The Top 25 UK Arts & Culture Blogs.

Welcome to the January 2010 list of the Top 25 UK Arts & Culture Blogs.

Some changes to our Top 25 list this month. One of the metrics we introduced last time was Postrank, a service that measures something called ‘active engagement’ of blog posts. This means it tracks whether people are commenting on your blog, tweeting about it, saving posts to delicious and so on.  We count up the Postrank score on the last 10 posts and add it into the pot.  The reason this is interesting (well, we think so) is because it’s a great way to measure how engaged readers are with the content of a blog, plus it also gives the final list an element of immediacy – you’re only as good as your last post, right?

Going up the charts this month are 1000 Words, Follow the Yellow Brick Road, Culture Vulture, Run Paint Run Run and Arts & Things.  And we have a completely new entry at 21 with The Thing is…, an interesting blog to check out if you haven’t come across it before.

Here’s January’s Top 25. Happy reading.

1. We Make Money Not Art. Set up in 2004 by the hugely knowledgeable Régine Debatty, We Make Money Not Art has taken the art world by storm with its eclecticism, style and, above all, detailed and fascinating content.

2. Things Magazine. Describing itself as ‘an online journal about objects and meanings, Things Magazine was originally set up by writers based from the V&A and Royal College of Art and now exists at this engaging website and blog.

3. 1000 Words Photography. A visually stunning trip through the world of contemporary photography.

4. Making a Mark. Artist and author Katherine Tyrrell draws and writes about art for artists and art lovers.

5. Follow the Yellow Brick Road. Racing up the charts, writer Katherine Woodfine runs this delightful blog about arts, literature and culture around Manchester and London (as she flits between the two).

6. Culture Vulture. Also moving up the list (up from no. 11), these Leeds bloggers cover wide-ranging and varied topics, all under the banner of writing about the ‘juiciest morsels of culture’.

7. Art of the State. A fascinating blog about graffiti and smaller underground exhibitions in and around London, Art of the State is exciting, inspiring and refreshing.

8. Run Paint Run Run. Up from no. 24, this blog is about arts and culture focused ‘non-exclusively’ on the North West. Winner of Best Arts & Culture Blog in the 2009 Manchester Blog Awards.

9. Amelia’s Magazine. With an appealing style and a host of contributors, Amelia’s Magazine describes itself as covering ‘the best underground creative projects in the worlds of art, fashion, music, illustration, photography, craft and design’.

10. Charlotte Higgins (Guardian). Taken from the Guardian’s stable of popular blogs, Charlotte Higgins gives her opinions on a wide range of topics from the Royal Opera to the outbursts of famous artists, and from our national museums to Barack Obama’s taste in art.

11. Jonathan Jones (Guardian). Needing little introduction, this blog by established critic Jonathan Jones is always worth a read.

12. View from the South Bank. Pauline McLean is BBC Scotland’s arts correspondent, she blogs about arts events and issues happening across the country. (Up from 23.)

13. Where’s Runnicles? From an Edinburgh-based blogger, Where’s Runnicles is a review based blog covering both performance and the visual arts.

14. Art & Things. Run by a group of artists, writers and musicians who work together to create interesting and events for creatives of all kinds to get involved in. (Up from 25.)

15. UK Street Art. Covering street art, graffiti and exhibitions in galleries across the UK, this blog has bags of enthusiasm, spark and intelligent commentary.

16. Frieze Blog. Clearly a major player in the art world, the Frieze blog allows its editors chance to cover smaller and, at times, quirky subjects.

17. Telegraph Culture Blog. From Cheryl Cole to architecture, and art to Jazz, the Telegraph’s culture blog is nothing if not eclectic!

18. Madam Miaow Says. A fascinating mix of culture and political commentary: ‘Madam Miaow casts a sharp eye over the political and cultural landscape and takes a scalpel and a shotgun to the guilty parties’.

19. Culture Label. The blog from online retailers Culture Label, who describe themselves as a “one-stop-culture-shop”, selling products from over 70 of the leading museum shops, galleries, artists and culture institutions from around the world.

20. Liverpool Art Blog. This jam-packed blog has been running since the Liverpool Biennial in 2004 and now has thousands of posts that cover arts news and events in and around Liverpool and sometimes further afield.

NEW ENTRY. 21. The Thing Is… An online magazine of cultural commentary and creative writing with a direct, no nonsense style.

22. Art Sleuth. Some lovely writing about galleries, launches and artists largely (although not solely) in and around London.

23. The FACT Blog. Run by the UK’s Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, the FACT blog focuses on stories about art and creative technology.

24. Feeling Listless. An independent blog from Liverpool that has been running since 2000. Feeling Listless covers every aspect of culture from arts and museums to politics and film.

25. Saatchi Blogon. Part of the Saatchi powerhouse, this blog is packed to bursting with videos, features, news, reviews and interviews.

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