nifty page that lets you see your photos with a black background

With over 600 companies on their subscription list, Arts Hub is a subscription based service that offers "access to the latest creative jobs, industry news and reviews, events and now even a dedicated classifieds service for the creative sector." Personal membership costs $100 per year and is able to be paid quarterly.\n(Arts Hub 2009 Simon Baker's Classified Ad Ventures. Australia viewed 4 May 2009 http://www.artshub.com.au/au/about-arts-hub.asp)

Your Gigs is a comprehensive gig guide covering all of Australia. Users are able to search by music style, date/day, and location (including areas of the major cities, eg Melbourne Inner-West). Musicians wanting to promote their own gigs are invited to complete a submissions form, which can also include a link to the musicians web or myspace page.

Whitehat aims to to be a comprehensive listing of every thing to see and do in Melbourne. No one site is going to be able to cover everything, but Whitehat does a give a very good overview. Its particular strength is its market listings, but it also covers festivals, music, exhibitions, theatre and more.

The Abbostsford convent is an artistic community hub in Abbostsford Melbourne. It provides space for "artists, arts practitioners, and arts and creative organisations". In addition to these tenancies, they host three regular markets for independent artists: Sunday Arts @ The Convent, The Makers Market and the Shirts and Skirts Market.

One of the best know artists markets in Melbourne, Rose St Artists Market is held every Saturday in Rose St, Fitzroy and consists of up to 70 stalls each week. Stalls are available from $50-60, and are decided on an application basis. Musicians are also encouraged to apply to perform on market days.

Situated on Smith St, Fitzroy, in.cube8 is a shopfront/gallery that runs like a long term market. Open 6 days per week, and consisting of 90 different display spaces and open to "anyone who makes things by hand" artists, designers, crafts people can hire a shelf, display cabinet, wall space or clothes rack, from $20 - $90 per week, depending in size and visibility.

The Melbourne Fringe Festival is an annual multi-arts festival, held in late September, early October every year. They offer advice and support for developing Fringe Festival events, as well as an extensive marking campaign. Their artist resources page contains a number of links to artist resources including venue information, other festivals, local council grants, even job advertisements with the festival itself.

Maribyrnong City Council offers free Arts Hub Access - they would appreciate if you filled in a feedback form though):\n"To Access Arts Hub\n Visit one of the Maribyrnong Library branches (you can only access Arts Hub from a library computer)\n When you are at the branch go to the Maribyrnong Library home page\n Select Online Databases and Weblinks\n Then choose the Arts Hub link

Beginning as a personal project in 2006, the Indie art and design directory is a weblog that features products and listings of a range of independent Australian artists, designers and crafts people. They welcome submissions of websites to include in their listing, as well as applications for exhibition sponsorship, and paid advertising on their site.

Based at the Arts House Meat Market CultureLAB is an Arts House an initiative in partnership with Arts Victoria to provide artists and companies with the necessary resources to conceptualise, explore and develop new artistic work. Offering space to rehearse, perform and exhibit as well as administrative and financial support, CultureLAB Expressions of Interest are assessed twice in a 12-month period.

Experimenta describes itself as "Australia's leading organisation dedicated to commissioning, exhibiting and promoting the most advanced media and technology based art", and it certainly is upmarket - and inspiring.\n(Experimenta 2009 Australia viewed 4 May 2009 http://www.experimenta.org/profile.html)