Page 167 - AC/E's Digital Culture Annual Report 2015

The Guardian Culture Professionals Network: a case study in professional community publishingMatthew Caines, @mattcainesThe Guardian Culture Professionals Network1 was founded in November 2011 by two people. There was little fanfare; our readership totalled zero. We were two arts journalists talking with only one another. The room was empty; the community was absent.I always like to think of those early days because it really puts into perspective what we achieved when, three years later (almost to the day), as part of our #LoveTheatre2 initiative, we involved and spoke to hundreds of thousands of culture professionals and arts lovers from across the world.This time, the room was crammed and crowded. The community was energised, engaged and actively changing the face of the arts as we knew it. It had taken the Guardian a long time, butit finally felt like its mission three years earlier to bring together a ready, active and passionate group of arts professionals for the benefit of thecommunity, and the arts sector itself, had been realised.A love story#LoveTheatre day was a celebration of all things stage. On Wednesday 19 November 2014, arts companies and cultural institutions from across the UK and beyond came together on social media site Twitter to celebrate the work that happens on, around and behind the stages of the UK, Europe and the world.The 24hour event – run in partnership by the Guardian Culture Professionals Network (CPN), Twitter UK3 and Culture Themes4 – was open to all arts organisations, practitioners, artists, actors and audiences. We encouraged people to share images, videos, vines, comments, stories and anecdotes.