Then you just have to have Twan Huys. The presenter of Nova who managed to kill all Job Cohen's election ambitions in a few schoolmaster questions. He will be able to pull the same trick on Sunday 29 August with a few left-wing politicians and arts bobos in the traditional Uitmarkt debate in Paradiso. This year, that is dominated by the cultural subsidies threatened with elimination by the new right-wing coalition. And that is something many people are concerned about.
From the moment opera lovers and fans of Vivaldi found themselves downgraded by the PVV as leftist hobbyists and fans of brass bands, cultural Holland has been sharpening its knives. Especially now that everyone is back from holiday and back to work, autumn will be hot, although there is plenty to think about why that might not be so bad. After all: only and small part of all Dutch culture is subsidised, and there are plenty of artists who may have quietly voted for the PVV because they too were fed up with 'it'. And nobody feels like having a discussion that is framed in advance as a fight between left-wing hobbyists and right-wing raucousers.
The arguments have long been clear, and of course, even a right-wing coalition that fears the demise of Western values should ensure a strong cultural sector, with top-functioning orchestras, ballet groups and film-makers thanks to solid support, but in practice it will end up repeating the same old mistakes and preaching to its own parish.
Yet something is happening after this weekend that will break tradition. That's when the Cultural Press Bureau presents itself, i.e. us. First up with the launch of The Dodo, the online festival daily newspaper which will operate in that fascinating twilight zone between high and low art, between subsidised and free, and between old and young, left and right. After all: the Cultural Press Bureau retains the knowledge there experience of the established freelance arts journalists who were already out on the street due to newspaper cutbacks, and uses that entrepreneurial knowledge to make new generations of people think about art, enjoy it or be amazed by it.
Keep an eye on this site, and follow the Dodo. You don't have to go to Mauritius. That's the beauty of art.
Paradiso debate: Sunday 29 August 2010 at Paradiso Amsterdam.
English (UK) 
Nederlands 
Français 
Wijbrand, the strange thing about all this right-wing drift is that the occupation of Dutch theatres, the influx of Dutch museums, and certainly the purchase of visual art largely floats on the wealthier section of the Dutch population. Whether that has a left-wing or right-wing signature is then really no longer important at all. The fact remains that a large part of subsidies ultimately benefits the more wealthy and that the right, however you turn it with this populist viewpoint, is skillfully shooting itself in the foot and is still too stupid to see it!
Can that debate be followed on the internet?
During and also afterwards?
WRONG
We will be present ourselves and will tweet important issues via @culturepress. Whether the debate will also be broadcast by the Uitmarkt organisers, we do not yet know. we are trying to find out.
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