Cultural information

I get up dates from Visit London and also Time out magazine is always good for what’s going on. Also when I’m up town I keep an eye out for adverts on the underground for up and coming things.

We tend to find out things we may be interested about on line but generally we avoid the masses in London as there seem to be non stop demonstrations there. We tend to go local if we can or out of London. This area of London has only Southeastern Trains and a few night buses so as the trains finish at about midnight it doesn't give much scope to stay late anyway - not that we would want to. I resent having to pay in my rates for the night tubes which are only for the few and this south east side of London has to pay if we want to cross the Thames by road - not like the west where all the bridges are free.  Even when the Silvertown Tunnel is built we will have to pay to use that and the Blackwall Tunnel, which is the nearest free crossing, and will become chargeable. I guess that is also why the Woolwich Ferry is becoming more and more unreliable too as it is free. Presumably us ratepayers in the east of London are helping to keep all those lovely free bridges in the west of London maintained too.

Usually I find out via email subscriptions e.g. Southbank Centre. Occassionally I pick up a Time Out magazine.  

Email Web mailing Press

Via word of mouth, being invited by friends or online such as emails and via meet up groups. Occassioinally go on websites of things like the Barbican or the Southbank Centre they are well known venues. Also sometimes posters and advertisements particularly on the tube

Announcements, journals, emails from various organisations; Guardian; local networks.

The Guardian, RSA, BBC Radio 4, BFI, Tate and Royal Academy magazines/email communications, brochures e.g. Royal Academy Music

I'm registered with different venues and ticket websites. Before I did that I did miss some events. I don't miss them anymore, but I do receive a huge amount of daily emails now. It would be good if there was a way to streamline it, so one could just receive a few emails with all the information in. And also a website where one could search for an specific event, or search for all events happening in a particular period.

Mostly via e-mail newsletters I subscribe to at places I often like to go (e.g. British Museum, certain fringe theatres, a company that promotes comedy gigs, etc).  But also quite often by seeing posters in the tube and buses.  Occasionally through reviews in Prospect magazine.

TimeOut of course, the Guardian and for drama individual theatre websites but Whatsonstage.com and Offwestend.com too.  I recently discovered Londonist.com which is a great resource for events, drama, exhibitions and London things in general.  A bit of word of mouth too.  Inevitably, with so much going on, some stuff slips under the radar.

Usually by venue websites who send newsletter/updates (Southbank, King's Place, Tate, Wellcome) and Time Out. Alos a few are mentioned in Friday Evening Standard. For gigs, Stargreen on Argyll Street publish a regularly updated list of upcoming concerts (on old-fashioned paper!). Local arts events from the library.

I used to suscribe to 'Time Out' when it was paid for & used this as my main source of info, but since it became free, the quality deteriorated & so I now I suscribe to the email newsletters of the venues where I generally tend to go & find out about cultural events there - and elsewhere, using the 'And from our friends' section at the end of many of their emails.  I do sometimes miss out on events at other venues and even at the venues I most often frequent, simply because I don't always have time to go through all the info I receive in a timely fashion.

I agree with Kscterry why can't we be informed of forthcoming marches/demonstrations so we can plan our journeys accordingly?  I know these organisers need permission/ a license so why can the police, tfL or Mayor of London let the public know? This means (hopefully) we might not miss planned events or arrive late due to traffic holdups.

I'm on several mailing lists, galleries and museums mainly,and read arts reviews in the Guardian and Standard.