger audiences for New Haven’s arts scene.

As people increasingly rely on their phones as sources of information, Clair said, the Arts Council wanted to make sure that local events would have a mobile presence. To keep the local arts scene current and vibrant, she said, you have to give people easy access to information on what’s happening, where they are looking for it.

“ANDI,” said Clair, “is taking promotion of the arts to the mobile phone for the first time in this region.”

The entertainment listings on the app can be searched by date, genre, and venue. The dining listings can be searched by cuisine. For more details about an event or restaurant, ANDI links to the organization’s website and locates the venue on Google maps. You can call the venue with a touch to purchase tickets, or share the details of the event with a friend via email.

And in case you were wondering, Rohn Lawrence & Friends are playing Toad’s Monday night. “Live From 92nd St. Y” hits the Shubert Tuesday night. Mama Mary’s has the ribs at 372 Whalley.

And there’s a Democratic primary election going on in town Tuesday. But you’ll still need to read the Independent to learn all about that.

Comments

posted by: Mister Jones on September 12, 2011 2:24pm

I downloaded the app and it’s underwhelming. The dining listings include Uncle Willie’s BBQ on Whalley, which closed years ago. For food, I’ll stick with the Yelp app.

But it’s the event listings that are most disappointing. Rohnnie Laurence’s weekly Lily Pad gig tonight is not listed, so no, ANDI doesn’t know who’s playing Toad’s. All it’s got are Yo La Tengo 9/23 and Shakedown 9/30—worthy offerings, but no help if you want to know who’s playing this week.

The default event listing is full of ongoing gallery exhibit listings: 17 for today and the same 17 repeated tomorrow. Looking for just music? You can use the search function to select the music category The good news is that it lists Yale School of Music concerts and some others. The bad news is that those two Toad’s shows are listed under “Nightlife” as are the shows at The Space, the only other local pop music venue I’ve found. I guess “music” only includes classical, not pop, rock or jazz. Next Sunday’s Chris DePino/Laco Deczi CD release party and NMS benefit at Toad’s? You won’t find it under the music or nightlife categories, nor under the Toad’s venue listing, but under “Special Events.” And that genre search touted in the article? I can’t find it.

No listings for Firehouse 12’s outstanding jazz series. No listings for the eclectic offerings at Neverending Books presented by Golden Microphone or the New Haven Improvisers Collective. No mention of this weeks upcoming New Haven Pop Fest. No listings for Cafe Nine, BAR, Stella Blues, Rudy’s, Elm Bar, Anna Liffey’s, Daniel Street, Outer Space, most Toad’s shows, etc. So while I can live with scrolling through repeated gallery listings [and understand the value of listing them] and I can certainly remember to search for listings by category, but I’ll have to search three categories to find things, and even then I won’t find much because the music listings are sorely lacking.

So, I beg to differ with Mr. Mamis’s conclusions that ANDI “puts the local arts and culinary scene in your pocket” and “features extensive listings for music, theater, art exhibitions and special events.” Maybe it’s just not quite ready for it’s launch, but I suspect it has more to do with the way the Arts Council compiles the listings. Some journalism is in order here, instead of what looks like a reprint of a press release.

Did you try the app, like I did before posting? Are these only paid event listings, or limited to Arts Council members?

[Editors Note: Thanks for the feedback! We’re just getting started here, and you’re helping us get it right. Please keep the input coming, folks.]

posted by: Charles on September 15, 2011 1:33pm

What about people who use real phones like Droids? Can they get it too?

posted by: Mister Jones on September 16, 2011 6:45pm

You should include The Uncertainty Music Series:
http://www.uncertaintymusic.com/upcoming.htm

posted by: Mister Jones on September 19, 2011 9:30pm

The app would be more useful if it included ticket prices and cover charges, or at least noted which events are free or ticketed. For example, I go to a lot of Yale Music School events so I have a pretty good idea which ones are free, but if you want me to use the app it would be a lot more effective if I didn’t have to jump to the venue website to find out if it’s free or how much it costs. Same thing with The Space and Toad’s. Right now ANDI is just extra work. For me it’s simpler and easier to go straight to their websites.

posted by: verhuren on September 30, 2011 3:17am

Well, I guess it’s a good thing; with that we can have the info that easy and fast. It might be a good thing though.

New Haven Independent

New Haven Independent Login Form