A new iPhone app was unveiled last week that puts New Haven events and nightlife in anyone’s pocket.
ANDI, which stands for “Arts, Nightlife and Dining Information,” is a new iPhone application that serves as a guide to the city of New Haven. The app was developed by the Greater New Haven Arts Council as an effort to connect residents and visitors of the Greater New Haven Area to its vibrant art and culinary scene.
“The primary focus of ANDI is to promote arts events in New Haven,” said Cynthia Clair, Executive Director of the Arts Council of New Haven. “The app is an extension of the services we already offer, such as The Arts Paper and a weekly e-newsletter.”
The app includes an up-to-date events calendar, dining listings and special offers, which users can search by event type, date or location and tap to call or access the website of the venue. ANDI can even direct a user to a venue through Google Maps.
The app can be used to purchase tickets to shows, concerts and exhibits,and friends can share information about an event via email. In addition to local events, ANDI also features restaurant listings, searchable
either by location or by cuisine type.
Although the app is based out of New Haven, it also includes information about events in West Haven, East Haven and the New Haven Shoreline.
The Arts Council uploads events of its member organizations, which are arts organizations it advertises and supports, onto the app. ANDI features many Yale-affiliated events, including concerts at the Yale School of Music and exhibits at the Yale Peabody Museum.
Clair hopes that Yalies will download and use the app to get outside the Yale bubble. “Yale students don’t always know what’s happening in downtown New Haven,” said Clair.
Many of the organizations advertised through ANDI are unfamiliar with the program as it is so new, but are nevertheless optimistic that it will attract more visitors.
Leni Schwartz, a coordinator at Elm City Artists on York Street, thinks that the app will attract more spectators to the new exhibit “Autumn Kaleidoscope.” “It doesn’t sound like a bad idea…it can’t hurt, and it’s a great thing that the exhibit is being further advertised,” said Schwartz.
ANDI was created by New Haven-based MEA mobile, a company that develops mobile phone applications, Clair said. She added that the app has faced only a few glitches that have been quickly fixed. While the program is only available for the iPhone now, the Arts Council hopes it can be soon extended to other phones, such as the Android, Clair said.
Peter Ambiel ’15 described ANDI as a localized version of the application Yelp for New Haven. “For someone who needs to get around New Haven as a visitor, I’d imagine it’d be a helpful way to find restaurants and events in the area,” Ambiel said.
Yiming Ma ’13, who owns an iPhone, said, “I don’t really actively seek out information about New Haven most of the time, but I think that this app would definitely be better than looking up things about New Haven on my laptop”.
The concept of ANDI is not new to Yale’s campus. The website and mobile application Roammeo, which was introduced during last year’s Bulldog Days to guide prefrosh, allows anyone to see events happening on and around Yale’s campus.
Roammeo is based on technology that can be used in any city or on any campus, but is mostly focused on the Yale community said Jessica Cole ’12, who is the CEO of Roammeo. Cole also described Roammeo to focus on a broader range of events, as compared to ANDI.
“I’m thrilled for the arts community of the city to continue innovating, and we support any organization with a mission of helping others to discover great events,” said Cole.
ANDI was launched on Sept. 12 and is now available for free on the iTunes Store.
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