I was very lucky and received an new iPhone this Christmas. After filling it up with the obligatory apps (Angry Birds, Facebook, Twitter etc.) inspired by this article at BitchBuzz I decided to seek out some cultural apps.

I started out by installing Amazon’s Kindle app, and downloading Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray – perfect for when I’m next on a long train journey and I’ve forgotten whatever book I was reading. And as it is out of copyright, it was free to download. I downloaded a couple of other free books, just in case :)

After that, I didn’t have much of a clue. iTheatre sounds like a great app – for people that live in London (!)  And I know some of the big museums and galleries in the US have apps, but I’m not going across the pond any time soon, and don’t like the idea of a virtual tour. (I’d rather see it myself thank you.)

Typing ‘art’ into the iPhone app store search gives you a search result that has Tetris at the top, it’s not exactly what I was looking for… Typing ‘culture’ into the iPhone app store search gives another game… called Culture. Searching arts and culture is a little more successful, the first result coming back as Classic FM’s free app. There are a few more relevant apps dotted amongst the search, Derry’s bid for Capital of Culture app for instance, but still not for me, (am I being too picky?)

When searching for ‘best arts and culture apps’ on Google I came across a Guardian article of 30 top culture apps – one of which is the Guardian app… Some catch my eye, at number 20 Charlie Chaplin: Short Film Collection  at £1.19 sounds like a steal, and number 25, Yours Vincent: The Letters of Van Gogh raises my curiosity since it’s free. It’s good to know that there are some out there but it’s obvious that I’m going to have to look at lot harder to discover these types of apps.

I guess in the meantime I can always fill it with culture by filling it with great music, can’t I?

Anyone for Lady Gaga?