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April 2015

Amersfoorters rally for culture: many residents against possible culture cuts

Possible (cultural) cuts are causing unrest in Amersfoort. The population was allowed to express its opinion via a website. Cultural organisations received the most support. But what will happen with the results of the public consultation? Just a reminder: due to setbacks in the land exploitation, the municipality of Amersfoort has to cut nineteen million euros in the coming years. To this end, an overview of possible cutback proposals was made. The Arts and... 

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The whole world is a fan of the UFC, now the Netherlands

Two men in a cage. Super trained and muscular to the marrow. Small gloves, bit in, tok on for protection. Scantily clad except for bermuda shorts. Some reinforcing tape wrapped around a joint here and there. At Stockholm's Tele2 Arena, a 30,000-plus crowd screams like mad. This modern gladiatorial spectacle is the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

"It's TIME!!!" roars ringmaster Bruce Buffer. Swede Alexander Gustafsson and American Anthony 'Ru...

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Macbeth as childless killer

On Thursday 9 April, I saw De Nationale Opera's new production of Verdi's tenth opera Macbeth. It was uniformly slammed by the press after its premiere last Friday. German director Andrea Breth, who previously signed on for an understated reading of Prokofiev's The Player, was given a fair shake. The Theaterkrant missed "a good direction of persons", Place de l'Opéra spoke of a "corny staging", Het Parool spoke of "intellectualistic 21st-century director's stuff" and...

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Half-hearted advice puts touring opera companies at odds with each other

There is too little money for two travelling opera companies. Quality is at risk, something must be done. But the Culture Council does not offer a solution.

The Culture Council's advice, published on Wednesday, contains few real surprises. Some money needs to be added, more emphasis on cities, differentiation in youth theatre, that's about it. Concrete companies are not mentioned, in line with minister Bussemaker's wish that the council leave the institutions alone as much as possible.

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Crisis at The Symphony Orchestra only gets worse thanks to fact-free politics

HET Symfonieorkest's financial problems have not gone unnoticed. Regional newspaper Tubantia reported last Monday that PvdA MP Jacques Monasch had minister Jet Bussemaker (also PvdA) summoned to the Lower House. In that report, Monasch passes with seven-mile boots advice, applications and decisions that have already been made or are yet to come, and immediately reports that a symphony orchestra will continue to be... 

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Artists, say NonNeinNEE to ridiculous questions!

Why a fun house festival still haunts my mind weeks after the fact. Let me tell you: OuiJaYes I was looking forward to it. Fancy space. Freedom. So it made perfect sense that I went to Jazz in de Kamer Leiden at the end of March. I could choose from various itineraries with groups and musicians like Artvark, Jeroen van Vliet, Ruben Hein, Ntjam Rosie. I chose... 

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agenda culture Council for Culture

Culture Council sounds alarm: 29.5 million needed to preserve arts sector

What is already going on on a small scale in Groningen, Enschede, Zaltbommel, Amersfoort, Gorinchem and Vlaardingen, is threatening to happen nationwide as well: cultural institutions falling over while politicians look on helplessly. According to the Council for Culture, the situation is alarming: 'Institutions are draining their own funds, cultural funds are maintaining schemes by drawing on reserves. We therefore make the urgent... 

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Life is short - watch films, is the motto of Go Short short film festival

Short film lovers rush to Lux in Nijmegen for the seventh edition of Go Short (8 - 12 April). The annual short film festival with European and Dutch competition, alongside this year's surprising work from the Baltic states, a summer in the Balkans, an hour and a half of cat films, and much, much more. Short films offer creators much more freedom... 

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Find the 'uncanny valley' at the Imagine Festival

With so many robots and even a robot design master class (Mark Setrakian, 16 April) at the Imagine Festival, it can't hurt to delve into the 'uncanny valley' again. How was that again? A robot needs to look absolutely nothing like a human to still be cute and evoke real emotions. See, for instance, Pixar's rubbish robot Wall-E. And... 

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Butt pinching for Amersfoort cultural organisations

Amersfoort's cultural scene is in turmoil over a series of possible austerity proposals. In recent weeks, the public was allowed to give its opinion. The city council will make final decisions in May. Meanwhile, beloved theatre De Lieve Vrouw is already in dire financial straits. Amersfoort has been under financial supervision by the province of Utrecht since the end of 2014. The municipality mainly suffers... 

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Minimal Music Festival figurehead: 'I'm not a minimalist'

Wednesday 8 April kicks off the fourth edition of the biennial World Minimal Festival at Amsterdam's Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. For five days, the capital will be dominated by the immensely popular music movement, which invariably attracts packed halls. Several parts of this instalment are already sold out, including the opening concert with special guest Terry Riley. There are still... 

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Nature conservation on canvas in Dordrecht and The Hague

The double exhibition 'Holland op z'n mooist - Op pad met de Haagse School' opens at the Dordrecht Museum on 5 April and at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag on 4 April. The two museums are joining forces with Natuurmonumenten to show the nature of the late 19th century alongside that of today. In two exhibitions (genre pieces in Dordrecht, landscapes in The Hague),... 

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Erkki-Sven Tüür: 'I want to tap into the listener's creativity'

He has been given many labels. From (post-)minimalist to hardcore modernist and from neo-romanticist to neo-spiritualist. 'I don't pay attention to them anymore,' says composer Erkki-Sven Tüür (Estonia, 1959). Yet he responds somewhat surly when I ask in an email what he thinks of such descriptions: 'You either like my music or not.' Via Skype, he answers eight... 

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Here come the Robots! Imagine Film Festival 2015

Lately, the media has been flooding you with predictions about the increasing impact of artificial intelligence on our lives. Take for instance Nicholas Carr's book The Glass Cage, which analyses the revolutionary impact of new technology in the workplace. These are developments that have not passed Imagine programmers by. The 31st edition of the film festival, which... 

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Why artist is the profession of the future

Book review "A whole New Mind" by Daniel H. Pink Among all the negative messages about the future of the arts, other voices pop up every now and then. 1 of the most impressive dissenting voices for me is the book "A whole new mind" by Daniel H. Pink. According to Daniel, artists and creatives are going to totally make it in the coming years. We are in... 

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Ivo van Hove directs Bowie's The Man Who Fell To Earth II: Lazarus

Indeed, you couldn't release this message on 1 April, because nobody would have believed it. But it is coming, then. Bowie, The Musical. But from the man himself. Sort of. Ivo van Hove, the boss of Toneelgroep Amsterdam who is now more famous in America and England than in the Netherlands, is going to direct Lazarus. That's a new... 

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Supervisory failure at HET Symphony Orchestra: drama that could have been avoided

The money at HET Symphony Orchestra has run out. Despite all the extra millions from the province and after years of writing off tons of general reserves, the end is in sight. And so the orchestra is scrapping concerts, will be seen less in theatres in Deventer and Zwolle, stops CD recordings and shuns any risky performances. To keep the... 

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Why you should go to Snorder (while you still can)

The theatre project 'Snorder' once began as the soap opera that closed the long evenings at the festival Hollandse Nieuwe. A festival for new playwrights, first in theatre Cosmic, later in MC. Both Amsterdam theatres no longer exist in the meantime, neither does Hollandse Nieuwe. But director John Leerdam and his crew have now been given the space for a revival at de Balie.... 

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Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images. Image editing: Kay Schuttel

Academy of Arts: core fusion of art and science

Bring 50 distinguished and cross-disciplinary artists together and things will crackle tremendously. That will be the thinking behind the new Academy of Arts. The installation of 16 new, high-profile members already gave a taste of this. Actor Gijs Scholten van Aschat (board member) and visual artist Barbara Visser (president) expressed themselves a little cautiously a while ago about what the Akademie... 

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Do you still love me? Sanja Mitrovic

Football fans on stage? Sanja Mitrovic is a theatre-maker with a secret

Sanja Mitrović is a theatre maker with a theme and a secret. She builds on the theme with each performance. And the secret is right on the heels of her work. Her theme is the collective: how it grows, what it is based on, how deep the mutual love can be, how the euphoria can turn into rage, how it comes from within... 

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