Hi folks,

I'm Amy, a London-based theatre maker, and the UK Ambassador for Howlround's World Theatre Map. I called a session today to introduce you to the Map and encourage artists to add their work to the Map. This is a new and exciting platform for connecting with theatre makers around the world, and because it's user-generated and community-built (like Wikipedia), it depends on everyone adding information in order for it to be effective.

ABOUT THE WORLD THEATRE MAP
www.worldtheatremap.org

The World Theatre Map is a user-generated directory and real time map of the global theatre community. It’s a digital commons, free and open to all. The World Theatre Map aims to make the field visible to itself by providing a collectively-owned, people-powered infrastructure to connect isolated theatre makers to vital information resources and knowledge.

HowlRound has developed and is launching The World Theatre Map in collaboration with the Global Theater Initiative, a partnership between Theatre Communications Group and the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics.

HOW CAN I USE THE MAP?
You can create a profile for yourself, or any other people or organisations you know about. This profile will immediately become a part of the searchable directory. You can add information about shows and festivals that you (or others) have worked on or will be working on. Show profiles and festival profiles will display all of the production history of that piece, linking together disparate performances into a timeline of its journey. You can search the ever-growing directory to discover and connect to organisations, people, shows, and events. You can see what theatre is happening today around the world. You can read and watch HowlRound journal and video content related to a person or organisation on the World Theatre Map.

For an example of how your profile can link you to other artists, organisations, and festivals, have a look at some profiles.
Here's mine:
https://www.worldtheatremap.org/en/profiles/5877b3a917334f313edb4567
Here's the 2017 Voila! Europe Festival:
https://www.worldtheatremap.org/en/profiles/Qs8fLpa8425bkxcdK
Here's the Young Vic:
https://www.worldtheatremap.org/en/profiles/5877ba4817334f313edb556b

You can also search for potential collaborators for a specific project.
For example, here are the search results for artists and companies interested in Climate Change:
https://www.worldtheatremap.org/en/search/profiles?interests[0]=Climate Change


HOW DO I GET ON THE MAP?
1. Go to www.worldtheatremap.org
2. Create an account (there's a sign up/sign in button in the upper right corner)
3. Watch the how-to videos to get a good idea of how to get started editing the Map:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKf2gbopdbvAa9PkxNZxdGOk7w-XFRpN4
4. Add yourself, your shows, your collaborators, or artists and companies you like to the Map.
5. Come back again soon to see who else has joined the Map, or to update your profile with new show information.

Do feel free to ask me any questions if you see me the rest of this weekend at D&D - or you can tweet me @AmyClareTasker.

PS. Howlround (the organisation that created the World Theatre Map) also runs other projects like the Journal - essays, blogs and criticism - and the New Play TV live-streaming service. HowlRound is a free and open platform for theatre makers worldwide that amplifies progressive, disruptive ideas about the art form and facilitates connection between diverse practitioners. We seek to democratise the arts by effectively modelling the transformative power of commons based practice. Find out more at www.howlround.org or on Twitter @HowlRound