Successful Holland Festival closes record edition amid uncertainty over future

In conclusion. The Holland Festival of 2011 could well be historic. Not only was it the festival that attracted the most audiences for years, it was also the festival that took place while a minority government of populists, nationalists and materialists declared the end of art subsidies. We therefore look back on a festival in which our new festival day paper witnessed a festive event full of extremes in art and appreciation, but in which a constant doom was also present, steered by a laconic smiling secretary of state and prime minister. Of which we also had images.
In the now calm Muziekgebouw aan't IJ tin Dodo-faces Daniel Bertina, Jeroen Stout, Fransien vd Putt and Wijbrand Schaap look back on a fierce June 2011.

And Annet Lekkerkerker is curious about the numbers. And the future. Which lies on the horizon.

And 86K visitors. pretty good score. We quote the press release:

The Holland Festival closes its 64th edition tonight with a one-off concert by Lebanese singer Fairouz. Over 26 days, the festival showcased over 150 performances and concerts and attracted over 86,000 visitors.

Holland Festival's ambition to attract a wider audience, without compromising on its mission of pursuing the highest artistic quality, succeeded. The number of visitors increased by over 23% compared to the 2010 edition. In particular, the Broadway musical Fela!, the dance performance Nya, the concerts by The National and by Fairouz attracted a wide and varied audience.

Audience favourites in this festival were the location theatre performance Before I Sleep by English theatre-maker Tristan Sharps, the Broadway musical Fela! directed by Bill T. Jones, the musical theatre piece Une flûte Enchantée directed by Peter Brook, Un Tramway with French actress Isabelle Huppert, The Russians by Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Jérôme Bel's young dance classic The Show must go on and the operas Dionysos and Yevgeny Onjegin. Fairouz's final concert is attended by fans from all over the world.

The Holland Festival took place at 14 venues in Amsterdam including: Muziekgebouw aan t IJ, the Stadsschouwburg, Koninklijk Theater Carré, The Music Theatre, Frascati, the Westergasfabriek, and the FOZ building on Amsterdam's Zuidas.

Co-produced or collaborated with several Dutch and international institutions, such as Barbican, Odéon-Théâtre de lEurope, MAU, Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, Salzburg Festival, The Netherlands Opera, Asko|Schönberg, Amsterdam Sinfoniëtta, Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Groot Omroepkoor, Slagwerk Den Haag, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Frascati and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

A festival of this size and variety will probably no longer be possible with the planned cuts in the coming years. The cuts will affect not only the Holland Festival but also other Dutch cultural institutions, making it harder or impossible for special and successful (co)productions and collaborations to be realised.

Hundreds of artists, actors, dancers, musicians and extras from Algeria, Australia, Belgium, China, Germany, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Austria, Russia, Senegal, the United States and Switzerland made Holland Festival 2011 a success.